Table of contents

3 Achievements show bioscience vitality, by Donald C. Fry

4 Workforce training initiatives spark interest in biotech

6 Baltimore area biotech parks pop

13 Profile: Amethyst Technologies CEO Kimberly Brown

14 Baltimore-Washington area biotech map

17 Fledgling start-ups are finding success

20 Technology transfer: The next great jobs generator?

24 Maryland biotech is bringing home the bacon

27 GBC 2011 Bioscience Awards

28 2011 Biotech industry events

Cover photo by senior photographer Maximilian Franz

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Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 1

 recent achievements show
bioscience vitality
In a tough economic cli-
mate, Maryland’s bioscience
industry marked some recent
significant achievements that
highlight the state’s bio-
science industry work and
where its strengths lie.
A look at the state of
Maryland’s bioscience
industry shows that there
are more than 400 core bio-
science companies in
Maryland representing 8
percent of the industry total
By Donald C. Fry in the United States. This is
the second largest cluster of
bioscience companies in the country.
About half of our companies are engaged in develop-
ing therapeutics. Another 25 percent provide research
services and the remaining companies provide gene-
based diagnostics, medical devices and R&D technology
platforms. A total of 45 Maryland companies are engaged
in 160 clinical trials. The best way to understand these
companies is to hear the stories of what just a few of them
have accomplished.
Martek, a Columbia-based leading innovator in the
development of nutritional products that promote health
and wellness and one of Maryland’s largest and most prof-
itable bioscience companies, was acquired in December by
Royal DSM NV, a global life sciences and materials sci-
ences company. Royal DSM’s move was its first acquisition
after a successful transformation to a life sciences and
materials sciences company. The acquisition is expected to
produce increased revenues through expanded distribu-
tion, marketing and product development.
Baltimore-based Gliknik, which has been on a upward
trajectory for several years, started this year off by
announcing that it had raised $3.5 million in equity
financing. Located at the UMB BioPark on Baltimore’s
west side, Gliknik is a biopharmaceuticals company that
is creating new therapies for patients with cancer and
immune disorders. Its expertise is in modulation of the
immune system to fight disease.
Profectus Biosciences Inc., located in Baltimore’s
Holabird Industrial Park, also reached both research and
financial milestones. Profectus started Phase I clinical tri-
als to assess the safety and immunogenicity of its multi-
antigen HIV DNA Vaccine. Profectus received $4.4 million
in grants last October to develop an HIV prophylactic
vaccine. Profectus will use the funds to further evaluate its
transition-state vaccine (TSV) approach that has generat-
ed significant protective responses in several pre-clinical
models of HIV.
The ultimate goal is that one of our companies will
have the next big blockbuster drug, and we may be close.
Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 3
Rockville’s Human Genome Sciences is seeking FDA
approval for its lupus drug Benlysta. Late last year an
FDA advisory committee voted 13-2 to recommend
approval of Benlysta for sale in the United States.
Following the advisory committee meeting, the FDA
asked Human Genome Sciences to provide additional
information, which it has done. The company is now
waiting for FDA’s final decision. If approved, Benlysta
would be the first new approved drug for lupus in more
than 50 years.
In addition to companies like Human Genome Sciences
and Martek that are bringing products to market, start-up
companies continue to emerge from our research univer-
sities. At the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins
in East Baltimore, two new companies developing Hopkins
technologies have found a home in the park — Curveda
and Personal Genomic Diagnostics. The new Lieber
Institute, a private research foundation focused on new
diagnostics and therapies for schizophrenia, is expected to
move there in May. At the UMB BioPark, the $44 million
Maryland Forensic Medical Center is now housed in
Building Four. The park will also be home to a new Proton
“
The Greater Baltimore Committee
remains strongly committed
to seeing this promising
industry grow and thrive for
many years to come.
Therapy Cancer Treatment Center.
Clearly, Maryland remains a leader in bioscience. The
challenge for us all is to keep its leadership position in a
highly competitive global climate. This means making
sure that key funding mechanisms like Maryland’s
biotech tax credit are funded at reasonable levels and that
innovative new funding sources such as the governor’s
Invest Maryland initiative are supported. Even during
challenging financial times, for Maryland to remain com-
petitive it is critical for our elected leaders to invest in eco-
nomic growth and job-creation initiatives for emerging
industries such as bioscience.
Donald C. Fry is president and CEO of the Greater
Baltimore Committee.
 RICH DENNISON
Baltimore resident Debbie Phillips spent 35 years in the hospitality industry, advancing from room service attendant to restaurant
manager. After being laid off in 2008, she trained for laboratory work with the BioTechnical Institute of Maryland Inc. Today she is a lab
assistant at Towson University’s Center for Stem Excellence.

Workforce training initiatives

spark interest in biotech
BY ELIZABETH HEUBECK The 56-year-old’s search for a
new career took her to Baltimore’s

B
Baltimore resident Debbie Phillips spent 35 years in the Eastside One-Stop Career Center,
hospitality industry, advancing from room service attendant where she heard an informational
to restaurant manager. session by the BioTechnical
Most recently, she logged 18 years at Baltimore’s Sheraton Institute of Maryland Inc., a
Baltimore-based nonprofit that
Hotel. Then, in October 2008, she was laid off unexpectedly — provides free training for adults to
victim of a hostile new economy in which downsizing would, become entry-level biotechnicians.
for the next few years, become the norm. Despite her advanc- Phillips decided to apply. The com-
ing age, limited education, and work experience restricted to petition was stiff: About 20 candi-
dates were chosen from an estimat-
a languishing industry, Phillips said she wasn’t deterred. ed 200 under- and unemployed

4 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report

applicants, primarily Baltimore
residents. Phillips made the cut and
persevered through the intense 21-
week training — a combination of
academic refresher courses and
hands-on laboratory work.
Today, Phillips is a laboratory
assistant at Towson University’s
Center for Stem Excellence, in the
Columbus Center at Baltimore’s
Inner Harbor, and has returned to
college as a biotechnology major
after a 37-year-hiatus from school.
“Every day at work is new;
every day is fun,” Phillips said. “If
Experts needed
Britz acknowledged that while
Maryland is rich in highly trained
microbiologists, it is short on other
key work force elements required
for the industry to continue grow-
ing. Missing, she said, are entre-
preneurs focused on bridging the
gap between research and devel-
opment and technology transfer
and commercialization. Regulatory
affairs is another area Britz said is
people who work in federal labo-
ratories or academic institutions,
where knowledge about FDA reg-
ulatory processes may not be
engrained, she said.
“It’s really a question of compa-
nies embracing sooner, rather
than later, access to regulatory
affairs knowledge and training,”
Britz said.
Entrepreneurial and regulatory

it wasn’t for BTI, where they push
you to do what you want to do, I
don’t know where I’d be.”
BTI’s training program has
produced 230 employment-ready
graduates since its launch in 1998,
and is just one of several statewide
initiatives aiming to increase
Maryland’s reputation as a poten-
tial work force powerhouse in the
biotech industry. The state boasts
more than 400 core bioscience
companies, making it the second-
largest such hub in the U.S.,
according to Ernst and Young. But
industry experts say that’s not
enough. They want to see more
work force opportunities at every
level — from entry-level lab tech-
nicians to visionary entrepreneurs
— to propel the state’s biotech
industry even further.
The push for more biotech-pre-
pared workers is a “top down”
directive. In June 2008, Gov.
Martin O’Malley announced his
Bio 2020 Initiative, which declared
the state’s decade-long commit-
ment to invest $1.3 billion in
Maryland’s bioscience industry.
On the heels of the initiative came
the Baltimore- and Rockville-based
Maryland Biotechnology Center,
launched by the O’Malley adminis-
tration in fall 2009 to showcase
and support biotech innovation
and entrepreneurship in
Maryland.
“When we talk about work
force, we need to think of all
aspects of supporting that equa-
tion,” said Dr. Judith Britz, a scien-
tist and entrepreneur tapped by
O’Malley to lead the center.
“
When we talk about work force, we
need to think of all aspects of
supporting that equation.
- Dr. Judith Britz
executive director,
Maryland Biotechnical Center
ripe for expansion, a component training opportunities must be
critical to bringing new products fortified in Maryland, she said, “to
to market. Any company that has a make sure our work force under-
product — drug, diagnostic or stands their availability.”
device — that eventually will To highlight and boost these
require U.S. Food and Drug areas of Maryland’s biotech indus-
Administration clearance for sales try, the center has established
and marketing needs to know all partnerships with several educa-
aspects of the regulatory process. tional and training organizations.
Hopkins and UMBC both have According to BTI’s website, its
advanced degree programs in the statewide partners now include
niche, and the region is flooded six four-year universities; four
with FDA consultants who have two-year colleges; and three tech-
retired from the FDA. nical institutes, BTI among them.
Britz said there is a “gap,” how- Although the Maryland
ever, in getting companies to Biotechnology Center’s lean fiscal
understand how regulatory affairs status precludes it from offering
work, and to access training or formal programs in those areas,
people with expertise. Britz has shared the urgency of
“Part our role is to communi- those needs with the center’s con-
cate to companies that they need sortium of two- and four-year col-
to start the [regulatory] process leges.
earlier than they are thinking,”
said Britz, who explained that Entry-level
there’s often a gap between when needs persist
entrepreneurs think they should In addition to risk-taking
begin the regulatory process, and entrepreneurs and precision-
when they actually end up begin-
ning. That is particularly true for See workforce 11

Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 5

 baltimore area
biotech parks

BY JOSEPH PATRICK BULKO

pop
Maryland has embraced the biopark model as

M
a means of encouraging early-stage technology
companies, and the Baltimore region is home to
several: bwtech@UMBC Research and
Technology Park, the University of Maryland
BioPark and the Science + Technology Park at
Johns Hopkins.

“Biotech parks provide a place for early stage com- MAXIMILIAN FRANZ
panies to be near universities where the technology Frank Turano, chief research officer for Plant Sensory
came from,” said Lisbeth Pettengill, vice president, Systems, in the company’s lab at the UMBC
Greater Baltimore Committee. “It’s an opportunity to Technology Center.
be close to your inventor. The parks offer a relatively bwtech@UMBC Research and
seamless transition from the lab to the commercial
Technology Park
sector. It’s an environment for collaboration amongst
bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park is a
companies and has a synergistic effect.”
71-acre community established to help high potential
“They are popping right now,” Judith Britz, execu-
early-stage technology and bioscience companies suc-
tive director of the Maryland Biotechnology Center,
ceed in commercializing their technologies and thrive
said. “The biopark model has evolved over time. It has
in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The park
taken time to gel.”
has incubator and accelerator programs for early-
There is plenty of space available, and plenty to be
stage companies while providing affordable office and
developed down the road. Proponents’ focus today is
wet lab space with flexible leasing terms and business
on filling the currently available space, and soon.
support services. A five-building research park is
“Bioparks have facilities for various researchers to
home to more established research and technology
get the work from the Petri dish to the next level,” said
companies.
George W. Kemble, MedImmune’s senior vice presi-
“We have 515,000 square feet of built-out space,
dent of research and development.
with 65 companies in different stages of development
“The United States has moved from a manufac-
and diverse technologies,” said Ellen Hemmerly, exec-
turing to a knowledge economy,” said Aris
utive director of the UMBC Research Park
Melissaratos, senior advisor to Johns Hopkins
Corporation. “We continue to attract very small life
University President Ronald Daniels. “Bioparks offer
science companies.”
a place for startup companies to locate. [The
Companies cover a range of disciplines, including
University of] Maryland and Johns Hopkins started
information technology, cyber security, clean energy,
parks because they were accused of not doing
life sciences such as development of medical devices,
enough to create new businesses.”

6 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report

in vitro technologies, plant biotech, algae
biofuels, and research groups for earth and
water sciences.
Included among the companies operat-
ing in bwtech North, home of the research
park, are:
• Avanade Federal Services, a market-
ing and technology consultancy that
delivers information-driven business
solutions;
• Clear Resolution Consulting, a small
business provider of performance and
strategic management, governance,
process improvement and development,
and technology and automation solu-
tions to the Department of Defense and
the Intelligence Community;
• Med-IQ, a producer of educational
activities through multimedia formats
including live events, interactive
Webcasts, podcasts, satellite television
broadcasts in hospitals, audio confer-
ences, DVDs and print publications;
• Retirement Living TV/Erickson, the
only cable network dedicated exclusive-
ly to serving the needs of older adults
with information and entertainment that
seeks to change the perception of aging;
and
• UMBC ACTiVATE — Achieving the
Commercialization of Technology in
Ventures through Applied Training for
Entrepreneurs — which introduces
highly-driven, mid-career women to the
basics of entrepreneurship and technol-
ogy commercialization.
bwtech South is home to
incubator/accelerator programs:
• Aurora Analytics, LLC , a developer
and manufacturer of consumer and
research diagnostic products based on a
proprietary amine modification/detec-
tion technology;
• Clean Green Chesapeake, LLC, a green
biotechnology and environment
enhancement startup seeking to harness
algal biotechnology to produce biofuels
and biotech co-products, environmental
enhancement by reducing pollutant load
on the Chesapeake waters throughout
the world, and aquacultural and agricul-

See biotech parks 8

Julian N. Rosenberg, senior research scientist for

Clean Green Chesapeake, at work in the company’s
lab within the UMBC Technology Center.

MAXIMILIAN FRANZ

Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 7

 A cell culture
laboratory housed
within bwtech@UMBC
Research and
Technology Park.
MAXIMILIAN FRANZ

biotech parks continued from 7 housed in two trailers.

In 1996, bwtech South opened 165,000 square feet
tural improvements; and, in 2001, 355,000 square feet was opened in
• Kydes Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a start-up seeking bwtech North.
to design scientifically sound and cost-effective “Companies must apply to bwtech,” Hemmerly
pharmaceutical products based on state-of-the-art said. “They need a business plan. We have a limited
knowledge and technologies; amount of space and staff. We
• Plant Sensory Systems LLC, an decide if IP, management and
agricultural biotechnology com- projected market make sense.
pany that develops technology Life sciences must graduate
to improve crop performance within four years.”
and mitigate negative environ- Among those graduates are
mental impacts; The first incubator Profectus BioSciences, a clinical
• ProSpect Pharma Inc., a devel- opened within bwtech stage biopharma developing
oper of proprietary technologies novel vaccine candidates for
South in 1989.
enabling the interactions of mol- chronic viral infections and
ecules to be studied in high res- Receptor Biology, which pro-
olution; and vides cloned receptors and
• Synaptic Research LLC, which other targets for drug discov-
conducts research and develops ery.
products based on naturally-
occurring large protein molecules. UM BioPark
Of the various companies matriculating through The UM BioPark is a university-associated research
the incubator or accelerator programs, 91 percent are park that works to accelerate the commercialization of
still in existence or have had assets sold. The success biotechnology and economic development in the sur-
rate does not happen in a vacuum. rounding community as well as the Greater Baltimore
“Entrepreneurial talent is needed for successful region. Its community of life science companies and
companies,” Hemmerly said. “We have lots of technol- academic research centers are developing new drugs,
ogy being developed in labs. The bigger issue is hav- diagnostics and devices and advancing the field of
ing the entrepreneurial talent and culture to be taking biomedical research.
the technology and forming businesses around it.” “We are a research park,” said Jane Shaab, senior
The first incubator started humbly in 1989, consist- vice president of the UMB Health Sciences Research
ing of scant 8,000 square feet on the main campus Park Corporation. “We are pure to the model of the

8 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report

university research cancer, autoimmunity, transplantation
park. Many of our ten- and infectious diseases.
ants are still in the The biopark is not an incubator.
process of developing Future plans for UM’s 10- Companies operating there can expect to
products. We’re seeing acre BioPark include 1.8 enjoy long-term, ongoing relationships
lots of activity in early million square feet of with the university’s research facilities.
stage companies. We lab and office space in “We would like full building users or
have very aggressive multi-building users,” she said. “At no
research units. We’re 12 buildings. Two matter what stage you come into the
embedding a hotshot multi-tenant buildings park, we want to keep you forever.”
university research are complete.
team in each building.” Science + Technology Park
“Facilitating relation- at Johns Hopkins
ships is at the highest An ambitious addition to the Baltimore
level in our office,” Shaab said. “We use strength of biopark community is the Science + Technology Park
research and talent as marketing to bring those com- at Johns Hopkins University, part of a larger livable
panies into the park and [enhance] collaboration. Then community consisting of housing, shopping and other
we work very hard to understand where their amenities. The 31-acre park, initially planned for 1.1
research [is headed].” million square feet within five buildings, offers state-
Services and amenities include: of-the art laboratory facilities designed to support the
• Access to the UM Health Sciences and Human sophisticated research requirements of today’s most
Services Library, which contains more than cutting-edge corporations and institutions.
350,000 volumes and 2,500 journal titles; “The project combines commercial real estate with
• Access to the research faculty and an extensive community development,” said Christopher Shea,
array of core facilities, labs and services of the uni- president and CEO of East Baltimore Development
versity and its professional schools of medicine, Inc. “It links economic development and real estate
dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and law; development.”
• On-site conference facilities; Developers expect the retail component will consist
• Café and catering services; of ground floor retail stores, restaurants and grocery
• On-site fitness center; stores. A new public school is planned for the neigh-
• Retail banking services at Harbor Bank’s BioPark borhood, Shea said.
branch; The plan is to create a “walkable urban neighbor-
• Dedicated campus police substation providing hood,” a mixed-use environment where residents can
24-hour BioPark security; and “walk to work or to graduate school” and where “life
• Free Circulator shuttle service through science is the commer-
the BioPark and UM campus to the Inner cial component of the
Harbor, Harbor East and Fells Point. mixed use,” Shea said.
Future plans for the 10-acre park The Lieber Institute for “People who live here
include 1.8 million square feet of lab and Brain Development, a neu- will work here, with
office space in 12 buildings, as well as roscience research institu- families across the
garage parking and landscaped parks at tion, focuses its research on income spectrum.
final build-out. So far, 470,000 square feet We’re directly con-
in two-multi-tenant buildings, one 638- the causes of schizophrenia necting them so that
space parking garage and the state of and related developmental they will support each
Maryland’s new Forensic Medical Center behavioral disorders, as well other.”
are complete. Development of a third multi- as new diagnostics and Among the
tenant commercial building is continuing. park’s planned ameni-
BioPark Two, completed in July 2007, treatments. ties and features are:
offers space within six stories totaling • Lab and office
238,000 square feet, a sophisticated loaded shell lab space meeting the requirements of emerging and
and offices with conference facilities and the established research organizations;
BioInnovation Center, which includes pre-constructed • Seamless access to Johns Hopkins scientists and
wet labs. Tenants include Westat, which provides facilities;
research services to government agencies, commer- • New housing, shops, restaurants and parking;
cial entities, foundations, universities and other health • Flexible lab and office layouts, with build-to-suit
research organizations; Gliknik Inc., a privately owned components;
corporation committed to the discovery and develop- • Sophisticated base building systems;
ment of novel biomolecules for autoimmune diseases • High-capacity infrastructure;
and cancer; and Amplimmune, a product-focused
company developing immune-based biologics to treat See biotech parks 10

Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 9

 biotech parks continued from 9
• Landlord-funded tenant
improvements; and
• Fully negotiable lease terms.
The park’s East Baltimore home
was “an extremely rundown neigh-
borhood of mostly abandoned
housing,” Hopkins’ Melissaratos
said. The area was “razed to create
an 88-acre active community” fea-
turing new buildings, graduate stu-
dent housing, a hotel and new res-
idences.
The new life sciences building is
open, at 80 percent occupancy
after two years of operation. A
variety of companies occupy the
building, including some emerging
and migrating companies that
relocated from elsewhere, so-called
“landing parties,” and Johns
Hopkins entities such as endowed
institutions like the Brain Science
Institute, created to find solutions
to fundamental questions about
brain development and function.
Other tenants include the
park’s developer, Forest City;
Siemens Imaging; the Howard
10 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report
“
People who live here will work here, with
families across the income spectrum.
- Christopher Shea
president and CEO, East Baltimore Development Inc.
Hughes Medical Institute;
BioMarker Strategies, a tissue-
based cancer diagnostics compa-
ny developing the SnapPath ex
vivo biomarker platform to
improve cancer treatments;
Inostics, a diagnostics service
company providing molecular
tools to support individualized
cancer patient management and
drug development, developing
DNA-based tests for the detection
of genetic changes, such as somat-
ic mutations, from blood or tissue
samples from patients. The Lieber
Institute for Brain Development, a
new neuroscience research insti-
tution focused on the causes of
schizophrenia and related devel-
opmental behavioral disorders as
well as development of new diag-
nostics and treatments, is expect-
ed to begin moving in by May.
For a regional map and
more statistics on
Maryland’s Bioparks
turn to page 14.
“The demand for life science
space in Baltimore market is differ-
ent from when the building was
being planned,” said Scott Levitan,
senior vice president and develop-
ment director of the Forest City —
New East Baltimore Partnership.
“[Originally], we expected big
pharmaceutical companies, but
pharma has changed their business
model. They don’t want to own
labs. The business model swung
over to small companies bringing
idea development, swung over to
collaboration and nurturing
between pharma and the smaller
companies. The smaller companies
are more entrepreneurial — more
ideas are tested — and they’re con-
stantly mining for great ideas com-
ing out of research.”
“The future of East Baltimore is
in life sciences,” Shea said.
workforce continued from 5 math tended not to go into majors Allied Health Magnet High
that were engineering- or math- School at Glen Burnie High
minded regulatory affairs person-
based,” said Andrea Perry, dean School. Academically eligible
nel, an equally strong demand
of special programs at the school. students will apply for spots to
exists in the state’s biotech indus-
Since the program launched, the the school’s magnet program.
try for entry-level employees who
school has seen a significant Those accepted will engage in a
want stability and the prospect of
uptick in the number of graduates curriculum that will allow them
advancement.
who pursue engineering fields. to study and explore career
“We are always looking for
Blair Station, a third-year stu- opportunities across the spec-
trained, reliable, high school-
dent majoring in bioengineering trum of health care professions,
level graduates to fulfill techni-
at Brown University, participated via coursework, shadowing
cian-level positions,” said Jay
in the WISE program as a student health professionals, and intern-
Reuben, chief scientific officer of
at Garrison Forest. ships. Participants also can earn
Infectious Diseases at BD
“I absolutely loved it. The first four college credits in general
Diagnostics, based in Sparks.
day, I was blown away,” Station biology.
Reuben, a member of BTI’s
said of her assignment in a car- Students will still take basic
board of directors, has hired a
diac research laboratory in core courses, but can focus elec-
few of the institute’s graduates to
Hopkins’ Biomedical Engineering tives on biomedical science
work in his laboratory. One
department. “It was very hands courses.
woman began as a temporary
on.” “In the past, they might have
employee in 2004 and remains
Other area high schools also picked whatever their friends
employed at BD Diagnostics full
are providing opportunities for were taking,” said Deborah
time. She has nearly completed
students to explore biotech Albert, a teacher specialist for
her associate’s degree; as a com-
careers before college. Through a Career Connections Technology
pany benefit, BD Diagnostics paid
Maryland State Department of in the Anne Arundel County
her tuition.
Education grant that will provide Public School System. This pro-
“We at BD encourage our
$70,000 over three years, Glen gram, she hopes, will motivate
associates to further their educa-
Burnie High School in fall 2011 students to get more connected to
tion,” Reuben said. “Once she fin-
will become the BioMedical their education.
ishes her degree, she’ll be eligible
for more opportunities.”

Piquing interest
in biotech
While training programs like
those sponsored by BTI support
under- and unemployed adults,
some of the state’s educational
institutions are striving to pique
an interest in biotech careers
even earlier.
In 2005, Garrison Forest, an
all-girls college preparatory
school in Owings Mills, partnered
with Johns Hopkins University to
establish WISE, or Women in
Science and Engineering. The
intensive semester-long “experi-
ential program” enables high
school juniors and seniors from
Garrison Forest to gain experi-
ence in hands-on research with
Hopkins faculty members, men-
toring activities, and a tailored
curriculum, all with the goal of
preparing them to assume leader-
ship roles in science, technology,
engineering or math fields.
“We knew from looking at our
own students that those who
were very capable in science and

Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 11

‘I never thought
I would be
doing this.’

MAXIMILIAN FRANZ
 Amethyst Technologies CEO reflects on successes
BY GINA GALLUCCI-WHITE
When Dr. Kimberly Brown was 10, her mother enrolled her
W
in a chemistry summer camp.
“That’s where I showed an interest in science,” she said
recently.
Through years of work and
study, Brown, 39, turned that child-
hood interest into a thriving busi-
ness that last year generated $1.8
million in revenue. Named for
Brown’s February birthstone,
Amethyst Technologies LLC pro-
vides customized compliance serv-
ices for drug development, medical
device manufacturing and patient
treatment, among other services.
The firm serves companies prima-
rily in the biotech, pharmaceutical,
health care, forensic, utility and
food and beverage industries.
About 95 percent of Amethyst’s
customer base are multiple divi-
sions for the U.S. Army, Brown
said. Quite a bit of the company’s
work is related to malaria research
and treatment.
“I never thought I would be
doing this,” she said. “I still have to
sometimes pinch myself. I always
thought I would do research. ... It’s
the easiest job I have ever had,
even though I am working all the
time. You work and it’s as if you are
not working most days. You are
building something. What we are
doing is making a difference.”
The Baltimore native’s strongest
subject in school was math. She
was part of the advanced engineer-
ing course at Baltimore Polytechnic
Institute from 1986 to 1990. While
choosing her career path, she
decided on chemical engineering
because it incorporated both math
and engineering.
She received her bachelor’s
degree in chemical engineering
from the University of Delaware in
1994, and graduate degrees from
the University of Maryland,
College Park.
While working on her doctor-
ate, she was accepted for an
internship in 1998 at Cell Systems
Inc., another local biotech firm.
Apart from that company’s owner,
Brown was the only other employ-
ee. They provided services to
Walter Reed Army Institute of
Research’s Pilot Bioproduction
Facility.
After her internship ended in
2000, Brown stayed on as an oper-
ations and validation manager for
the Walter Reed contract, which
required her to manage Food and
Drug Administration compliance
processes for equipment and soft-
ware.
“I was instrumental in incorpo-
rating software development into
the contract and validation — more
engineering-type services,” Brown
said.
While she enjoyed working at
the company, she said she had
always wanted to own her own
business. She wanted to do some-
thing different, outside of corpo-
rate America, with the flexibility to
take on new ventures.
“I approached my employer one
day and I said ‘I would like to own
a business’ and he said, ‘That’s
great, because I am ready to
retire.’”
“It was the right time, and I
had prepared for five years to do
that. All the time I was learning
as much as I could and just trying
to look at ways to expand the
Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 13
business,” she said.
In the process of buying her
boss’s contract and forming
Amethyst, Brown attended the
University of Maryland, Baltimore
County campus’s yearlong entre-
preneurship training program,
Achieving the Commercialization
of Technology In Ventures through
Applied Training for
Entrepreneurs or ACTiVATE, run
by the Path Forward Center for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Created at UMBC, ACTiVATE aims
to increase the commercialization
of technology innovations from
Maryland research institutions by
training women entrepreneurs to
create technology-based startups.
Brown started training with the
program in 2007 — two days after
she took over the contract from
Cell Systems.
“ACTiVATE was a catalyst to
[Amethyst’s] success,” she said. “It
provided much needed training on
how to run a business. … My back-
ground was science. I had no expe-
rience prior to the ACTiVATE pro-
gram in business.”
Julie Lenzer Kirk, Path Forward
Center’s CEO, said Brown possess-
es the key characteristics that
enable the program’s participants
to get the most out of it: a strong
desire to start a company, strong
technical capabilities, a willingness
to work outside of her comfort
zone, a passion for her work and
the desire to make a difference.
“She was highly qualified in her
field to deliver what the customer
wanted but she had no experience
in starting a company,” Lenzer Kirk
See Brown 16
 bwtech@UMBC

• Five buildings on 13
71 acres.
• Incubator for
early-stage start-
ups and research
park.
• Office and wet lab
4
space available.

5
• Home to 65 companies, including
UMBC ACTiVate, Clean Green
Chesapeake LLC and Aurora 14 3
Analytics.

6
1
7

11

9
10
1 bwtech@UMBC
2 Chesapeake Innovation Center
3 Emerging Technology Center@Canton
12 2
4 Emerging Technology Center@Johns
Hopkins Eastern
5 Frederick Innovative Technology
Center Inc.
6 Germantown Innovation Center 8
7 NeoTech Incubator
8 Prince George’s County Technology
Assistance Center
9 Rockville Innovation Center
10 Shady Grove Innovation Center
11 Silver Spring Innovation Center
12 Technology Advancement
Program@University of Maryland
13 TowsonGlobal
14 UM BioPark

Where is the b
There are many incubators and laboratories in the Baltimore-Washington
region. We’ve focused on only a few in the Greater Baltimore area.
Visit http://marylandbiocenter.org/resources/pages/Incubators.aspx for more
information on state funding and assistance for biotech start-ups.
 Science + Technology
Park at Johns Hopkins
• 278,145-sq.ft. Rangos building
houses wet labs, start-up incubator
space, offices.
• Housing, new public school and
mixed-use retail and office devel-
opment planned.
• Tenants include BioMarker
Strategies, Inostics and, in May,
the Lieber
Institute for
Brain
Development.

UM BioPark
• 12buildings planned for 10-acre
park; two multi-tenant buildings
now open.
• University-associated
research park.
• Office space, loaded
shell lab, wet lab space,
conference facilities.
• Home to Maryland’s
new Forensic Medical
Center, Amplimmune
and Gliknik Inc.

biotech?
 brown continued from 13
said. “Like many entrepreneurs,
she had an idea how to work in the
business, but not on the business.”
Lenzer Kirk said she believes
Brown would have been able to
make the business a success on her
own, but ACTiVATE accelerated
her results significantly.
Brown learned about UMBC’s
Tech Center through ACTiVATE.
Her company has its 3,000-square-
foot office housed there. The com-
pany has hosted six UMBC interns
over the past three years.
“We have had some excellent
students that have made a huge
impact to our business and I think
they have learned things their
peers haven’t learned,” she said.
“Our director of advanced technol-
ogy started off as an intern and
now he is full time.”
Amethyst added 10 employees
last year, bringing its total to 22.
“We are very nimble,” Brown
said. “It’s a diverse business.
Everybody who works in the busi-
ness has a different capability. We
16 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report
are engineers, software develop-
ers, scientists, technicians. We
have FDA regulatory profession-
als. … We are in growth sectors
and we really listen to our clients,
anticipating needs instead of being
reactionary. We are definitely
proactive: Where do we need to be
five years from now? We never
focus on what we are doing today.”
The Greater Baltimore
Committee recognized Brown and
Amethyst in October with its
Bridging the Gap Achievement
Award, which recognizes minori-
ty- or woman-owned firms.
“These award winners were
honored for minority business
achievement and dedication to
strengthening the development
of the minority and women-
owned business sector,” said
GBC President and CEO Donald
C. Fry. “They are representative
of many highly-driven and suc-
cessful business entrepreneurs
that are examples of the kind of
private-sector achievement that
drives our economy and will
drive it through to the other side
of the recession.”
Amethyst Technologies also
was named one of the top 100
Minority Business Enterprises in
2009. The list includes businesses
from four Mid-Atlantic states and
the District of Columbia named by
several regional businesses and
government offices.
Growing in business develop-
ment, strategic partnerships and
branching out into the nonprofit
sector are three areas in which
Brown hopes Amethyst will
grow in 2011. Future projects
include exploring partnerships
with large nongovernmental
organizations and small busi-
nesses as a means to expand and
strengthen the company’s lab
services, as well as furthering
collaborations with academic
institutions to develop products
that can improve the global
delivery of health services.
“Our goal is really to give back,”
Brown said. “Everywhere that
Amethyst does business, the com-
munity should be benefiting from
Amethyst’s presence.”
Fledgling companies finding

success A look at four companies working in different biotech sectors

BY JEN DEGREGORIO Industrial Partnerships at the

University of Maryland.

T
They may not realize it, but when people talk about We’ve spoken with four compa-
Maryland’s biotech industry, they also are talking about nies that are making strides in
virtually every other industry in the state. Maryland, in fields as disparate as
The word “biotechnology” itself has a broad mean- nanoengineering, public health
and alternative energy.
ing, defined simply as “the use of living organisms by
humans,” according to the Biotechnology Institute in Zymetis Inc.
Washington, D.C. That leaves biotech with a virtually Working out of an office at the
limitless range of applications, a fact that becomes clear University of Maryland, College
Park, campus, Zymetis started out
when one takes a look at Maryland’s wide-ranging crop in 2007 with an eye toward the
of biotech companies and researchers. alternative-fuel revolution. The
company sought to capitalize on
“The diversity that the state has capital. Others have grown into
the research of university scientist
in terms of the types of biotech that their own, becoming major corpo-
Steven Hutcheson by developing
are being pursued is really incredi- rations and state employers, such
marine bacteria capable of decom-
ble,” said Dr. Judith Britz, execu- as Gaithersburg’s MedImmune.
posing plants and turning the
tive director of the Maryland “One of the reasons the state is
remains into fuel for automobiles.
Biotechnology Center, which has investing in biotech is that eventu-
The idea gave way recently to
offices in Baltimore and Rockville. ally they create the true value jobs
the company’s new focus: using
“That is a tremendous opportunity for the new economy,” said Martha
for us here in Maryland.” Connolly, director of Maryland See success 19
Most of the companies operate
like any startup business, with
small staffs developing a big busi-
ness idea, financed with a mix of
public grants and private venture

At right: Steve Hutcheson is

the founder and chief scien-
tific officer at Zymetis, a
College Park-based company
working to develop marine
bacteria capable of decom-
posing plants and turning
the remains into fuel for
automobiles.
MAXIMILIAN FRANZ

Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 17

 Eddy Agbo, chairman and CEO of Fyodor,
holds a urine test kit used to detect malaria.
Fyodor also is developing an anti-malaria
medication out of yeast fungus. If success-
ful, such treatments could be produced and
distributed more cheaply to patients in
developing countries.
RICH DENNISON

18 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report

Success continued from 17

the bacteria to transform timber

into industrial chemicals that serve
as a “green alternative” to petrole-
um-based chemicals.
“When you look at the challenge
of moving beyond petroleum, you
have to start to use biomass,”
Zymetis CEO Scott Laughlin said
recently, referring to trees, corn
and other “biomass” that serve as
feedstock for fuel creation. Zymetis’
team consists of less than 10
employees, but has earned several
patents in the last few years and
licensed its technology to at least
one ethanol producer. The compa- MAXIMILIAN FRANZ
ny, which has received a mix of
public funding and private venture Gregory Payne, a University of Maryland
capital, hopes to one day open its professor and Biochip Collaborative team
own refinery, where bacteria would member, holds a prototype for a “lab on a
be used to produce industrial
chemicals on a commercial scale. chip,” which one day could be used to per-
The plant likely would be outside of form blood diagnostic tests, for example,
Maryland, Laughlin said, although using a blood sample placed directly onto
its headquarters would remain the microscope slide-sized chip.
here.

Fyodor far-away doctor or hospital. doctor performs,” said Gregory

Biotechnologies Inc.
Yeast could help to stop the
spread of malaria in developing
nations, according to Fyodor
Chairman and CEO Eddy Agbo,
whose company is in the process of
creating an anti-malaria medicine
from the fungus. Popular malaria
medications now are primarily
plant-derived.
“You have to cultivate the plant,
pray for rain, pray for sunshine. It’s
inefficient,” Agbo said.
A football field-sized harvest is
required to treat 10,000 people,
he estimated. By using yeast as a
basis — a technique Fyodor is still
perfecting — malaria medicine
could be produced more cheaply,
and hopefully could be made
more widely available than it is
today, Agbo said. Fyodor also has
developed a home malaria test,
which works like a standard
pregnancy test strip. The product
could allow villagers in develop-
ing countries to perform their
own diagnoses, saving them the
time and expense of a trip to a
“Our vision is to package the test
and the medicine,” said Agbo,
whose company is housed at the
University of Maryland BioPark in
Baltimore and works in partnership
with Johns Hopkins University.
Fyodor has received a mix of public
and private financial support, and
has approached the Gates
Foundation and other private fund-
ing sources for more funding.
While the company is several years
from putting its product on the
market, it already is in talks with
the World Health Organization on
obtaining the proper clearances,
Agbo said.
The Biochip
Collaborative
Molecular biology and engi-
neering come together for a collab-
orative at the University of
Maryland, College Park, where
about 15 scientists and other staff
are developing a microscope slide-
sized chip to perform blood diag-
nostic tests.
“It’s like the blood tests your
Payne, a University of Maryland
professor and collaborative team
member. “But instead of sending
the sample off to a laboratory and
getting the results in two weeks,
wouldn’t it be great if they had a
chip that could do the lab analysis
while you’re sitting there?”
The group, which formed in
2002, is about five years from com-
pleting what team members call a
“lab on a chip,” Payne said.
But great strides have been
made toward that goal. Several
techniques were patented along the
way, thanks largely to public fund-
ing. Nanotechnology also comes
into play because the chip’s con-
struction relies on electronics with
components that are, in some
cases, invisible to the human eye.
“Ultimately, something like this
could be used to screen for cancer,”
Payne said.
BioMarker Strategies
Physicians understand that pre-
scribing drugs to treat cancer is
See success 23

Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 19

tech transfer:
the next great jobs generator?
seek a kind of truth or purity in their quest
BY JOSEPH PATRICK BULKO for knowledge, while seemingly uninter-
ested in the messy business of finding
Home to numerous tech firms, universities and marketplace opportunities for their

H
research facilities, the wide and diverse range of tech- efforts.
nologies located in Maryland makes the state ripe for Venture capital firms are not currently
all that interested in early-stage technolo-
technology transfer. gies, the typical output of a research facili-
Active sectors include life sciences — drug discov- ty. “They’re looking for late-stage,”
eries, medical devices — physical sciences, engineer- Pettengill said.
ing, information technology, cyber security, electron- Late stage is closer to commercializa-
ics, sensors, communications, bioengineering and tion; early stage refers to the period of
development leading up to and including
biomedicine. proof of concept, which often times in tech
and biotech is still several years and gobs of
investment dollars short of a commercially
“Maryland ranks number one in life science viable end product. This is not something
research in the world,” said Judith Britz, Ph.D., execu- that is “happening now” — it simply reflects the prerog-
tive director of the Maryland Biotechnology Center, ative of the investment community to sink its money
“with more than $10 billion flowing into the state.” into something with a clearly foreseeable payoff.
“We have 500 life sciences companies in the state Tom Fekete, director of corporate partnerships at
with about 30,000 employees,” she said, as well as
another 30,000 employees working in laboratories and
research settings. “The field of life sciences employs
100,000 people in Maryland.”
And yet, “Maryland is terrible at tech transfer and
commercializing technology,” said Lisbeth
Pettengill, vice president of the Greater Baltimore
Committee. “It’s a cultural thing. In the federal
labs, researchers are restricted from develop-
ing and commercializing their research
because of conflict of interest rules.
Academic institutions lack staff and capa-
bility to do tech transfer. Emphasis is on
basic research, not creating companies to
bring research to market.”
In 1980, the Bayh-Dole Act formally
kick-started the era of technology transfer
— the process by which laboratory
research is “transferred” to the commer-
cial marketplace — by recognizing owner-
ship rights of research discoveries in uni-
versities and federal labs, opening an
avenue allowing such institutions to com-
mercialize new technologies and leading-edge
research. As in all business endeavors, the key
to capitalizing on the state’s vast research inven-
tory is money, specifically, attracting investment
funding to enable small firms to develop early-stage
research into technologies with bankable applications.
Historically, university researchers have tended to

20 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report

the Johns Hopkins University breakthrough and eventual com- John Fini, director, Intellectual
Institute for NanoBioTechnology, mercialization is a “chasm that Property and Technology
said the path to commercialization must be bridged, he said. “There’s Commercialization for Hopkins’
is a “massive challenge.” a valley of death between the idea Whiting School of Engineering,
“Much of research tends to be and the capability.” pointed at the lingering effects of
very basic, fundamental, and quite Montserrat Capdevila, director the Great Recession as the culprit:
early,” he said. “The pathway to of sales, marketing and interna- “The economy is really terrible out
pharmacy — biotech, for example tional relations for the Hopkins there.”
— or factory floor energy projects Office of Technology Transfer, He also cited work force limita-
— is not very clear-cut. Corpora- said “translational funding” is tions.
tions go looking for technology needed to bridge that gap and “There aren’t enough entrepre-
that can be commercialized quickly, develop the technology to the neurs locally in biotech,” he said.
at a stage to scale up or market.” point where investors become “We have full-employment in
The gap between the initial interested. biotech, but we do not have a deep
bench. We need people who are
entrepreneurial in nature. Most
people with skills are fully
Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Lab has 1,500 employed.”
Britz touched on perhaps the
to 2,000 technologies available at any given greatest obstacle: Time. “Tech
time, according to Norma Lee Todd, assistant transfer is a slow process,” typical-
ly taking 10 years from idea to
director of the lab’s Office of Technology product.
Transfer. APL’s tech manager helps potential Despite such obstacles,
Maryland has many factors in its
investors pick and choose from the 130 new favor, including the Maryland
inventions produced there annually and APL’s Biotechnology Center and state-
250 active patents. See transfer 22

Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 21

 Transfer continued from 21
sponsored initiatives.
“We’re an outgrowth of Gov.
O’Malley’s BIO 2020 strategy plan:
the creation of a biocenter where
entrepreneurs could come to as a
resource to find what they need to
connect them with existing
resources,” Britz said. Those
resources include money, market-
ing research and business plan
assistance.
Launched in 2008, the
BioMaryland 2020 initiative pro-
poses investment of $1.3 billion in
Maryland’s bioscience industry
over a 10-year period. An expan-
sion of Maryland’s annual biotech
investment tax credit is another
key feature of the ambitious plan.
More can be done
“The bioscience tax credits get
scooped up almost instantly,” said
Gene Bracken, vice president of
communications for the Greater
Baltimore Committee. “The capaci-
ty for more investment in Maryland
has been clearly demonstrated. The
tax credit is a very efficient way to
generate private investment in bio-
science companies, and the credit
makes it much more feasible to
make those investments.”
The credit helps get companies to
journey the “death valley” between
early stage and the point where the
venture capital firms become interest-
ed. Because of the Great Recession, a
bit of a hiccup has been introduced to
the state’s tax credit funding capabili-
ty, “limiting investment opportunities
for bioscience companies in
Maryland,” Bracken said.
“Looks like we’re at least $4 mil-
lion behind the original plan as of
July 1 if the General Assembly
keeps the bioscience tax credit at its
existing $8 million level,” Bracken
wrote in an e-mail. “The governor’s
plan would have made $12 million
available in fiscal 2010 and $24 mil-
lion available on July 1, 2012 (the
beginning of fiscal 2013). So [if] the
biosci tax credit funding stays at its
current level after the 2012 session,
we’ll be $16 million behind.”
O’Malley’s InvestMaryland ini-
tiative is another antidote,
22 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report
In the past 10 years at
Hopkins’ APL...
• 1,443 inventions were
disclosed.
• 288 U.S. patents were
issued.
• 1,470 U.S. patent
applications were filed.
• 264 license agreements
were executed.
• 22 new companies were
created.
• >$32.8 million in licensing
and related R&D income
were generated.
designed to create “a public-pri-
vate partnership to fuel venture
capital investment in our innova-
tion economy, such as Maryland
bioscience companies,” O’Malley
said at the time of the program’s
debut in June 2010.
A bright spot for Maryland’s
tech transfer efforts can be found
at Hopkins’ Applied Physics Lab,
where a blizzard of innovation is
taking place.
“We have 1,500 to 2,000 tech-
nologies available at any given
time,” said Norma Lee Todd, assis-
tant director of the lab’s Office of
Technology Transfer. APL has a
tech manager to help potential
investors pick and choose. “We get
130 new inventions each year, and
we have 250 active patents.”
Successes on
the boards
Cumulative data from the past
10 years indicate 1,443 inventions
were disclosed, 288 U.S. patents
issued, 1,470 U.S. patent applica-
tions filed, 264 license agreements
executed, 22 companies created,
and more than $32.8 million in
licensing and related R&D income
was generated, Todd noted.
Among the lab’s hundreds of
technologies available-for-license
are the Automated Integrated
Distress Device, a new safety
device for boaters; the Drowsy
Driver Detection System, a nonin-
vasive system to detect fatigue; and
Frontier Radio, a low-power, low-
mass radio with advanced commu-
nication and navigation features.
A solar recharger, the
SunBlazer, nearly 10 years in
development, is approaching its
commercial launch, Todd said. The
device continually draws energy
from the sun or any sufficient light
source to provide ongoing
recharging to any of a range of
electronic devices including satel-
lites, laptops and cell phones.
One of APL’s success stories is
the QT Viewer™, a technology that
grew out of the need to quickly
visualize and manipulate the very
large data sets generated by
LIDAR surveys. LiDAR, or Light
Detection and Ranging, is a remote
sensing technology that can find
the range and other information
about a particular distant object by
the means of measuring the prop-
erties of scattered lights. The QT
Viewer was the primary XYZ data
processing tool of the U.S. Army
Rapid Terrain Visualization pro-
gram. The QT Viewer has been
licensed by Applied Imagery LLC
and released as The Quick Terrain
Modeler and the Quick Terrain
Reader.
Jerry Krill, assistant director for
Science and Technology at the
APL, said the lab’s efforts to intro-
duce research to corporate entities
have met with success, and the lab
today is more aggressive in its
efforts to introduce research to
corporate entities, he said.
“We tend to try to explain what
is different about our technology.
We show what is unique about our
technologies. We offer licensing
opportunities. We are encouraged
to license technologies that have
commercial value,” he said.
“Hopkins has an enormous
portfolio of technologies avail-
able,” Fekete said. “They want to
move technologies out into the
marketplace. We are trying to nur-
ture the partnership process with
See transfer 23
Transfer continued from 22
corporations interested in our
research, [creating] a collaborative
process where the corporation and
the university both have skin in the
game. This ought to move tech
capability forward.”
The tech transfer office facili-
tates matching technology with
entrepreneurs and investors, some-
times by actively marketing partic-
ular available technology and
sometimes the entrepreneur learns
about a particular technology and
makes overtures to the university.
TEDCO, the Maryland
Technology Development Corp., is
another shining light on the tech
transfer landscape.
“The success rate for TEDCO-
funded companies is significantly
higher than industry average
[because] they’re being vetted [to
qualify for funding] and the entre-
preneurs get business support,”
said Rob Rosenbaum, TEDCO pres-
ident and executive director. Over
success continued from 19
largely a guessing game. By the
time a tumor tissue sample hits the
slide, it has been treated with
formaldehyde, which kills live cells.
A pathologist then must analyze the
lifeless specimen, a process that
consists largely of a visual exam,
relying heavily on individual
expertise and interpretive skills.
That is where Baltimore’s
BioMarker Strategies hopes to step
in. Founded in 2007, the company is
developing a technology known as
SnapPath, which would allow doc-
tors to examine living cancer cells
to better gauge how an individual
patient may respond to various
pharmaceutical treatments.
Reactions to drugs and treatments
vary greatly from person to person,
and it is difficult for doctors to
know exactly how one patient will
respond without understanding the
biological composition of their spe-
cific cancer cells.
“Our test is designed to predict
what type of targeted cancer drug a
patient needs based on the testing
of their living biopsy sample,” said
the 10-year horizon of TEDCO-
funded entities, “in excess of 80 per-
cent of them are still in business.”
Oculis Labs Inc., Encore Path
Inc., Seguro Surgical and
Integrated BioTherapeutics Inc. are
examples of the successes generat-
ed by the TEDCO program, accord-
ing to Ashley Boarman, TEDCO
spokesperson. Oculis’ PrivateEye
and Chameleon are two products
designed to prevent eavesdroppers
from stealing information directly
from computer monitors. Encore’s
Tailwind is an exercise device for
improving arm function and range
of motion in people with partial
paralysis resulting from stroke,
traumatic brain injury, cerebral
palsy or other brain injury. Seguro
develops and commercializes surgi-
cal devices to reduce health care
costs and improve patient safety.
IBT, an emerging research-based
company, focuses on the develop-
ment of vaccines and the discovery
of small molecules targeting
emerging infectious agents.
Scott Allocco, president and co-
founder of BioMarker Strategies.
The company is riding a wave of
changes in cancer treatment, now
shifting from the old model of slide
analysis to live-cell examination,
Allocco said, and several drugs
already on the market use tests sim-
ilar to what BioMarker Strategies is
developing.
“But there are around 500 other
treatments under development,” he
said. “Very few have companion
biomarker tests to go with them,
Deep Relationships. Forward Thinking.
AUTHORIZED BY JOHN B. FRISCH, CHAIRMAN
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Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 23
TEDCO has made 230 invest-
ments — $75,000 each — in small
businesses, creating between 1,000
and 1,500 jobs.
“We have funding for about 15
to 20 deals per year,” Rosenbaum
said. “We’re technology-agnostic.”
There is a “pool of good business
people, but not enough entrepre-
neurs,” those folks who are willing
and able to enter the risky arena of
the startup enterprise, he said. “We
need to create an entrepreneurial
culture to lead to more success.”
Could biotech and the associat-
ed tech transfer process become
the next great jobs generator, à la
the 1990s tech boom?
“Everyone knows that the
bounce back from recessions takes
place with companies with under
100 employees,” Britz said.
And Maryland has a critical
mass of such companies.
“We have enormous quantities
of knowledge,” Fekete said. “Can
we turn it into money? If we can
turn it loose, we’ll get rich.”
and so that’s the opportunity that
we’re trying to take advantage of.”
BioMarker Strategies employs a
team of 10 researchers and assis-
tance at the Science + Technology
Park at Johns Hopkins in East
Baltimore, supported by a mix of
public and private financing,
including a $2.3 million grant from
the National Cancer Institute.
Allocco said the company plans to
begin clinical trials in the next year
and potentially bring its product to
market several years after that.
 biotech
bringing
home the
bacon
Attracting capital is hard,
but there is great support in
Maryland companies’ corner

David Block, CEO of Gliknik Inc., believes Maryland’s biotech

tax credit “is the single best incentive” offered to entice
companies to locate here. “It mandates new equity invest-
ment in qualified biotech companies.” About half of the
money invested comes from outside of the state.
RICH DENNISON

24 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report

BY HAAMID ALI
About 45 biotechnology companies in Maryland
H
are developing innovative biotherapeutical products
like therapies for patients suffering from pulmonary
hypertension, cancer and immune disorders.
Within the state, such companies tend to cluster in
some areas more than in others.
“There is no doubt that the
Baltimore region, to a greater
extent than the I-270 corridor, so
far lacks critical mass in biotech,”
said David Block, CEO of Gliknik
Inc. “It may be another 20 years
before we get there.”
But things are changing rapidly
in the Baltimore region. The
University of Maryland BioPark, a
resource for biotech startups in
Baltimore, reported recently that
interest from biotech startups has
grown so much “that the
BioInnovation Center’s lab space is
at capacity.”
While interest in biotech start-
ups has increased in Maryland,
from a national perspective invest-
ment in biotechnology companies
rose only 3 percent last year (in the
amount of money invested);
biotech-related deals increased 8
percent over 2009 activity, accord-
ing to The MoneyTree Report from
PricewaterhouseCoopers and the
National Venture Capital
Association, released quarterly
based on data culled by Thomson
Reuters. Biotech represented the
second-largest investment sector
nationwide, exceeded only by the
software industry, which saw a 20
percent increase in investment in
2010, resulting in a 21 percent
increase in deals over the previous
year. According to a survey by
NVCA and Dow Jones
VentureSources, 19 percent of ven-
ture capitalists surveyed predicted
the biotech sector will fare better in
2011; 69 percent predicted the
information technology sector will
fare better this year. Those sur-
Massachusetts,” Lessing said. “We
have strong academic institutions,
like Johns Hopkins, University of
Maryland and NIH, which can pro-
vide core technology and support-
ive governmental programs.”
Prior to his company’s merger
with Arginetix, Lessing said,
Corridor was able to license tech-
nology from Hopkins, and took
advantage of Maryland’s
veyed also cited the Mid-Atlantic Biotechnology Incentive Tax
region as one of the most promis- Credit, designed to help Maryland
ing for biotech sectors other than companies attract more investment
the Silicon Valley, New York and by leveraging their credits.
New England. The program “has become one
“While VCs can, and do, find of state’s most important tools for
attractive opportunities wherever giving fledging biotechnology
“
While VCs can, and do, find attractive
opportunities wherever they are, it is not a
coincidence that our largest investors are
based in the Mid-Atlantic region.
- Gary Lessing
CEO, Corridor Pharmaceuticals Inc.
they are, it is not a coincidence that companies the chance to mature
our largest investors are based in and commercialize oftentimes life-
the Mid-Atlantic region — Quaker saving discoveries,” Gov. Martin
BioVentures in Philadelphia, O’Malley stated in a recent press
Domain Partners in Princeton, N.J. release. The state has invested $24
and MedImmune Ventures in million in the program in the past
Gaithersburg,” said Gary Lessing, four years.
CEO of Corridor Pharmaceuticals “I think the Maryland biotech
Inc., whose company recently tax credit is the single best incen-
received a $15 million boost in tive we have in the state and I
funding from several Mid-Atlantic applaud the governor and the leg-
based firms. “Proximity definitely islature for protecting and expand-
helps attract investors.” ing this program during difficult
Maryland offers several advan- economic times, said Gliknik’s
tages and support for biotech com- Block. “What is beautiful … is that
panies. it mandates new equity investment
“Maryland is a well-established in qualified biotech companies.
home for life sciences companies,
trailing only California and See capital 26
Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 25
 capital continued from 25 “Investors understand this high risk,” Block
said. “They rely on us to make the highest quality
About half the money invested in companies comes scientific and business decisions to improve the
from investors outside of Maryland, meaning that odds of success.”
investors elsewhere are putting their money into cre- Parrott, whose board recently invested in
ating high-value, relatively high-paying jobs in Gliknik, said his group was impressed with “the
Maryland.” company’s innovative science and progress against
Founded in 2007, Gliknik develops new therapies developing novel therapeutics for patients with
for patients with cancer and immune disorders, and cancer and immune disorders.”
recently completed a $15 million Series A financing Being fiscally prudent also can help. Block
from venture capital investors based in the Mid- attributes his company’s successes to the tremen-
Atlantic. The combination of a promise of the pro- dous progress it has made by “taking a whiteboard
gram’s further development, a clear value proposition concept and turning it into a drug that works in
and business model as well as a high quality team all many animal models, while being fiscally prudent.”
his company more attractive to investors, Block said. “What is really nice about our stradomerTM
program is that we have made a recombinant (lab-
What more can be done? oratory-grown) functional equivalent of a drug that
Despite massive effort, attracting VC remains a currently is
tough chal- pooled from
lenge for many tens of thou-
s t a r t u p s . sands of
Investors are donors’ blood,
b e c o m i n g and which sells
more and more $3 billion
selective in annually for
tough econom- use in autoim-
ic times. Jerry mune dis-
Parrott, chair- eases,” Block
man of the said. “So we
M a r y l a n d hope that will
Health Care translate into
P r o d u c t lower risk of
Development safety prob-
Corp., one of lems in clinical
the organiza- trials. Only
tions that help time will tell if
Maryland’s that is true.
early-stage Half of drugs
biotechs, said that make it to
MAXIMILIAN FRANZ
in a recent the clinic fail
release that his Corridor Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Gary Lessing (right) discusses a presentation that for safety rea-
“board is high- will be given to potential investors. Lessing’s company recently received a funding sons, so mod-
ly selective boost of about $15 million from several Mid-Atlantic based investors. eling a drug
when consid- based on one
ering potential companies in which to invest.” that is known to be safe may be helpful. It is for this
To attract more investment, “you must present a reason that there is a fair amount of pharma inter-
compelling value proposition,” Lessing said. “There est in this program as we push the lead compound
needs to be a clear path of how the funds you are towards the clinic.”
raising will enable you to reach a value-inflection Block said he hopes the funds will help Gliknik
point, and you [must show you] have the team and to initiate a clinical program for autoimmune dis-
technology to deploy the capital successfully.” eases.
Biotechnology comes with huge costs, Block Many different firms have shown interest in
said, “and it takes as long to move a drug forward Maryland companies. Investors in Corridor
as to build a new fighter jet or nuclear power Pharmaceuticals and Gliknik, the companies cited
plant.” in this article, included Domain Partners, Quaker
What makes the difference is a new develop- BioVentures, MedImmune Ventures, NewSpring
ment’s likelihood of success, he said. Only a few the Capital, Maryland Health Care Product
many drugs developed get approval and for use by Development Corporation, Red Abbey Venture
patients, for instance. Partners and LifeTech Development Partners.

26 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report

 GBC seeks nominations for the 2011
bioscience awards
The Greater Baltimore The deadline for nominations is GBC’s website, www.gbc.org.
Committee is seeking nomina- March 4. Nomination criteria, For more information, please
tions for the 2011 Maryland forms and information about the contact Lisbeth Pettengill at (410)
Bioscience Awards. The sixth awards event can be found on the 727-2820 or lisbethp@gbc.org.
annual awards, which recognize
outstanding achievement in
Maryland’s growing bioscience
industry, will be presented
Thursday, March 29, during
breakfast ceremonies at UMB
BioPark in Baltimore.
Award winners in 2010 were:
Dr. Claire M. Fraser-Liggett,
director, Institute for Genome
Sciences, University of Maryland
School of Medicine; Wayne
Swann, senior advisor, CrispTek,
LLC; Charlene Riikonen, presi-
dent and CEO, Cera Products
Inc.; and Dr. Martha Connolly,
director, Maryland Industrial
Partnerships.
“Maryland’s bioscience indus-
try growth is accelerating,” said
GBC President and CEO Donald
C. Fry. “These annual awards cel-
ebrate the innovative work of the
researchers, entrepreneurs, and
visionaries who are driving
Maryland’s progress as a major
bioscience research and industry
center.”
The four award categories are:
Outstanding Entrepreneur, Best
New Product or Progress,
Leadership in Bioscience and
President’s Award. Judges for
the awards are prominent bio-
science entrepreneurs and indus-
try experts.
Nominators will be asked to
submit documentation and nar-
ratives that fulfill several criteria,
then to add supporting evidence
as deemed suitable. Self-nomina-
tions are accepted and encour-
aged.

Special Marketing Report | The Biotech Report | 27

2011 Biotech calendar
for the baltimore-washington region
March 2-4, 2011
Vaccines Business Congress
The Hilton Baltimore
Contact Serik Slobodskoy,
sslobodskoy@iirusa.com
(646) 895-7396
www.vaxbiz.com
Only conference dedicated to foster-
ing partnering opportunities in the
vaccine space, bringing together big
pharma, small biotech, government,
philanthropic organizations and pri-
vate investment companies. Features
10 case studies from top vaccine part-
nerships, whose decision-makers
share their secrets to obtaining fund-
ing for vaccine development.
March 9-10, 2011
Workshop: Scalable Transient
Protein Production in Mammalian
Cells
BioSciConcepts,
2001 Aliceanna St., Baltimore
(410) 752-4224
www.biosciconcepts.com
Introduces the fundamental concepts
needed to establish small to large-
scale transient protein production
systems using mammalian cells. The
class reviews the four essential ele-
ments of any mammalian transient
production system: cell lines, expres-
sion vectors, transient transfection
and cell culture. Workshop will be
presented again Sept. 21-22, 2011.
March 28-29, 2011
Fourth Annual Biospecimen
Research Network Symposium
Advancing Cancer Research
Through Biospecimen Science
Bethesda North Marriot Hotel &
Conference Center, Bethesda, Md.
Contact Frank Bajowski,
fbajowski@capconcorp.com
(301) 468-6004, ext. 502
http://brnsymposium.com/
28 | The Biotech Report | Special Marketing Report
Features presentations and interac-
tive discussions on biospecimen
quality and ways to address it. The
symposium will address the signifi-
cant impact of pre-analytical biospec-
imen variables on cancer research
and molecular medicine. Hosted by
NCI’s Office of Biorepositories and
Biospecimen Research.
March 29, 2011
Sixth Annual Maryland
Bioscience Awards
9 to 10 a.m. (Registration, 8 a.m.)
University of Maryland BioPark,
801 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore
Contact Lisbeth Pettengill,
lisbethp@gbc.org
(410) 727-2820
www.gbc.org/event/2192
The state’s premier bioscience
awards event, sponsored by the
Greater Baltimore Committee, recog-
nizes outstanding achievements in
Maryland’s bioscience industry.
Companies and individuals are
strongly encouraged to self nomi-
nate. Nominations will be accepted
through March 4 in four award cate-
gories: Entrepreneurial, Best New
Product or Progress, Leadership in
Bioscience and the President’s
Award.
April 4-6, 2011
12th Annual Immunogenicity for
Biotherapeutics
L’Enfant Plaza, Washington, D.C.
Contact Serik Slobodskoy,
ssloboskoy@iirusa.com
(646) 895-7396
www.immunogenicityevent.com
The largest event designed by and for
scientists driving progress and inno-
vation in immunogenicity studies.
Experts and scientists gather annual-
ly to discuss updates on emerging
regulatory guidance, industry white
papers and to exchange novel case
studies and technology dedicated to
the science as discovering solutions
for top challenges in the field
April 29, 2011
Maryland Industrial Partnerships
Research Funding Deadline
(301) 405-3891
www.mips.umd.edu
MIPS promotes the development and
commercialization of products and
processes through industry/ univer-
sity research partnerships through
matching funds to help Maryland
companies pay for university
research. Projects are initiated by the
companies to meet their own
research and development goals.
May 12-13, 2011
Capital Connection ‘11
JW Marriott Hotel, Washington, D.C.
mava@mava.org
(703) 506-9300
Visit www.capitalconnection.org
for fees and event schedule or to
register.
Attracts investors from throughout
the country, Capital Connection
offers networking opportunities for
capital sources of all stages, advisors
and high-level business leaders and
entrepreneurs.
June 27-30, 2011
BIO International Convention
Grand Hyatt, Washington
The Bio International Convention,
held annually, is the largest global
event for the biotechnology industry
and offers key networking and part-
nering opportunities as well as pro-
vides insights on major trends affect-
ing the industry.
Visit http://convention.bio.org for a
full calendar of times and associated
events, including breakout sessions
and international case studies, a
career fair and more.