| | BioHealth Innovation Welcomes Dr. Nilay Shah to Board of Directors | |
BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Nilay Shah to its Board of Directors. A physician–executive with more than 20 years of experience in global clinical development and commercial strategy, Dr. Shah brings deep expertise in advancing innovative therapies from early development through regulatory approval and market entry.
Dr. Shah currently serves as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Ophthalmology at Emmes, where he leads the company’s fastest-growing therapeutic division and serves on the Executive Management Committee. Over the course of his tenure, he has helped scale the organization into a global CRO serving biotech innovators across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. His experience spans Phase I through Phase III trials, FDA and EMA engagement, pharmacovigilance, and strategic alliances with emerging and growth-stage life sciences companies.
| | BHI Partner Brian Darmody named The Maryland Economic Development Association (MEDA) 2026 MEDA Hall of Fame Recipient | |
Havre de Grace, MD (February 11, 2026) – The Maryland Economic Development Association (MEDA) is pleased to announce the winners of its 2026 individual awards: the MEDA Hall of Fame, MEDA Rising Star, and MEDA Volunteer of the Year. Sponsored by Miles & Stockbridge P.C., the MEDA Awards annually recognize economic development leaders who move their communities forward in extraordinary ways.
“Each year, it is inspiring to hear about the individual work being done to support Maryland’s growth,” said Tammi Thomas, president of MEDA’s Board of Directors. “Each nomination reflected a deep commitment to the state. After deliberation, we are happy to announce the winners whose leadership demonstrates the strength of Maryland’s economic development community and the real, measurable progress being made statewide through collaboration and a shared commitment to growth.”
Brian Darmody, chief strategy officer of the...
| |  | Richmond BiZSENSE: Activation Capital revamps recently launched life sciences accelerator program | |
Following its launch a year and a half ago, a local accelerator program aimed at life sciences companies has been revamped in an attempt to get better results for its participants.
Activation Capital announced in early February a new iteration of the Frontier BioHealth program.
Formerly, the program, which is intended to get startup founders ready to pitch to investors and secure funding, featured a set number of companies that applied for and then completed the program on a set timeline. The revamped version features asynchronous cohorts and rolling admissions. It’s intended to create a more tailored experience for participating startups, and easier to juggle alongside the day-to-day running of the fledgling firms.
“It’s better to meet these guys where they are, based on where they are in their funding, where they are in their product development, where they are in their commercialization strategy and so forth,” Activation Capital CEO Mike Steele said.
Steele said that feedback from program participants informed the new direction, which involves a mixture of in-person and virtual programming along with mentorship opportunities for startups.
| | | Saving the Date for the 12th Annual BioHealth Capital Region Week | |
The BioHealth Capital Region continues to grow as one of the nation’s leading biohealth clusters, driven by research excellence, capital access, federal partnerships, and a deep bench of experienced operators. Each year, BioHealth Capital Region Week brings that momentum together under one roof.
The 12th Annual BioHealth Capital Region Week will take place September 15th through 17th, 2026, once again hosted at the US Pharmacopeia in Rockville, Maryland. Over three days, leaders from industry, government, academia, and the investment community will convene to address the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of biohealth.
| | | BHI EIR Insights: 7 Tactics to Optimize Launch Messaging – Part VII | |
As we conclude our Optimizing Launch Messaging series, we’ve explored how to create clear, targeted, and evidence-based messages. For our final insight, we’re focusing on a tool that’s rapidly changing the communication landscape: artificial intelligence. We’ll focus on generative AI here, and similar lessons can apply to agentic AI down the road.
Insight 7: Engage the power of AI in message optimization
When preparing for launch (or really any high-stakes communication) the strongest messages come from a partnership between humans and AI. Here’s the workflow we recommend:
A. Workshop the message development 🧠
Bring your teams together early to outline goals, target audiences, and the strategic backbone of your message.
B. Invite AI to that workshop 🤖
| | | WBJ: A shared vision for the Greater Washington Region’s economy | |
By Kathy Hollinger and Nora Gardner - Feb 25, 2026
The Greater Washington region has a choice to make in 2026. Last year’s federal shutdown exposed a long-standing vulnerability—our heavy reliance on the federal sector, which, along with related services, still employs about 30 percent of our workforce. At the same time, federal agencies are shifting toward a more efficient, technology- and product-driven operating model that increasingly resembles the private-sector. This transformation underscores both our risk and our opportunity: to diversify, strengthen, and reimagine our economy before market forces do it for us.
The challenge is clear. While our peers have surged ahead embracing emerging industries like technology, life sciences, and aerospace, the Greater Washington Region’s growth has lagged. Those sectors,,,
| | | ARPA-H Advances Healthspan Through PROSPR Initiative | |
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has announced new awards under its PROactive Solutions for Prolonging Resilience (PROSPR) program, a bold initiative aimed at extending healthspan by targeting the biology of aging. The program is investing up to $144 million over five years to develop tools, biomarkers, and therapeutics that can detect and intervene in the earliest changes associated with aging.
PROSPR is designed to shift the current paradigm from managing late-stage chronic disease to preserving long-term health and independence. By leveraging longitudinal datasets and validating early biomarkers as surrogate endpoints, performer teams will test new and repurposed therapeutics through innovative, decentralized clinical trial models that can generate results in years rather than decades.
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Vanda Pharmaceuticals Announces FDA Acceptance of Biologics License Application Filing for Imsidolimab for the Treatment of Generalized Pustular Psoriasis
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Vanda) (Nasdaq: VNDA) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the filing of its Biologics License Application (BLA) for imsidolimab for the treatment of Generalized Pustular Psoriasis (GPP), with a target action date of December 12, 2026.
GPP is a rare, chronic, life-threatening autoinflammatory skin disorder characterized by sudden flares of widespread pustules, erythema, and systemic symptoms such as fever and fatigue. The pathogenesis of GPP is increasingly understood through its genetic characterization (OMIM #614204), and its molecular etiology is mainly attributed to excessive activity of the interleukin-36 (IL-36) pathway.1 The majority of GPP cases for which a causal single gene defect has been identified are caused by various consequential genetic variants in the IL36RN gene, encoding the IL-36 receptor antagonist (IL-36Ra).2,3,4
Imsidolimab is a fully humanized IgG4 monoclonal antibody that inhibits IL-36 receptor...
| | | Jeeva Clinical Trials Calls on Global Life Sciences Leaders to Modernize Infrastructure for AI-Driven Drug Development | |
MANASSAS, VA, UNITED STATES, February 24, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Jeeva Clinical Trials today amplified its call to action for the global pharmaceutical and clinical research ecosystem: Artificial Intelligence will not transform drug development unless organizations modernize the IT infrastructure beneath it.
The message — first articulated in a recent thought leadership article by Founder and CEO Harsha K. Rajasimha — has gained strong traction following industry-wide discussions at AI Impact Summit, as well as at two of the most influential global healthcare gatherings of 2026 to date: JPMorgan Healthcare Conference and BIO International Convention. Across these forums, one theme consistently emerged: AI is advancing rapidly — but infrastructure modernization is lagging behind.
AI Is Advancing Faster Than Infrastructure
From predictive enrollment modeling to protocol optimization and real-time financial forecasting, AI applications are proliferating across the drug development lifecycle. However, discussions at AI Impact Summit 2026 and throughout JPMorgan and BIO revealed a sobering reality...
| | | MaxCyte unveils ExPERT DTx™, a 96-well electroporation platform to accelerate discovery | |
ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MaxCyte, Inc., (NASDAQ: MXCT), a leading, cell-engineering focused company providing enabling platform technologies to advance the discovery, development and commercialization of next-generation cell therapeutics, today announced the launch of ExPERT DTx™, a new high throughput transfection platform for research and drug discovery applications. This modular, 96-well electroporation system enables labs to transfect primary cells and cell lines with minimal cellular stress, helping researchers to uncover valuable insights and better understand fundamental biological processes before scaling up to larger transfection volumes.
ExPERT DTx streamlines workflows by processing up to 96 samples in a single, three-minute run. The platform’s R-50x96™ well processing assembly provides one of the most cost-effective solutions for 96-well electroporation on the market, allowing 12 detachable 8-well strips to be processed in parallel with unique parameters for different cell...
| | | 20/20 BioLabs Launches OneTest for Longevity Blood Test and Chronic Disease Risk Assessment and Management Solution Built with IBM AI Capabilities | |
GAITHERSBURG, Md., Feb. 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 20/20 BioLabs (Nasdaq: AIDX), an early market leader in cutting-edge, laboratory-based blood tests for the early detection and prevention of cancers and chronic diseases, announces the launch and commercial availability of its OneTest for Longevity solution. The solution uses IBM watsonx.ai – an integrated AI application development studio – to analyze data, to help individuals track chronic inflammation associated with several major chronic diseases. The test is now available for purchase.
The OneTest for Longevity solution uses IBM watsonx.ai* to calculate and display an individual's risk of being diagnosed with chronic diseases such as diabetes, dementia, and cardiovascular disease. The product provides personalized, evidence-based dietary recommendations to help individuals better understand patterns in their biomarker levels and associated disease risks.
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