Bioscience firms receive $350,000 to fight diseases

by Steve Berberich


 

A Maryland company’s potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease is one of the projects getting a financial boost from health care products giant Johnson & Johnson.

All told, $350,000 is going to develop emerging technologies by three Maryland firms through the company’s partnership with the Maryland Technology Development Corp.

Neuronascent Inc. of Clarksville received $100,000 to support its goal of producing neuron-repairing molecules for Alzheimer‘s disease, depression and other nerve degenerative conditions, in partnership with University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Biotechnology company 20⁄20 Gene Systems Inc. in Rockville received $150,000 to help develop, with the National Institutes of Health, new protein-based diagnostics for early disease detection.

And Biomedica Management Corp. of Baltimore received $100,000 for its research and development of products to treat inflammation, coagulation and tissue regeneration in cooperation with the Army Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Detrick in Frederick.

Johnson & Johnson’s Corporate Office of Science and Technology program, formed in 1978, is a complementary component of Tedco’s Maryland Technology Transfer Fund. The program provides awards of up to $150,000 to existing Tedco portfolio companies or up to $75,000 for Maryland companies that have not received such a tech-transfer award in the past.

‘‘The success of these three companies is a testament to the value of seed funding,” said David Bowser, vice president of technology transfer and academic relations at the Johnson & Johnson program in New Brunswick, N.J., in a statement. ‘‘We look forward to continuing our partnership with Tedco through this fund, as it provides us with the earliest possible insight into what potentially could be groundbreaking research in the healthcare field.”

‘‘We are thrilled with the success these companies have garnered so far and are proud to support their further growth in collaboration” with the Johnson & Johnson program, said Renée Winsky, Tedco president and executive director, in a statement.

‘‘This partnership with Johnson & Johnson gives us the opportunity to help develop a subset of Maryland’s technology industry, that which focuses on health-related innovations.”