Andrew Eckert

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Emmes today announced that Behrman Capital, a leading private equity firm, has made a significant investment in the company.  The capital will allow Emmes, one of the Washington area’s top 100 largest private companies, to expand and strengthen its service offerings and international presence.

Behrman Capital has a 25-year track record of successfully investing in growing healthcare services companies, adding resources and professional services to help them innovate and expand.

“This is a substantial and exciting milestone in our evolution,” said Dr. Anne Lindblad, president and chief executive officer of Emmes.  “The Emmes name will continue, as will our vision, mission, leadership, and focus on advancing human health.  We will benefit from Behrman’s investment, expertise and relationships.  We believe this investment will allow us to provide employees even greater opportunities as we continue to build and grow.

“Our government work is and will remain core, and we plan to accelerate our efforts on the non-government side,” she added.

According to Grant Behrman, managing partner of Behrman Capital, “Emmes has world class talent and an outstanding reputation in clinical research.  It has built an especially strong legacy in the government sector and, in particular, at the National Institutes of Health.  Our role is to invest in the company’s future growth, from employee development to expanded offerings to current and prospective clients.”

Click here to read the entire release vis PR Newswire

Emergent BioSolutions announced today that the company has signed a deal with the U.S. Department of State to establish a supply chain for certain medical countermeasures that address chemical warfare agents.

The five-year, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract includes five additional one-year option periods. The total contract value is worth a minimum of $7 million to a maximum of $100 million over the contract’s period of performance.

As part of the deal, Emergent will supply the State Department with the Trobigard atropine sulfate/obidoxime chloride auto-injector, a drug-device for emergency use in the event of nerve agent or organophosphate poisoning, and RSDL (Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion Kit), which is intended to remove or neutralize chemical warfare agents and T-2 toxin from the skin. Under this contract, Emergent will maintain the capability to manufacture and deliver the Trobigard auto-injector, RSDL, and auto-injector training devices.

“Emergent is pleased with this follow-on opportunity to meet the U.S. government’s need for medical countermeasures that enhance the security of U.S. diplomats and other Chief of Mission personnel engaged in high-risk environments worldwide,” Doug White, senior vice president and head of the devices business unit at Emergent BioSolutions, said. “Our mission – to protect and enhance life – has been at the core of our 20-year history of partnering with governments. We look forward to successfully completing deliveries of our Trobigard auto-injector under our 2017 contract and to our continued partnership with the State Department as we expand our portfolio of solutions to address existing and emerging chemical warfare agents for the long-term.”

Click here to read more via homelandprepnews.com

Funding for the Bethesda-based National Institutes of Health is up by 14 percent during the two years that President Donald Trump has been in the White House — but it’s despite and not because of the president, according to Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen.

“The short answer is NIH is better off – but not because of Trump at all,” Van Hollen, a Democrat, said during a wide-ranging telephone interview with Bethesda Beat, in which he reviewed highlights of his first two years in the Senate and laid out his legislative priorities for the next two. “In fact, when Trump came in, in his first budget year, he proposed a pretty deep cut in NIH funding.”

Van Hollen said the Senate Appropriations Committee, on which he serves, had played a key role in the “significant increase” in funding for NIH, where the annual budget has jumped from $34.3 billion when Trump took office in January 2017 to $39.1 billion for the 2019 fiscal year.

The current NIH budget is $4.3 billion more than Trump originally proposed.

On top of a nearly 9 percent hike for fiscal 2018, NIH funding went up another 5 percent for 2019 – an increase consistent with that proposed by the Senate Appropriations Committee and backed by the full Senate.

“I fought very hard to get on [the Appropriations Committee],” said Van Hollen, only the second Montgomery County resident elected to represent Maryland in the Senate. “It’s very rare that a new member of the Senate gets on that committee … And we had a lot of success in fighting for important Maryland and national priorities.”

Read more via Bethesda Magazine

D.C.-based Danaher Corp. is acquiring Boston-based General Electric Co.’s biopharma business for $21.4 billion in an all-cash deal announced Monday.

GE Biopharma, part of GE Life Sciences, supports research, development and manufacturing of biopharmaceutical drugs. The unit, consisting of instruments, technologies and consumables, is expected to generate roughly $3.2 billion in 2019 revenue, according to a release.

The transaction’s net price comes to about $20 billion with tax benefits, 17-times GE Biopharma’s expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. Danaher, a conglomerate of industrial and commercial manufacturers, plans to finance the deal with about $3 billion of proceeds from an equity offering, along with cash on-hand and other sources.

It’s expected to close in the fourth quarter, and is not subject to a shareholder vote or financing condition.

Danaher was formerly led by current GE Chairman and CEO Larry Culp.

Under the deal, the unit will exist as a standalone operating company within Danaher’s $6.5 billion life sciences portfolio. It will function alongside its other businesses including Pall, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, SCIEX, Leica Microsystems, Molecular Devices, Phenomenex and IDT.

“This acquisition will bring a talented and passionate team as well as a highly innovative, industry-leading product suite to our Life Sciences portfolio, providing an excellent complement to our current biologics workflow solutions.,” said Danaher President and CEO Thomas Joyce Jr. in a statement. The addition is also expected to advance the company’s growth and innovation strategy in the life science market, he said.

Read more via the Washington Business Journal