5 Reasons Montgomery County, Maryland Is The Ideal Home for ARPA-H

Montgomery County, Maryland (MoCo) is built for biomedical innovation and a prime location for ARPA-H. With access to top talent, resources, federal agency headquarters and collaborations like establishment of the University of Maryland 3 – Institute for Health Computer (UM-3-IHC), MoCo is a leading global hub in life sciences. Learn five more reasons why MoCo is the ideal home for ARPA-H.

1.     Cutting-Edge Research

Strategically located in North Bethesda, UM-3-IHC will cultivate a clinical data science ecosystem that attracts researchers from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as faculty, medical bioinformatics programs, and students from the University of Maryland system. The institute will provide computational "dry" laboratories, virtual meetings rooms and classrooms, fostering collaboration and innovation in the field of health computing. The accessibility and proximity to major transportation hubs, federal agencies, research institutions, and academic partners create a vibrant ecosystem for research and development.

2.     Collaboration and Synergy

The presence of UM-3-IHC within Montgomery County enhances the collaborative ecosystem necessary for ARPA-H's success. ARPA-H Program Managers can benefit from the proximity and collaborative opportunities with UM-3-IHC researchers, who are at the forefront of health computing and data-driven healthcare solutions. This collaboration enables the exchange of ideas, fosters interdisciplinary research, and accelerates the translation of scientific discoveries into practical applications.

3.     Advancing Precision Medicine and Healthcare Innovation

UM-3-IHC's focus on clinical data science, artificial intelligence, and computing aligns perfectly with ARPA-H's mission to advance precision medicine and healthcare innovation. The partnership between UM-3-IHC and MoCo’s life sciences ecosystem will lead to groundbreaking advancements in leveraging data-driven approaches for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases, offering an environment perfectly suited for ARPA-H.

4.     A Highly Trained & Diverse Workforce

Montgomery County boasts a large and diverse life sciences workforce that is well-versed in innovative, cutting-edge technologies, commercialization, and regulatory issues. The county is home to a pool of talented professionals who have extensive experience in the life sciences industry, making it a prime environment for ARPA-H to attract top talent and foster collaboration.

5.     Thriving Biohealth Industry Cluster

As the epicenter of the fourth largest biohealth industry cluster in the United States, Montgomery County offers a rich ecosystem of private sector, academic, and federal innovators specializing in various areas of biomedical research. This concentration of expertise facilitates knowledge sharing, collaboration, and the development of groundbreaking technologies, which aligns perfectly with ARPA-H's mission to accelerate biomedical innovation.

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Learn more about Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC): Maryland’s Montgomery County, the immunology capital next to the nation’s capital. Home to NIH, FDA, top talent, partnerships and life science success for you.

Contact our CEO, Bill Tompkins at ceo@thinkmoco.com if you want to BE NEXT.

6 Ways ARPA-H Can Leverage Montgomery County, MD’s Life Sciences Partnerships to Fast-Track Products

1.     Montgomery County’s Spirit of Partnerships

People often think of biotechnology partnerships as licensing deals, where one company develops a product and licenses it to another for manufacturing and marketing. Partnership in the local industry; however, goes much deeper than that, said Brad Stewart, senior vice president of business development for Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation. “What I think is unique about the area we have here is it's a very rich, diverse group of companies with a spectacular cross-section of the types of products and services,” Stewart said. “It’s also a very friendly community. It's one where if you need help, most likely someone knows someone who can help you, and they're likely to volunteer their time to help you.”

2.     Empowering Young Biotech Startups

Montgomery County’s partnerships-oriented culture is particularly advantageous for budding biotech companies. Even with just a few employees, these startups can tap into a wealth of resources, mentorship programs, and networking opportunities. Initiatives like the Maryland Tech Council's venture mentoring services program and the Montgomery County Business Center’s incubator helps connect startups with the right partners to propel them to success.

3.     A Thriving Biotech Ecosystem

Montgomery County boasts an extensive biotechnology ecosystem, encompassing both public and private sectors. With 36 federal labs, including the renowned National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the county has a deep talent pool and unparalleled research and regulatory resources. Over 300 life sciences companies call Montgomery County home, offering partners at every stage of product development.

 4.     Manufacturing and Trial Partnerships

Montgomery County provides a thriving environment for manufacturing partnerships. Companies such as Lonza, Catalent, MaxCyte, Charles River Labs and Saint Gobain operate within the county, offering manufacturing capabilities essential for biotech product commercialization. These partnerships facilitate seamless progression from early discovery to large-scale production and distributions.

5.     Success Stories: Akan Biosciences and Seraxis

Akan Biosciences and Seraxis, two life sciences startups that recently graduated from the County Business Center's incubator program, exemplify the benefits of Montgomery County's connectivity. These cell therapy companies received educational support, collaborative opportunities, shared resources, and access to state-of-the-art lab facilities. They have grown significantly, with Akan expanding its team and Seraxis advancing its groundbreaking cure for type 1 diabetes. 

6.     Keys to Successful Life Sciences Partnerships

According to industry experts three keys contribute to successful partnerships: complementary core competencies, strong personal relationships built on trust and addressing significant needs in healthcare or research. Montgomery County's collaborative environment fosters such partnerships, enabling partners to identify unmet medical needs, develop innovative solutions and address the growing healthcare demands of an aging population.

With access top talent, resources, federal agency headquarters and key partnerships, ARPA-H has an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate product development. Through strong personal relationships and a shared dedication to addressing critical medical needs, Montgomery County’s life science ecosystem can help shape the future of healthcare and improve lives.

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Learn more about Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC): Maryland’s Montgomery County, the immunology capital next to the nation’s capital. Home to NIH, FDA, top talent, partnerships and life science success for you.

Contact our CEO, Bill Tompkins at ceo@thinkmoco.com if you want to BE NEXT.

Innovation Tour Showcases Montgomery County, Maryland’s Thriving Life Sciences Community

Montgomery County, Maryland, is a thriving innovation center in the life sciences industry. With a growing number of companies and employees working on cutting-edge technologies and treatments, it's hard for outsiders to grasp the depth and breadth of the work being done.

“It’s not just vaccines,” said Patricia Larrabee, founder and President of Facility Logix, a consulting firm that provides owners’ representation building solutions for biotech companies. “It’s organs. It’s pharmaceuticals. It’s drug products that can be made on demand in a hospital’s parking lot as needed.”

To showcase the diversity of science taking place across the county, Larrabee recently organized a tour of four of these companies for local officials and economic development advocates: On Demand Pharmaceuticals, United Therapeutics, MaxCyte and Sirnaomics.

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On Demand Pharmaceuticals Inc.

“We've worked with the county on multiple fronts as we've had to do construction and we've had to get permits,” said Kari Stoever, chief external relations officer of On Demand Pharmaceuticals Inc., one of the companies included on the tour. “Getting to know the community better was really important, and having the opportunity to meet more people locally in the public realm and other partners was a good opportunity for us to show what's happening in their backyard with our company.”

On Demand Pharmaceuticals opened its manufacturing facility in Rockville in October 2020. The company is utilizing advanced manufacturing technologies to change the way medicine is made with the goal of making drug shortages a thing of the past.

The company's technology platform allows medicines to be produced in small machines rather than large factories so that with the right starting ingredients, medicine can be made on demand wherever they are needed most, such as on-site at a hospital, in the field of a military operation or in a rural community without access to a reliable supply chain. It is in the process of beta testing its first minimally viable product, which is scheduled to launch by the end of the year. This portable system will be able to produce sterile injectables that are basic medicines needed in a hospital emergency room and operating room.

“We're already busting at the seams of our current facility, so we're thinking about what's next,” Stoever said. That likely means maintaining a headquarters in Montgomery County, near two of its biggest funders — the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services — and adding locations across the country to create a distributed network.

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United Therapeutics (UT)

Montgomery County has been really successful in attracting life science companies, but we want more.

Thomas Kaufman, United Therapeutics

Another company on the tour was United Therapeutics (UT), which has been based in Montgomery County for over 25 years. The company has grown significantly during that time and has partnered with the county on multiple occasions to build new facilities. During the tour, guests were taken through the Unisphere, a site that once housed a county-owned parking garage and is now the country's largest net-zero commercial office building.

“Montgomery County has been really successful in attracting life science companies, but we want more,” said Thomas Kaufman, associate vice president, corporate real estate for United Therapeutics. “Having a virtuous cycle of economic activity driven by life science companies brings more people here and ultimately helps us become a stronger company.”

United Therapeutics focuses its work on rare lung diseases, including pulmonary hypertension. While its current medicines treat these diseases, the only cure at this time is a lung transplant, so UT's long-term mission is to create an unlimited supply of -manufactured organs to help address the national shortage of transplantable organs. Today, it is in the process of renovating an existing facility where it plans to grow human cells as part of a technology that would create a 3D-printed organ.

“We think that Montgomery County could be the future hub for this nascent organ manufacturing industry, which doesn’t really exist yet,” Kaufman said. There are more than a hundred thousand people on the waiting list for an organ transplant, with an average of 17 dying each day while they wait.

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MaxCyte

MaxCyte is another Montgomery County-based company that has developed a cell engineering platform enabling the development of new cell therapies that can treat patients who otherwise can't be treated. The company supports over 16 clinical programs and hundreds of early discovery projects with biotechs and academic partners across a wide range of therapeutic areas, including sickle cell and rare diseases.

“It’s science fiction coming true,” said CEO Doug Doerfler. “Just think about it, taking someone’s cells and engineering them, giving them back and treating a disease.”

Doerfler started the company in Montgomery County almost 25 years ago. Having access to incubator space in the early days was a significant plus, and the region’s talented workforce, transportation network and reputation as a great place to work continue to benefit MaxCyte.

There also is a sense of warmth and collaboration in Montgomery County's biotech scene that is unique to the area, Doerfler said. “We've got a very, very vibrant biotech scene with some of the leading companies in the field,” he said. “I would put that up against any region in the world.”

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Sirnaomics

Sirnaomics, a clinical-stage RNA therapeutics biopharma company, was also part of the tour and an excellent example of global companies choosing Montgomery County. The company develops drugs for unmet medical needs in areas such as cancer, skin conditions, and fibrosis-related diseases. Based on both China and the U.S., Sirnaomics enjoys its proximity to the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration by having its U.S. headquarters in Montgomery County.

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Montgomery County's life sciences community is thriving, and programs like Facility Logix's tour help highlight the innovative work being done in the area. “As much as we promote our innovative industry cluster, it’s still a secret to some,” said Montgomery County Special Projects Director Judy Costello, who attended the tour along with Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. “Many of our residents drive by these buildings every day without knowing about  these companies and their employees, who are passionate experts working hard to make a difference for patients every day.”

The county has a thriving business center which helps businesses move to and grow in the County. “Biotech is a priority industry for us, “ said County Executive Marc Elrich, noting that the County is home to the NIH, FDA, NIST and many companies like the four on the tour, “these companies truly are leaders in their fields; and we are proud to have them located in Montgomery County.”

These companies  truly are leaders in their fields; and we are proud to have them located in Montgomery County.

Marc Elrich, Montgomery County Executive

Be Next in Montgomery County, Maryland, the immunology capital next to the nation’s capital. The business community is supported by the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation, which helps companies locate in the region, make connections, tap into the regional workforce pipeline and grow. Reach out at connect@thinkmoco.com.

Helping a Startup Grow its Smart Technology Company

Networking opportunities abound at The Power Conference, which can lead to great outcomes for companies looking to grow and companies considering a move.

MCEDC Business Developers Lynne Stein Benzion and Nadia Kahn were at the conference and were introduced to Meirav Naor-Weinstock (pictured) and IMNA Solutions, an Israeli company that is launching a smart, software technology product in the healthcare space. This user-friendly platform allows patient health data to be entered into doctors’ records by patients, caregivers and health care providers and turned into searchable, smart data for physicians.  Current electronic data collection methods produce non-searchable PDFs s that do not integrate with other information in the patient’s health record.

The company is interested in expanding into the U.S. market, so IMNA principals were brought to Montgomery County through the Maryland Israel Development Center, a public-private partnership that promotes bi-lateral trade and investment. The MCEDC business team has already helped the start-up in the following ways:

• Connected IMNA for possible virtual incubator membership.

• Introduced them to a mentorship/legal program provided by a local law firm.

• Provided information about the Maryland Tech Council Venture Mentoring Service program.

• Introduced them to a panel of cybersecurity experts at The Power Conference, all of whom are women who have built or are instrumental in IT companies in the County.  Since MCEDC put that panel of experts together specifically for the conference, it was the perfect moment to put them all together right there.

• Created the opportunity for video coverage and interview by a local online news platform.

What will the future bring? When IMNA is ready, MCEDC will continue to connect them to resources and a potential location for success in the County.  The Power Conference was a great forum for beginning this relationship for connections and moving ahead.