NCBiotech News

Medical device startup restor3d, which uses 3D printing for a more individualized approach to implant surgery, is getting bigger.

The Durham-headquartered company has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Conformis, Inc. to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of the Massachusetts-based business for $2.27 per share. The all-cash deal is a 96% premium to Conformis’ closing price on June 22. It should be completed by the end of the third quarter of this year.

KaryoLogic, a karyotyping services company based in Durham, is teaming up with a French biotechnology company to test and analyze chromosomes in human stem cells.

The partnership with Stem Genomics of Montpellier, France, will allow KaryoLogic to offer a digital assay that can identify more than 90% of the most common genomic abnormalities found in human pluripotent stem cells, according to KaryoLogic.

Back in 2018, walking away from a conversation with North Pitt High School sophomore Diana De Leon, Mark Phillips knew he wanted to help her. He just needed to figure out how. 

Mark is North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s Vice President of Statewide Operations and Executive Director of its Eastern Regional Office in the public power city of Greenville, North Carolina. 

Research Triangle Park-based AgBiome has tapped Ginkgo Bioworks to help it accelerate the development of new agricultural biologicals and improve existing products used in crop protection.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center and a host of partners showcased the strengths of North Carolina’s life sciences community at BIO 2023, the international biotechnology conference in Boston last week.  

ProKidney LLC, a Winston-Salem-based clinical-stage biotechnology company founded in 2015 and targeting chronic kidney disease (CKD) with a proprietary cell therapy, plans to create up to 330 jobs and establish a new manufacturing facility in Greensboro by 2027. 

East Carolina University’s annual Spring Pharma Conference proved personal for Jack Pender.

“This is a meeting of my pharma friends,” said Pender, director of pharmaceutical training and laboratory services in the ECU Department of Chemistry.

Pender provided opening remarks at the event that drew more than 130 pharmaceutical industry representatives and employees from 49 pharmaceutical and life sciences companies for two days of information, topical discussions, presentations, vendors and networking.

Local startups innovating in health care made important connections with leaders from health systems and payer organizations during the “Aligning Health Care Innovation in North Carolina: Health Systems, Payers, Innovators, and the Quintuple Aim,” event held on April 27. 

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and Merck (NYSE:MRK) announced a collaboration agreement today for Merck to build a biotechnology training center at Gateway Research Park’s South Campus in East Greensboro.

Merck will outfit the facility with the equipment and classroom spaces necessary to provide and enhance academic programming and training for biotechnology careers for North Carolina A&T students. A process laboratory will allow opportunities for students to put knowledge into practice in an advanced discovery setting.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper was recognized June 6 at the 20th annual World Stem Cell Summit in Winston-Salem for his role in developing the life sciences.

Cooper received the Regenerative Medicine Action Leadership Award from the Regenerative Medicine Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes the development of regenerative medicine to improve health and deliver cures.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center awarded 87 grants and loans totaling $2,283,930 to universities, bioscience companies and non-profit organizations in the third quarter of its fiscal year.

The awards, made in January, February and March, will support life science research, technology commercialization and entrepreneurship throughout North Carolina. The funding will also help universities and companies attract follow-on funding from other sources.

Researchers at Wake Forest University have a new far-out location for advancing their work with human organ tissues - the International Space Station.

Durham-based 410 Medical, a medical device company developing new technologies for emergency and critical care, has completed its $7.5 million Series B venture capital financing.

The funding, which had an initial closing late in 2022, was led by Durham-based Hatteras Venture Partners with participation from existing investors including Orlando Health Ventures, OSF Healthcare and Raleigh-based WakeMed, and new investors Ballad Ventures and Catalyst by Wellstar.

Durham-based biotechnology startup Tavros Therapeutics has announced its second collaboration in six months to find new targets and therapies for cancer.

Syneos Health, a global contract research organization (CRO) headquartered in Morrisville, will likely be sold to a consortium of private investment firms in a deal valued at $7.1 billion.