Unleashing Opportunities

Unleashing

OPPORTUNITIES

Alliances Formed Between Government and Industry

By April Bartel

Photos by Turner Photography Studio

Fort Detrick is impressive for its size and impact. More than 10,000 military members, federal employees, and contractors work at the Fort, a U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) installation supporting a multi-governmental community with five cabinet-level agencies.

It is Frederick County’s largest employer, occupying a 1,200-acre business campus. Its tenants conduct biomedical research and development, oversee medical material management, manage worldwide communications and study foreign plant pathogens. It is a place where some of the technologies created here have a commercial use.

Additionally, the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Command (USAMRMC), which oversees strategic medical acquisition and logistics, is located here, procuring all medical supplies for the U.S. military, from bandages to X-ray machines.

Started as an airfield in 1931, Fort Detrick houses the Frederick National Laboratory, part of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a world leader in cancer research and the only national laboratory exclusively focused on research, technology, and collaboration in biomedical science. Scientists work in the most stringent biosafety labs to protect warfighters and citizens from global health threats such as Ebola, Zika virus, Malaria, Smallpox and COVID-19. It is a center of biomedical technology growth for the region, touching every aspect of human health.

Started as an airfield in 1931, Fort Detrick is now a U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command installation.

A Global Force

Fort Detrick’s benefits extend far beyond its physical gates. While governments and businesses have different priorities, some technologies created here also meet a commercial demand. To protect citizens and avoid a conflict of interest, the federal government does not commercialize products. Instead, it utilizes technology transfer programs to fill the gap, transforming challenges into opportunities for entrepreneurs and private industry that build economic stability and workforce expansion, especially in the well-paying life science industry.

Edward Diehl, PhD, is the Commercialization Officer for Medical Technology Transfer (MTT), (USAMRDC), based at Fort Detrick. He is often one of the first people entrepreneurs contact about technology transfer opportunities.

Diehl explains, “We help turn the technology discovered by Army scientists into products that help the warfighter. Often, those products have a dual use, helping civilians as well.” Technology transfer boosts the probability of realization for revolutionary innovations. Businesses may license specific technology with defined, yet somewhat customizable, terms. And companies of all sizes can participate, from one-person startups to large corporations, advancing therapeutics, diagnostics, vaccine technologies, medical software and medical devices.

Partnering with government scientists jump-starts the commercialization process because it begins with a proven idea, saving companies years of expensive, grueling research. Having substance behind the science also attracts investors.

It gives the taxpayers a bang for their buck, too. “Maybe one or two in 100 drugs make it from discovery to patients,” says Diehl. “We offload that risk. Then, the companies use their expertise, giving the product a better chance.” This way, tech transfer establishes a win-win cycle. “The money we bring back in furthers research by our inventors, so they can come up with more great ideas.”

Some of the technologies created at Fort Detrick have gone on to become commercialized for wider use in the community.

A Local Leader

Fort Detrick is an economic engine for Frederick. Former Executive Director of the Frederick County Office of Economic Development (FCOED) Helen Propheter says, “We have collaborative relationships with all the technology transfer offices, including the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and the National Cancer Institute at Frederick. It’s a tool to help our small businesses grow.” FCOED initially invited the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Disease’s technology transfer staff to be a tenant in its ROOT building (118 N. Market St., Frederick), which centralizes local business resources under one roof. The office even has a dedicated Life Science and Technology business development representative, since it is Frederick’s largest growing cluster.

Propheter says opportunity ripples from the Fort through the community. “Definitely through technology transfer, but also with companies that are not in life science. They may offer a product or service, like landscaping or dry-cleaning, that the campus needs.” Growing companies need human resource representatives, accountants, office managers, and supply chain logistics staff, too, so job seekers don’t necessarily need a science degree to land a position.

Richard Griffin, Director of Economic Development for the City of Frederick, concurs. “You can’t underestimate the value of having employers that attract top talent here. Those workers live in Frederick. They educate their kids in Frederick. They participate in activities, including nonprofit work, coaching their kids’ sports teams or supporting the arts, all those things that families do. They purchase

vehicles. They buy gas and groceries. They eat out. It’s a cycle of building a workforce that is so important because those payroll dollars roll over many, many times in this community.”

Both offices stand ready to help with information, introductions, and resources. They are also founding partners in two local nonprofits that complement tech transfer initiatives, the Fort Detrick Alliance and the Frederick Innovative Technology Center, Inc. (FITCI). “Many businesses looking to commercialize Fort Detrick’s technology land at FITCI,” explains Propheter. It’s a business incubator that encourages technological innovation and accelerates development of commercially viable businesses in Frederick, including wet labs and shared spaces designed for emerging life science startups. It’s known for intense coaching, training, and relationship-building, including its Strategic Growth and Advisory Board and launch committee.

Propheter says the Fort Detrick Alliance hosts events that pull back the curtain, allowing members to understand what’s happening at Fort Detrick. “You are able to network and connect to potential opportunities.” The organization builds relationships between the Fort, its mission partners, and the surrounding region, often advocating on pertinent issues.

“We cohost the annual Technology Showcase in partnership with NCI, too. That unveils all kinds of technology opportunities under the umbrella of healthcare and cancer.”

It’s an important effort because, as Propheter emphasizes, “Fort Detrick’s annual economic impact is $7 billion— with a ‘B’ not an ‘M’—just to the State of Maryland.”

An Enduring Partner

Complimenting the work at the base are the Fort Detrick Alliance and the Frederick Innovative Technology Center, Inc., (FITCI).

Diehl lists dozens of successful products fielded through tech transfer license agreements. He and Propheter point to BioFactura as a prime example. Dr. Darryl Sampey is BioFactura’s President and CEO while Dr. Jeffrey Hausfeld, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S., is chairman. The company weathered extreme ups and downs, nearly failing when congressional budget cuts decimated funding in 2013.

Sampey recalls, “Right in the middle of our DOD project, Congress cut budgets across the board, including our grant.” He held out hope as the company withered, strategically moving from Rockville to FITCI. “It was only me left in the company. I had one little lab, one little office. Then I got one unpaid intern.” Now the company employs 40 people, thanks in part to transferred technologies and a strong business ecosystem. “I think this is a great place to start things up in biotech.”

BioFactura’s work with Diehl includes one very important project. It’s an exclusive license on an antibody that neutralizes the smallpox virus. Although the disease was eradicated decades ago, there is lingering concern for accidental (or intentional) re-release, causing another pandemic. Stockpiled doses offer the best insurance, since the virus decimates with a 30 percent fatality rate, much greater than COVID-19. That molecule was transferred from Fort Detrick, along with two from NIH in Bethesda, to form components of a treatment now in advanced development. It is also effective against monkeypox.

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is involved, too. BioFactura earned a contract with them in 2019, at a maximum value of $67.4 million. Sampey beams. “They tested (our product) head-to-head with others and we won.” The company is currently negotiating a second option.

A New Hope

Luis Alvarez, PhD and retired Lt. Col., founded Theradaptive as a second career. The company builds upon his discoveries as an Army scientist stationed at Fort Detrick. The technology re-grows bone and salvages limbs that would otherwise

need amputation. And it’s a very personal mission.

“It crystallized in my mind when I came back from Iraq,” shares Alvarez, a graduate of West Point and MIT with a background in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. “A lot of people who were coming back with extremity injuries were undergoing delayed amputation. This will transform the treatment of any traumatic injury to the musculoskeletal system, whether from accidents, removal of tissue due to cancer, or treatment of congenital defects in infants and young children.”

Also a FITCI graduate, Theradaptive raised $32 million to date, from both dilutive and undiluted sources. “We’re getting ready for clinical trials. These are governed by the FDA, and we expect to get permission to begin local studies within 12 to 18 months.”

A Timely Delivery

Amivas was founded in 2016 by six primary investors, all seasoned in the malaria field or manufacturing sterile injectables, with a goal to solve an immediate medical supply problem in cooperation with the U.S. Army. When quinidine gluconate was withdrawn from the U.S. market as a malaria treatment, it left a vacuum. And the last drug stocks expired in 2019.

Mark Reid, Amivas’ CEO, says the disease is relatively rare but, “From a clinical point of view, minutes matter when treating severe malaria.” Tech transfer allowed Amivas to meet the urgent need to help patients at U.S. hospitals and service members overseas. Their product, Artesunate for Injection, is the U.S. CDC’s recommended standard of care.

Reid says the drug is difficult to make, with a challenging delivery timeline, but saving lives is worth it. “Amivas is committed to making sure patients have access to this first line therapy.”

Locating here made a difference, according to Reid. “Frederick provides great access to our partners and to the U.S. FDA’s campus at White Oak. It is very accessible from three major airports, and we can find the best talent…” The company found an economically viable pathway for product supply,

enabling Amivas to meet the needs of malaria patients, grow the company, employ staff and pay taxes, as well as royalties to its U.S. Army partner.

A Natural Fit

Associates Terry Collins and David Barr were looking for their next enterprise at a 2014 technology transfer expo when Fort Detrick’s booth caught their attention. Collins was intrigued. The

display showed how acutely sensitive bluegill fish could detect toxic chemicals in water—like a canary in a coalmine. By 2019, he, Barr, and third founder PJ Bellomo were leading Blue Sources LLC into success based on the Army’s patented fish biomonitor technology. “We are an exclusive patent license holder,” says Collins, explaining key points of the vetting process. “There are people to help you through it because they want you to succeed.” In less than five years, Blue Sources, another FITCI alumnus, secured a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with USAMRDC Fort Detrick, designed and manufactured a second-generation device, and created a monitoring-as-a-service (MaaS) subscription. It earned the Fort Detrick Alliance’s inaugural Innovator of the Year award. Diehl says, for each success there Edward Diehl, PhD, is the Commercialization Officer for Medical Technology is plenty more on tap. “If you want Transfer (MTT), (USAMRDC), based at Fort Detrick. He is often one of the first to count everything up, there are people entrepreneurs contact about technology transfer opportunities. probably hundreds, maybe thousands of different things available for license… and there are people who don’t know that there is a powerhouse of medical technology generation right here.” As the life science industry booms in Frederick County, a leading locale in a state ranked fourth on the Milken Institute’s national technology and science index, and Fort Detrick cruises toward its 100th anniversary, it is clear where Frederick’s innovative culture had its humble beginning.