NCBiotech News

Merakris Therapeutics, a clinical-stage Research Triangle Park regenerative biologic medicines company, has received a $2.2 million federal grant to advance commercialization of a diabetic food ulcer (DFU) treatment.

Opportunity had plenty of doors to knock on at ConvergeSouth 2026, held Aug. 27-28 in downtown Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter. More than 500 enthusiastic entrepreneurs, investors and support organizations made sure the doors were wide open and the welcome mats out. Now in its 10th year, the multi-venue event was organized by Flywheel Foundation, a nonprofit supporting impact-driven entrepreneurship through ecosystem development, education and impact investment.

Digital healthcare firm Higgs Boson Health, a Durham-based portfolio company of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, has been acquired by Globus Medical. Higgs Boson Health's technology and staff will become part of Globus Medical's surgical intelligence team, connecting patient engagement, outcomes data and analytics.

As poet Maya Angelou famously said, “You can’t really know where you are going until you know where you have been.” That wisdom applies today to the planners and dreamers who are bringing a vibrant new identity to the iconic North Carolina landmark known as Research Triangle Park (RTP) 3.0. Soon a soul-searching RTP retrospective will be launched in book form as “Miracle Road, the Story of Research Triangle Park.”

Innatrix Inc., a Durham-based agricultural biotechnology company developing sustainable biological crop protection solutions, was awarded a $499,786 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase IIB grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The supplemental funding will support moving Innatrix’s lead peptide product, InnaLB, toward U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration and market launch.

Cambrex’s newly expanded pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in High Point has passed three major regulatory hurdles, allowing it to begin commercial production. The company announced the successful completion of three pre-approval inspections of the facility by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency and Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Private equity’s reputation for slashing costs and selling companies quickly doesn’t always hold true.

Case in point: QHP Capital. The Raleigh life sciences private equity firm goes by a different playbook, one that helps transform companies into long-term success stories.

Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) celebrated the opening this month of a facility that will prepare students for highly skilled jobs in biotechnology manufacturing. The newly renovated Biotechnology Building is part of the E. Eugene Moore Manufacturing and Biotech Solutions Center on CCCC’s Lee Main Campus in Sanford.

The average research and development costs of launching a new drug vary widely, a 2021 National Institutes of Health analysis found, but remain very expensive, “…ranging from $161 million to $4.54 billion (2019 US$). Therapeutic area-specific estimates were highest for anticancer drugs (between $944 million and $4.54 billion).”

CorestemChemon, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in South Korea, has begun U.S. operations based in Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter. The company’s U.S. subsidiary, CorestemChemon US Inc., currently has two executive-level employees based in Winston-Salem, with plans to grow the team as its regulatory and clinical programs in the U.S. advance.

Inventors in North Carolina’s Research Triangle region and beyond will soon have access to a new local office of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The federal agency announced it will establish a community engagement office at North Carolina State University in Raleigh to serve the intellectual property (IP) protection needs of inventors, entrepreneurs, small businesses and other stakeholders in the Triangle area and elsewhere in North Carolina.

This summer’s soaring temperatures, raging wildfires, record-setting droughts and major flooding have affected millions of people around the world, demonstrating the devastating effects of climate change. For farmers, extreme climate conditions are driving lower crop yields and less nutrient-dense products. Meanwhile, costs are increasing for vital inputs such as fertilizer and fuel.

Raleigh-based Slate Medicines, a new company developing therapeutics to prevent migraine headaches, is planning to become a publicly traded company through a reverse merger with another biotech company that is already listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Slate announced it would combine with Fulcrum Therapeutics of Cambridge, Mass., in an all-stock transaction. Upon completion of the merger, the combined company plans to operate under the name Slate Medicines and is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “SLTE.”

AM Technical Solutions — a global architecture, engineering, construction and commissioning firm for high-tech markets headquartered in Austin, Texas — has acquired engineering consulting firm Sequence Inc., which is based in Research Triangle Park.

In this guest column for NCBiotech, Penny Gordon-Larsen asserts that North Carolina must develop a clear strategy for a data-intensive future, ensuring access to the computing and quantum capabilities needed to fully leverage research assets, talent, and partnerships.