News Summary

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Sep 25, 2007

Maryland's 'geniuses'

Two Marylanders are among 24 individuals who have been awarded "genius grants" by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for 2007. Named Tuesday as MacArthur Fellows are public health physician Dr. Lisa Cooper, 44, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, and Ruth DeFries, 51. an environmental geographer and professor of geography and earth system science at the University of Maryland, College Park. Each will receive a $500,000, five-year, no-strings-attached grant from the Chicago- based MacArthur Foundation. Among other recipients nationally are a blues musician, a forensic anthropologist, an inventor, a medieval historian and a spider silk biologist.

Coventry fined $264K

Coventry Health Care Inc. and Humana Inc., two of the largest providers of U.S.-subsidized health plans, were fined by Medicare for improperly marketing the policies to the elderly and disabled. Coventry, based in Bethesda, received a civil penalty of $264,000, while Louisville, Ky.- based Humana will pay $75,000, according to Medicare officials. State health regulators and patients have told congressional committees that elderly people who aren't competent, can't read or don't speak fluent English have been pressured into joining the plans, known as Medicare Advantage.

Reverse genetics agreement

MedImmune Inc., of Gaithersburg, a biotechnology company focused on developing and manufacturing products to combat infectious disease, autoimmune disease and cancer, said it has licensed its proprietary reverse genetics intellectual property to GlaxoSmithKline to support the development and construction of new vaccine strains to produce non-live human influenza vaccines. Financial terms were not disclosed. Reverse genetics, which enables viruses such as influenza to be generated from segments of DNA, does not require manufacturers to work directly with potentially highly infectious pandemic flu strains. MedImmune has announced similar agreements in the past with CSL Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia, sanofi pasteur and Novartis.

PharmAthene's award ... kind of

PharmAthene Inc., of Annapolis, a biotechnology company developing a comprehensive array of countermeasures to bioterrorism, announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published an award notice listing PharmAthene as the contractor for a $13.9 million project relating to the development of therapeutic agents for selected bacterial diseases. However, PharmAthene went on, it has not received an executed agreement from the department. The company said it "expects to provide further information if and when such an executed agreement is received."

Coalbed deal completed

Constellation Energy Partners LLC, the oil and gas producer created by Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group, the largest U.S. power marketer, said its wholly owned subsidiary, CEP Mid- Continent LLC, has closed its previously announced acquisition of certain coalbed methane properties from Newfield Exploration Mid- Continent Inc., a subsidiary of Houston-based Newfield Exploration Co., for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $128 million, subject to certain price adjustments. The properties are located in the Cherokee Basin in Oklahoma.

CompuDyne goes private

CompuDyne Corp., of Annapolis, a provider of products and technology for the public security market, announced the completion of its previously announced merger with Patriot Acquisition Corp., an affiliate of The Gores Group LLC. CompuDyne announced in August that investor Stuart Mackiernan and California-based The Gores Group would acquire it for approximately $59 million, or about $7 per share. As a result of the completion of the transaction, CompuDyne's common stock ceased trading on the Nasdaq Global Market on Friday, and its shares, trading under the symbol CDCY, were delisted.

Heneson agency expands

Bonnie Heneson Communications, a full-service marketing communications firm headquartered in Owings Mills, said it opened an office in Columbia to better meet the needs of its client base in Howard and Prince George's counties and other areas west of Baltimore. The firm named Kyri L. Jacobs, who was recently promoted to executive vice president, to oversee the new office, as well as business development efforts in the area.

Colon cancer program update

A federal program set to expire next year gave at least two Baltimore residents a new lease on life, Maryland health officials said. Out of 273 patients given a colonoscopy as part of the special program, two were found to have colon cancer, said Robert Villanueva, executive director of the Maryland State Council on Cancer Control. "We've found a lot of significant findings that would have otherwise gone undetected," Villanueva said. Congressmen and advocacy groups, including Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md, have introduced H.R. 1738 to keep the program going beyond its scheduled termination next year.