State awards $1.8M in grants to biotech companies

The Maryland Biotechnology Center said Wednesday that nine companies will receive a total of $1.8 million in grants to help bring their products to market and create new jobs.

Each company will receive roughly $200,000 for research and product development. The program, part of the state's Department of Business and Economic Development, is in its second year and is part of Gov. Martin O'Malley's effort to expand the state's biotechnology industry through 2020.

The nine companies that received funding are Neuronascent, of Clarksville; Noble Life Sciences, of Rockville; Unither Virology, of Silver Spring; Paragon, of Baltimore; Telcare, of Bethesda; Diogenix, of Gaithersburg; 20/20 GeneSystems, of Rockville; A&G Pharmaceutical, of Columbia; and Plasmonix, of Baltimore.

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