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10/27/2025
Virginia can lead biotech manufacturing renaissance – if policymakers help
Last week, pharmaceutical giant Merck broke ground on a new $3 billion facility in Virginia that will create 8,000 construction jobs and 500 permanent manufacturing jobs. The new 400,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art plant isn’t merely the latest addition to Virginia’s rapidly growing biotech industry footprint. It’s a sign that America is making quick progress towards President …
10/22/2025
Virginia Catalyst Announces Round 19 of Grant Funding
The Virginia Catalyst announced today that it is accepting letters of intent (LOI) for Grant Round 19 to fund the development and commercialization of life science projects that address major unmet needs for improving human health and advance Virginia’s economy. “We at the Virginia Catalyst are pleased to provide funding in support of the Governor’s …
10/21/2025
SRI multi-party team selected as an awardee by ARPA-H to develop at-home screening for ≥30 types of cancers
SRI, along with research partners Foothold Labs and Triple Ring Technologies and commercial partner Beacon Dx Health, has been awarded up to $34 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop technology as part of the POSEIDON (Platform Optimizing SynBio for Early Intervention and Detection in Oncology) program. This pioneering program …
“Robert is a proven industry leader with extensive and highly relevant experience in Ophthalmology and DED,” said Anil Asrani, President and CEO of TearSolutions. “I am genuinely excited and honored to have Robert join our board, as we work together to bring next generation therapeutics to patients suffering from the maladies associated with ocular surface disease.”
“I’m thrilled to work closely with the TearSoultions team to help advance their programs and take the Company to the next level,” said Robert Dempsey. “With their lead product’s highly differentiated and well-characterized mechanism of action, human clinical data illustrating speed of relief, safety, and a best-in-class tolerability profile, as well as the potential to work in a majority of patients, I believe we have a novel disease-modifying solution that can bring much needed relief to patients as well as their treating physicians.”
Robert brings more than two decades of domestic and global leadership experience in the Ophthalmology space driving successful drug development in public and private sectors through efficient organizational structure and capital investments. His widespread experience in Ophthalmology stems from diverse leadership roles across commercial, business development, medical affairs, and venture-backed startups. Currently, Robert serves as the Chief Executive Officer at AsclepiX Therapeutics focused on advancing an integrin regulating peptide for posterior segment diseases and recently led a successful Series A-3 financing. He joined Asclepix in 2021, after serving as the Chief Executive Officer for TearClear where he accelerated the business and commercial strategies including a successful Series B financing and positive FDA engagements. Prior to that, he served as the Global Head of Ophthalmology at Shire, then Takeda, responsible for one of the top ten largest biopharma M&A deals in 2019, the divestiture of Xiidra® (lifitegrast ophthalmic solution) 5%, to Novartis in June 2019 for up to $5.3B.