Health

HE A LTH • Fall 2019 7 umassmemorial.org/appointment 855-UMASS-MD (855-862-7763), Monday – Friday, 7 am to 8 pm Schedule care from anywhere. 24/7 ONLINE SCHEDULING For both current and new patients, our website allows 24/7 access to hundreds of primary care providers and a growing list of specialists. So, you can find a doctor and schedule an appointment all from the comfort of … anywhere. UMass Memorial – Community Healthlink | UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital UMass Memorial – Marlborough Hospital | UMass Memorial Medical Center | UMass Memorial Medical Group Spring Bank signs NIH research agreement Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals of Hopkinton has signed an agreement a National Institutes of Health subsidiary to evaluate its hepatitis B treatment. Spring Bank's agreement with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases includes a non-clin- ical evaluation agreement for the firm to access the institute's pre-clinical ser- vices program to evaluate therapy. The company says a significant unmet need remains for therapies to help with hepatitis B, also known as HBV, a potentially life-threatening liver infection. It hopes to use its therapy in clinical trials in late 2020. Bioprinting firm leases space in Acton FluidForm Inc., a firm making artifi- cial human issue with 3D printing technology, has signed a 3,550-square- foot lease in Acton, according to Aho Properties in Ashland, which repre- sented the landlord. FluidForm is developing a gel it says researchers around the world can use for 3D bioprinting of collagen, cells and a range of biomaterials. Eventually, it says it could have the capability of essentially printing human organs through advanced machinery. Earlier this month, the company said researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh — where FluidForm co-founder Adam Feinberg is a biomedical engineering professor and researcher — have advanced a technology for which FluidForm has an exclusive license. The technology, called Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels, or FRESH, can 3D-print collagen with more complexi- ty than ever before and construct com- ponents of the human heart spanning from small blood vessels to valves to beating ventricles, the company said. Fallon reports $1.3M second-quarter profit Fallon Health brought in $1.3 million in operating income in the second quarter, the Worcester health insurer announced in August. Membership was largely f lat from the previous quarter at 265,981. Membership hit an all-time high for the company of 271,369 at the end of 2018, aided by Fallon's involvement in MassHealth's accountable care organi- zations, which join insurers and health providers for the state's Medicaid patients. In the last five years, govern- ment programs as a percentage of Fallon's total membership have increased to 50% from 20%. Fallon's results include $415 million in revenue for the quarter ended June 30. Net income was $3.5 million, helped in large part by investment and other income of $2.2 million. Revenue, like membership, has fallen slightly. For the same quar- ter a year ago, Fallon's revenue was $422 million. Lisa Cohen, Fallon's interim CFO, said sec- ond-quarter 2019 results were consistent with expectations. Biostage prepares for FDA throat filing Holliston biotech Biostage said in August it plans to file with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in September to kick-start the company's clinical trials of its esophagus implant. The company has been at this for years and is now just weeks away from a major milestone. So far, 2019 has been spent preparing for those clinical trials to meet the FDA's quality and manufac- turing standards. As such, the company did little in the second quarter aside from courting pri- vate investors to the amount of $3.3 million. The company had only $1.3 million in cash at the end of June. The company lost $2.4 million in the quarter and $4.4 million halfway through the year. The company was delisted from NASDAQ in 2017 and is now looking to re-engage with the U.S. markets after a few years of soliciting investments mostly from China. The company's main product is the Cellspan Esophageal Implant, which it is marketing for use in children suffer- ing from esophageal atresia, a condition in which the esophagus doesn't reach the stomach. H Biostage CEO Jim McGorry (left) and President Saverio La Francesca

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