Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 6, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 5 Report: UMass Chan suing UMass Memorial for $40M A legal battle is being fought be- tween UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health over mil- lions of dollars from UMass Memorial's 2019 sale of its stake in Shields Health Solutions to Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. According to a report from MassLive.com on Feb. 19, the Worces- ter medical school is requesting the Worcester-based hospital system pay it $40 million as part of the the cut from the $263-million sale of the pharmacy management firm in August 2019, which provided UMass Memorial Health with a financial boost to turn its books around from a loss to a net gain in revenue that year. MassLive says sources have told it that medical school is adamant the hospital system should pay the university a portion of the sale. When WBJ reached out for com- ment on Feb. 21, both UMass Chan and UMass Memorial spokespeople declined to comment. UMass Memorial Health and UMass Chan are two of the four largest em- ployers in Central Massachusetts with 14,600 and 4,811 local employees. Shields Health Solutions was a joint venture between Shields Pharmacy, LLC of Quincy and UMass Memorial Health Ventures, an affiliate of Worces- ter's UMass Memorial Health Care. Shields provided specialty pharmacy management services to hospitals. Shields sold its remaining stake in the company to Illinois-based Walgreens in September 2022 for $1.37 billion. UMass Chan and UMass Memorial have been affiliated since 1997. UMass Memorial is the academic and medical teaching partner of the medical school, and because of this there are financial agreements between the pair. According to UMass Memorial's financial filings from 2021, the hospital system pays the medical school an annual fee of $12 million plus an infla- tion adjustment as long as it operates a medical school with the required number of students and amount of research funding plus a percent of the net combined operating income of Memorial. B R I E F S T H E T I C K E R 31,000 Square feet for the Economic Opportunity Center at 67 & 69 Tacoma St. in Worcester proposed by the Worcester Housing Authority near its Great Brook Valley development Source: Worcester Housing Authority $859 million Governor Maura Healey's tax relief proposal, which includes new tax breaks to residents and reforms the Commonwealth's estate tax and the levy on short-term capital gains Source: State House News Service 146 Stores Framingham retail parent TJX Cos., Inc. added in fiscal 2023, which ended on Jan. 28 Source: TJX Cos., Inc. $69 million Cost of the proposed rehab of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. that Milford-based Consigli Construction will lead and complete by 2026 Source: National Park Service Our executive leadership has been stable Employee turnover has been a pressing concern for businesses throughout the pandemic, and the C-suite has not been immune. Over the course of just three days in late February, Fallon Health CEO Richard Burke announced his retirement, Nichols College hired a new CFO, Phio Pharmaceuticals of Marlborough named a permanent CEO, and Saint Vincent Hospital and MetroWest Medical Center picked a chief medical officer to oversee both operations. When polled online, nearly three out of four WBJ readers said their companies' top executives have remained in place for the last year. Has your organization had to replace one of its top executives in the last year? F L A S H P O L L READER COMMENT: "Took virtually no time other than board concurrence on the promotion of the executive vice president due to a strong succession plan." 8% Yes, it took us 1-3 months to find a replacement. 3% 9% Yes, it took us longer than six months to find a replacement. Yes, it took us 4-6 months to find a replacement. 6% Yes, we're still looking to fill the position. 74% No. Sanofi to halt COVID vaccine production and lay off workers in Framingham French pharmaceutical company Sanofi S.A. is laying off 15 workers and discontinuing its COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing in Framingham. "In order to optimize its manufactur- ing footprint, Sanofi has discontinued its Covid 19 vaccine manufacturing activities in Framingham," Sanofi spokesperson Evan Berland told the Worcester Business Journal in an email. "We sought to employ as many of the impacted employees as possible in current vacant positions within Sanofi. However, when we do implement changes, there are times that our people are affected. In these events, we provide multiple avenues of support through all transitions." Of the 100 people working on the Framingham manufacturing site, 15 were affected by the decision to stop manufacturing its COVID-19 vaccine. In 2020, Sanofi started building out its ability to manufacture a COVID vaccine in Framingham. e project was in partnership with GSK plc, a British biotechnology company Sanofi partnered with in April 2020 to begin exploring potential COVID vaccines. On Nov. 10, Sanofi and GSK an- nounced the European Commissionap- proved their COVID vaccine VidPrev- tyn Beta as a booster for the prevention of COVID-19 in adults. However, the drugmaker announced plans to let go of all of its employees at two vaccine factories in India. Accord- ing to Reuters, the plants made vaccines for hepatitis B, diphtheria, and tetanus. Maker to Main to close Main Street shop, open larger Canal District store Locally sourced food seller Maker to Main will close its store on Worcester's Main Street in March and open a larger, more complete grocery store in the Ca- nal District. Maker to Main announced on Feb. 21, the store's third anniversary, it would close its 328 Main St. location on March 25. e business will reopen in the former location of Harding Glass at 166 Harding St. in Worcester's Canal District, said Owner and Chief Local Officer Lynn Cheney. e new location will offer the area more of a complete grocery store than the current location. e Harding Street location will fea- ture a deli counter for sliced meats and a kitchen so the store can offer prepared foods. ere will also be parking avail- able for customers on Pond St. UMass Chan's main building in Worcester W

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