Hartford Business Journal Special Editions

2016 | Doing Business in Connecticut 43 By Steve Lubetkin T o Cato T. Laurencin, growing hu- man knee tissue in the laboratory is a "grand challenge" of human tissue re- generation and means scientists have to take a "transdisciplinary" approach to research. Laurencin wears many hats at the University of Connecticut. He is vice president for health affairs and dean of the College of Medicine; the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Profes- sor of Orthopaedic Surgery; and professor of chemical, materials, and biomolecular engineering. In perhaps his most exciting role, Laurencin is using a National Insti- tutes of Health grant to fund research into growing human knee tissue for use in for orthopedic knee surgery, instead of prosthetic reconstruction. Progress in what Laurencin calls regenerative engineering — regenerating and repairing tissues using biomaterials — will come through "convergence," in which scientists "have a broad mastery of biology, chemistry, engineering, physics." Breaking boundaries But it was a different era when Laurencin entered Harvard Medical School in 1980 and decided in 1982 to fuse his passion for biochemical engineering and biotechnology with his interest in orthopedic surgery. "e concept of an orthopedic surgeon doing a Ph.D at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) was something that was foreign for most people," he recalls. "In retrospect, people see that and say it was an obvious move to make. It wasn't as clear when I completed that program. at's a major change." Looking back, he says he was always fascinated with engineering. Aer earning a bachelor of science in engineering at Princeton University, he set his sights on orthopedics at Harvard Medical School. "I decided to revisit my research roots, and found out that I really loved the engineering work that I was doing, and then thought to meld these areas together in terms of engineering, medicine and orthopedics," he says. Laurencin received the National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award in 2014 — he's the first UConn professor to receive the award — and an accompa- nying $4 million NIH research grant for his work. Although the quest for regenerated knee tissue was just announced in Novem- ber and remains in what Laurencin calls an early phase, he sees all of the team's research strategies as "fantastically promising right now." Getting new technologies like tissue regeneration into the hands of patients means opportunity for Connecticut biopharma companies and entrepreneurs, too, says Laurencin. "We're very fortunate here," he says. "Under Governor [Dannel] Malloy, the state has been very pro-startups. We think it allows the technology to be translatable to the corporate sector, and that may be through partnership with technology companies that are already existing, or it may be the development of new startups that not only bring clinical solutions to help many, but bring new jobs to the state." ❑ Cato T. Laurencin held back market share, but it also prevented the co-op from exhausting its resources, he says. While HealthyCT lost money in its first year, it invested in its infrastructure and data analysis, so that in the second year, it could price premiums more competitively. at led to a 16- to 18-percent market share, Lalime said. Co-ops are not permitted to use the federal startup loans they received for marketing purposes, which has meant that HealthyCT has had to get creative in how it reaches new customers. To that end, HealthyCT partners with the broker community and local pharma- cies, offering the same pricing for prescrip- tions filled at local pharmacies or via mail order. e co-op also found itself a niche among nonprofit employers who liked the idea of working with a similarly nonprofit insurer. "We forged some very good partner- ships around the state to continue to grow," Lalime said. Lalime refers to the main challenges he sees facing health insurers as the "three Rs." Reinsurance, the funding that helps keep premiums stabilized, has not been at a suf- ficient level to hold premiums steady. In addition, risk adjustment payments to cover increased costs borne by insurers who attract a higher proportion of sicker patients may not be properly funded. Perhaps the most problematic, Lalime says, is the "risk corridor," which was in- tended to fund insurers with unusually high medical-loss ratios. Aer establishing the program, the federal government decided not to fully fund the risk-corridor payments, leaving insurers with high ratios exposed to insol- vency, which could lead to coverage gaps for patients and payment gaps for providers. Noting that the "last big change in the market was Medicare, 50 years ago," Lalime is encouraged that health care is on the front burner for continued debate. "If nothing else, it has opened up more dialogues," Lalime said. "We're having conversations about the biotech world, and how that's working with insurance, and how consumers are accessing care...and how does primary care get into the middle of this and coordinate care? It's going to bring continued conversation of, 'How do we get this to be a better system than we had?' " ❑ JOINT DISCOVERIES Dr. Cato Laurencin combines engineering, medical expertise PHOTO/UCONN MED SCHOOL PROFILE

• Cover