Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • January 8, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 13 Reporter's Notebook Matt Pilon | mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com Health Care/Bioscience, Startups & Entrepreneurs, Government/Law and Energy BIOSCIENCE Thetis partners with UConn Health on bowel disease remedy A Branford biotech is expanding its collaboration with a UConn Health scientist to further its search for a better treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which impacts an estimated 1.6 million Americans. IBD creates inflammation in the gastro- intestinal tract, causing abdominal pain, weight loss and other symptoms. Drugs are available to treat IBD, but they don't work for everyone, and some patients afflicted with the condition ultimately choose to have their colon surgically removed. Scientists aren't certain exactly what causes IBD, which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, but they think it could be related to genetics or diet. Thetis Pharma- ceuticals, founded in 2011, announced in November it won a $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study its drug as an oral therapy for ulcer- ative colitis. The company has raised about $12 million to date. "This is a very exciting piece of news for us," Thetis CEO Gary Mathias said. The money will allow Thetis to expand a pilot study it recently conducted with UConn's Health's Daniel Rosenberg, chair of cancer biology and professor of medi- cine, among other titles. Thetis began leasing space at UConn's Technology Incubation Program in Farm- ington in early 2017 to work more closely with Rosenberg's lab. The compound they are studying is a naturally occurring lipid called TP-317. Rosenberg is helping Thetis better under- stand how it affects mice with IBD. The NIH funding will fuel a series of studies over the next six months. Thetis is seeking a treatment that would be an alterna- tive to IBD remedies currently on the market, such as Hu- mira and Remicade. "Obviously the goal is to get this into humans," said Mathias, who has suffered from ulcer- ative colitis since his early 20s, which he said is a more mild case treatable with already-avail- able drugs. "I've been fortu- nate," he said. It's a long road to get a drug on the market, but Mathias is eying late 2019 to start a phase one clinical trial. Rosenberg said that other scien- tists have studied using lipids in treating IBD, but he sees TP-317 as unique in its stability and formulation. He noted that Thetis' application to the increasingly selective NIH received a very high score, which is a notable achieve- ment in what he calls "the most impossible climate for funding in my career." "Now a days, to get [NIH] funding is almost miraculous," Rosenberg said. HEALTH CARE Acquired healthcare facilities firm to grow Russell Phillips & Associates (RPA), founded in 1976, may not be a household name, but it's well-known in the health- care industry for its emergency manage- ment consulting and technology services, which it has provided to major Connecti- cut hospitals and nursing homes. The Fairpoint, N.Y.-based company, which has had an office and one of its two principals based in Plainville, could see its brand recognition grow, now that it's been acquired by a private-equity-owned global player with 1,203 employees. Maryland's Jensen Hughes announced recently that it acquired RPA, which has 37 employees, for an undisclosed sum. The Plainville office, which has a dozen workers, including its leader Scott Aronson, will remain in place. Jensen Hughes has 70 offices around the world, including many in the U.S., but none in Connecticut until now. The company doesn't disclose finan- cials today, but in 2015 it reported $180 million in revenue. "With the merger, Jensen Hughes will take the RPA brand global," said Dilip Rangnekar, Jensen Hughes' vice president of marketing. "It's going to bring RPA tremendous scale." Jensen Hughes provides fire protec- tion and life safety services and con- sulting in multiple industries, including health care and transportation. For example, if a hospital or nursing home is building a new facility or addition, Jensen will advise on fire code compli- ance as well as sprinklers, smoke detec- tors and alarms. RPA, whose flagship software prod- uct is called RPA Navigator, has "very unique competence" in emergency management, such as planning how a hospital would evacuate surgery pa- tients during a fire, Rangnekar said. Those services will fit well into Jen- sen Hughes' current mix of offerings, said Rangnekar, who will be based out of the Plainville office. As a result of the deal, RPA's services could possibly find their way into new markets, such as airports, as well as new countries, he added. Rangnekar said it's too soon to tell if RPA's name will change, but he sees reasons to keep it. "There is value in the RPA brand and the proposition is recognized by its cus- tomer base," he said. "This is a business that's not leaving. This is a business that's going to thrive and grow." ECONOMY Nonfarm Employment in Connecticut Connecticut shed 3,500 jobs in November and lost 15,300 jobs from June to November last year as the state's economy hit a major stumbling block during the second half of 2017. Here's a look at nonfarm employment in the state over the last two years. Gary Mathias, CEO, Thetis Pharmaceuticals UConn Health's Daniel Rosenberg is helping Thetis Pharmaceuticals advance its drug candidate for bowel disease. Source: CT Dept. of Labor Jobs (in 000s) 1,695 1,690 1,685 1,680 1,675 1,670 1,665 Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar 2016 2017 PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

• Cover