Hartford Business Journal Special Editions

6 Hartford Business Journal • June 11, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Reporter's Notebook Matt Pilon | mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com Health Care/Bioscience, Startups & Entrepreneurs, Government/Law and Energy HEALTH CARE Longtime U.S. Pain Foundation leader resigns A Middletown-based foundation that advocates across the country for the rights of chronic-pain patients has parted ways with its founder and CEO. The U.S. Pain Foundation announced May 31 that Paul Gileno resigned after its board of directors requested he do so. Nicole Hemmenway, who chairs the board of directors and was previously listed as vice president, has been named interim CEO, while the foundation searches for a permanent replacement. In a statement, Hemmenway said the organization is focused on the future, in- cluding upcoming events like a training program for chronic pain support group leaders in June and a Pain Awareness Month campaign in September. A foundation spokeswoman declined to provide further information to HBJ about the departure of Gileno, who has said he suffers chronic pain from a 15-year-old back injury. However, the U.S. Pain Foundation was among the targets of a report this year criticizing financial ties between pain advocacy groups and the phar- maceutical industry. A February report from U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) found that 14 not- for-profit advocacy groups had received nearly $9 million from five drug compa- nies over a period of five years. The U.S. Pain Foundation had the biggest haul, at $2.9 million, the report said. McCaskill said the advocacy groups have lobbied to change laws aimed at curbing opioid use, and that the finan- cial ties have led to "opioids-friendly messaging." Following that report's publica- tion, the U.S. Pain Foundation said it doesn't promote one type of pain treatment over another and that the bulk of its $2.9 million in industry con- tributions was used for a co-pay assis- tance program for cancer patients. "This funding, like any funding we receive, does not influence our values," the foundation said. According to its most recent 990 tax filing with the IRS, the Pain Founda- tion raked in $1.35 million in revenue in 2015. Gileno's base compensation that year was $403,901, which accounted for about 30 percent of the nonprofit's overall revenue, tax filings show. INTERNATIONAL TRADE CT aims to be U.S.-Australia defense link A ustralia, a longtime U.S. ally, is ramping up its defense spend- ing for sovereign and econom- ic reasons, and Connecticut's defense sector is showing an interest. The U.S. Department of Commerce's Connecticut office, working with U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney and major defense contractors like East Hartford's Pratt & Whitney, Lockheed Martin (which owns Stratford-based Sikorsky), and New London's Electric Boat, has helped to organize a first-ever summit for U.S. and Australian defense companies, to take place in Mystic this September. The event comes as Australia is making record investments in a new fleet of submarines and other ships, and 72 next-generation fighter jets, among numerous other projects. Courtney says that means Australia will be looking for help, and where bet- ter to find it than some of Connecti- cut's major defense contractors and their supply chains? "Their capability of standing up a massive industrial base is limited, so opportunity for exports into Australia are very big, and Connecticut, with the three pillars of UTC, Lockheed and General Dynamics, fits right into the sweet spot of what's happening over there," said Courtney, who co-chairs the Friends of Australia Caucus. Roger Grose, an Australian defense and embassy official in Washington, D.C., flew up to Connecticut recently to help announce the summit. Australia, Grose said during an interview in Hartford, spends be- tween $2 billion to $3 billion a year on defense imports from America, vastly more than what it sells into the U.S. While Australia is ramping up defense spending, its government also wants to grow its stature as a defense exporter. "We're looking for opportuni- ties to have more of a two-way exchange," Grose said. "That's part of what this sum- mit is about." Earlier this year, Australia said it would in- vest $3.1 billion in a fund to assist its defense companies in exporting their products to several key markets, including the U.S. The strongest defense link between Australia and Connecticut is the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter pro- gram, in which Australia is an inter- national partner. Pratt makes the F135 engines for the Lockheed aircraft, and approximately 30 Australian compa- nies contribute directly into the jet's supply chain, including making a tail part and a radar testing system, with contracts exceeding $1 billion, accord- ing to government figures. Officials like Wendell Davis, the U.S. Small Business Administration's region 1 administrator, hope the sum- mit will allow small and mid-sized manufacturers, which face significant exporting hurdles, to make new con- nections. "Defense is global so our compa- nies have to be global," Davis said. "To strengthen smaller companies, they have to get this exposure to the over- seas market." Australia's defense sector employs about 35,000 people and exports some- where between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion worth of products each year. Grose said a large part of his country's defense export strategy is looking for opportunities to make niche, special- ized components. One Australian company, for ex- ample, makes au- tonomous robot targets used on military shooting ranges and hopes to grow it's U.S. sales, he said. If that com- pany had to rely solely on its own country's relatively small military for business, it would make it hard to innovate, Grose said. "But with the U.S. being so much bigger, it allows the companies to ride through the troughs," he said. "And as a result they're in business and continuing to innovate and providing a product that is of interest." Anne Evans, Connecticut district director of the Commerce Department, will fly to Australia in July to gin up additional interest in the summit. She's aiming for about 100 companies to at- tend the Sept. 17-18 event. "Our hope is maybe [Australia] will host the next one," Evans said. Paul Gileno discussed his experience with chronic pain in a YouTube video (above). U.S. Rep Joe Courtney Wendell Davis, Region 1 Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration Australian defense officials Karen Loughran and Roger Grose visited Hartford to promote a U.S.-Australian trade summit in Connecticut scheduled for September. PHOTO | YOUTUBE, U.S. PAIN FOUNDATION HBJ PHOTO | MATT PILON

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