Pittsburgh Innovates

Southside-based ALung Technologies has developed a promising alternative to lung ventilation that may prevent serious illness and save lives.

ALung recently announced the addition of two successful Pittsburgh business leaders to its Board of Directors: Jerry McGinnis, the recently retired chairman of the board of Respironics, and Pete DeComo, CEO of Renal Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fresenius Medical. The company also recently closed on the first $1 million in a $2.5 million financing round.

The company was founded in 1997 by Dr. Brack Hattler, a UPMC cardiothoracic surgeon, and Bill Federspiel, director of the Artificial Lung Laboratory at the McGowan Center, University of Pittsburgh. Together they developed the Hemolung System, a device that provides support for patients in critical care with acute lung failure.

“We call it respiratory dialysis,” explains Nick Kuhn, president and CEO, who moved from San Diego to join the company in 2001. “Instead of trying to take a damaged lung and increase performance by pumping in higher levels of oxygen, we’re taking blood out, treating it and returning it to the patient.”

For patients with chronic diseases like emphysema, bronchitis and congestive heart failure, the Hemolung offers a healthier, safer and less costly alternative to a ventilator, a common practice in which a tube is placed down a patient’s throat preventing them from eating and communicating. It can also potentially expose them to pneumonia.

“We’re the classic Pittsburgh story,” says Kuhn. “We’re an example of a company that’s part of the transformation of Pittsburgh.”

ALung employs 10 people at its River Walk Corporate Center office and will be hiring as the company moves through the clinical trial stage. Within the next three years, ALung hopes to triple in size with the addition of manufacturing assembly and quality control hires as well as engineers, sales and marketing staff. The Hemolung may be on the market by 2010.