A-Lung, a Pittsburgh start-up offers an inside look into growing a healthcare company

On Friday, April 4th, a small group of healthcare and entrepreneur enthusiasts ventured into the rain to visit a healthcare start-up nestled amongst the low brick buildings of the Southside. ALung, known for developing extracorporeal CO2 removal devices, welcomed us with enthusiasm.

The first hour was an intimate discussion with Peter DeComo, CEO, Nicholas Kuhn, President and CBO and James Sweeney, SVP Corporate Development about their experience with starting a new company and the hurdles faced especially within starting a healthcare/life sciences company. Their discussion touched upon funding sources, making it a priority to develop knowledgeable and competent teams and how to manage the risk of starting a new company.

In the second hour, we were treated to a tour of the ALung’s in-house manufacturing process. We saw how the cartridges are assembled, heard about which of their processes they source outside of the company and their rational, and saw the flow of inventory for the site. Next we ventured into the development lab where engineers were working on the next product iteration of their Hemolung RAS. They discussed some of the major cost drivers for their product and the major changes that are currently being made to address those issues and reduce the cost of goods by a significant value.

The site visit to ALung was an excellent opportunity to see a company from many viewpoints. Anyone interested in entrepreneurship, business development or operations would have benefited from the visit.

Check the company out at: http://www.alung.com/

----- About the Author ----------------------------------------------

Jared is the President of the BioPharma and Healthcare Club. He graduated with his BS and MS in Biochemistry from the University of Maine. Before coming to Tepper, he worked as a Process Science Engineer for ImmunoGen in Boston. During his five years at ImmunoGen, he focused on developing antibody-drug conjugates to treat various types of cancer and worked to expand their conjugation platform technology.

At Tepper he is concentrating on Operations, Marketing and Strategy. He will be spending his summer at Bayer Healthcare in Whippany, New Jersey. In his spare time he enjoys hiking, playing volleyball and gardening.