Biostage brings children's hospital expert James Shmerling aboard
Courtesy/Biostage
James Shmerling
Holliston medical device maker Biostage has added another children’s hospital executive as the company continues to remake itself into a child-focused biotech company.
The esophageal organ implant company announced the appointment to its board of directors of James Shmerling, who is currently the president and CEO of Connecticut Children's Medical Center
Shmerling has more than three decades of management experience at children’s hospitals across the country and is considered an expert in children’s health and wellness.
He’s previously led children’s hospitals in Colorado and Tennessee, and he is an adjunct faculty member in the hospital administration program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The company for several months has been working with Connecticut Children’s Medical Center to develop treatments for esophageal atresia, a birth defect in which the esophagus isn’t fully developed.
Biostage has already brought on the hospital’s Executive Vice President and Surgeon-in-Chief Christine Finck to its Scientific Advisory Board, and the hospital invested $100,000 into the company last year.
The company announced Thursday a grant for up to $1.7 million for research and preclinical testing of pediatric implants with the hopes of soon submitting a product to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for commercial approval.
“The company is working to bring a valuable medical technology to patients in need of better solutions and outcomes,” Shmerling said in a statement. “I hope my deep experience in delivering medical solutions to pediatric patients will help guide the company in moving its technology from the lab to the clinic."
These recent moves come shortly after the company was facing a financial crisis after a $3-million investment fell through last year. The company was delisted from NASDAQ in October and was forced to lay off 17 of its then 24 workers.
Since then, the company has secured about $7 million in investments - largely from Chinese investors - and grants.
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