William Federspiel, Ph.D.

ALung Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of low-flow extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) technologies for treating patients with acute respiratory failure, announced the recent initiation of commercial development of its next generation artificial lung, which expands the Company’s focus on highly efficient gas exchange devices and also broadens its applicable market.

The Company’s current product, the Hemolung® Respiratory Assist System (RAS), is the only fully comprehensive extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) system specifically designed and manufactured for this therapy, as compared to complex competitive products that are modifications of existing technologies designed for other purposes. The Hemolung continues to be the most highly efficient and simple to use ECCO2R system on the market today… Continue reading.

A device designed at the University of Pittsburgh could help improve outcomes as a treatment for COVID-19 when used in conjunction with non-invasive or mechanical ventilation, and it recently received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Health records from a New York study showed that close to 90 percent of patients who were placed on mechanical ventilation did not survive. Some intensive care units are now considering mechanical ventilation as a last resort because of the complications and side effects associated with the process, and researchers believe this device could help.

The Hemolung Respiratory Assist System is a minimally invasive device that does the work of the lungs by removing carbon dioxide directly from the blood, much as a dialysis machine does the work of the kidneys. The device was developed by William Federspiel, PhD, professor of bioengineering at Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, and the Pittsburgh-based lung-assist device company ALung Technologies, co-founded by Federspiel… Continue reading.

NEW YORK, Sept. 01, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dr. William Federspiel, William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, has been selected to join the Education Board at the American Health Council. He will be sharing his knowledge and expertise in Healthcare Education, Workforce Development, Business, Leadership, Management, Chemistry, Biology, Biomedical Engineering, and Medical Devices.

Dr. Federspiel has been active in the healthcare industry for the last 28 years. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1978 and his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 1983 from the University of Rochester. Inspired to pursue his profession by a desire to help people, Dr. Federspiel has now been a bioengineering professor at the University of Pittsburgh for 21 years. His day-to-day responsibilities include teaching and mentoring, administrative duties, and research grants.

Dr. Federspiel attributes his success to hard work and dedication. He has published in over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and has held academic positions in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University and Boston University. Awards and honors he has received include Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Certificate of Appreciation for Distinguished Service to the Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Honorable Mention in the Start-Up Entrepreneur category of the 2014 Carnegie Science Awards… Continue reading.

Pittsburgh, PA (June 12, 2014) – ALung Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of low-flow extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R) technologies for treating patients with acute respiratory failure, announced today that the Hemolung Respiratory Assist System (RAS) has won the Gold Award in the Critical-Care and Emergency Medicine Category of the 17th Annual Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEA) competition. Winners were announced yesterday at a ceremony in conjunction with the MD&M East conference in New York.

The Hemolung RAS provides Respiratory Dialysis®, a simple, minimally invasive form of extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal which serves as an alternative or supplement to mechanical ventilation for critically ill patients suffering from acute respiratory failure due to conditions like acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Unlike mechanical ventilation, the Hemolung RAS is minimally invasive and works by removing carbon dioxide and delivering oxygen
directly to the blood, allowing the lungs to rest and heal. The device is currently approved for use in 29 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

Development of the Hemolung RAS began over 10 years ago in the laboratory of Dr. William Federspiel, W.K. Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and co-founder of ALung Technologies. “The Hemolung RAS is a perfect example of how a strong collaboration between academic and industrial partners can effectively bring life-changing medical technologies from ‘bench-to-bedside’,” added Mr. DeComo. “We continue to support efforts at the University of Pittsburgh to develop a variety of next generation extracorporeal technologies, and we are very excited by some of the advancements they are making.”

Each year, nearly 350,000 Americans die of some form of lung disease, with another 150,000 patients needing short- and long-term care. Unfortunately, current breathing-support technologies are cumbersome, often requiring patients to be bedridden and sedated.

Now, with the support of a $3.4 million National Institutes of Health grant, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh will develop an artificial lung to serve as a bridge to transplant or recovery in patients with acute and chronic lung failure.

“Our wearable lung will be designed to get patients up and moving within the hospital setting, which is important for both patient recovery and improving a patient’s status prior to a lung transplant,” said principal investigator William J. Federspiel, William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering and director of the Medical Devices Laboratory within the Pitt-UPMC McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

ALung Technologies, Inc., a leading developer of innovative lung assist devices, presented an analysis of its recent clinical trial of the Hemolung Respiratory Assist System (RAS) in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The data were presented during the session “Chronic and Acute Hypercapnic Failure – Management with low flow CO2 devices” on Friday, June 15th at the 58th Annual Conference of the American Society of Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO) in San Francisco.

The presentation, entitled “Extracorporeal CO2 Removal (ECCO2R) for Preventing Intubation in Patients with Exacerbated COPD: Results of the Hemolung Pilot Study,” by Dr. William Federspiel, Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh and Chairman of ALung’s Scientific Advisory Board, provided data from a subset of seven patients with acute exacerbation of COPD who were failing non-invasive ventilation (NIV) and at a high risk of being intubated and placed on invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Patients in the study were provided ECCO2R with the Hemolung RAS to remove retained carbon dioxide. The study was led by principal investigator Prof. Dr. Felix Herth of the Thoraxklinik and University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.