Holliston Company Earns Top Ranking in Boston Globe Survey

The following is a press release issued last month by Holliston company Harvard Bioscience, Inc.:

Harvard Bioscience, Inc. was recently ranked the top biotech company in Massachusetts in the 2011 Boston Globe 100, the newspaper's annual survey of the best-performing public companies headquartered in Massachusetts.

Harvard Bioscience president David Green accepted the award on behalf of the company at a ceremony at Globe headquarters on May 19.

Harvard Bioscience was also ranked No. 10 out of all 100 companies in the survey.

"We are thrilled that the Boston Globe has recognized us as the No. 1 biotech company in Massachusetts," said Green. "This recognition is a consequence of our strong track record of growth and profitability of our core life science research tools business. Even during the 'Great Recession,' our exciting growth opportunity in regenerative medicine and the exceptional commitment of our employees around the globe.

"Regenerative medicine, by growing organs outside the body for transplant, holds the promise of improving the lives of the significant number of patients with organ failure," added Green.

Harvard Bioscience's regenerative medicine devices are used by surgeons and scientists to grow tissues and organs for transplant. The company has been in Massachusetts since its founding in 1901 at Harvard Medical School.

Harvard Bioscience started developing regenerative medicine devices when customers of the comapny's research products requested modifications to allow organs to be grown outside the body.  The company's first regenerative medicine product was used by Dr. Paolo Macchiarini to perform the world's first human transplant of a regenerated trachea.

The company has also collaborated with Dr. Harald Ott and Massachusetts General Hospital to design and manufacture a novel bioreactor that was used to grow and transplant a functional lung in a lab model of lung failure, another world first.

Earlier this year, Harvard Bioscience's regenerative medicine products were featured on the PBS Nova ScienceNow television program "Replacing Body Parts" and on the National Geographic Channel's Explorer television program "How to Build a Beating Heart." Links to both these videos are available at www.harvardapparatus.com.