Corrections or additions?
This article by Barbara Fox was prepared for the May 8, 2002
edition of
U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Start-up: AlgoRX
If Purdue Pharma wants to work on late stage pain
products,
AlgoRX is focusing on early stage pain products.
“There is a greater level of satisfaction in getting them from
nothing to something,” says Ronald M. Burch, the CEO of AlgoRX.
He points out that the annual cost for healthcare and lost
productivity
due to pain is $100 billion, and the cost of physician visits due
to pain is $40 million.
Burch opened his company at Interchange Plaza last fall. He graduated
from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, Class of 1977, and
went to the Medical University of South Carolina for his PhD in
pharmacology
and MD in internal medicine. He worked at the National Institutes
of Health and for such big pharmas as Nova Pharmaceutical in
Baltimore,
Rhone Poulenc/Rorer in Philadelphia, Zeneca Pharmaceutical in
Wilmington,
and Purdue Frederick (a predecessor to Purdue Pharma) in Stamford,
Connecticut.
Burch had established an immunotherapeutics division of that firm,
Purdue Biopharma on College Road. To open his new company, Burch
acquired
the assets of PowderJect Technologies in Fremont, California. Among
the investors in a $25 million Series B financing round are InterWest
Partners, Sofinnova Ventures, and JP Morgan.
AlgoRx has also licensed rights to commercialize the needle-free,
pain-free PowderJect technology for all drug (non-vaccine)
applications.
Burch himself devised the logo and corporate image materials. Loosely
translated from the Greek, AlgoRx means “prescriptions pain.”
AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals, 101 Interchange Plaza,Suite 102, Cranbury 08512. Ronald M. Burch, CEO. 609-409-2300; fax,609-409-2323. Www.algorx.comTop Of PageSarnoff’s ExpansionSarnoff Corporation made its first appearance beforethe West Windsor Planning Board on its proposed 3-million-square-foot”technology campus” on May 1. But due to a snafu in which someof the residents living near the project were not notified of thehearing, Sarnoff will begin its application all over again onWednesday,May 22.Sarnoff’s application is for a 20-year general development plan (GDP).The approval will determine the phasing of building construction androad improvements, and outlines the general layout of the site.The proposed campus would cover some 21 percent of the 336-acre tract— located in Penns Neck and bounded by Route 1, Fisher Place,and the Millstone River at the border with Plainsboro Township. Theplan conforms to a new zoning law passed by West Windsor in April.That ordinance reduced the allowable density of construction on theproperty from 30 percent to 21 percent of the site and required thatat least 30 percent of the complex be devoted to research and otherlow-traffic generating uses, such as hotels and conference centers.The most immediate improvement will be the expansion of Sarnoff’sexisting 600,000-square-foot facility to 750,000 square feet. Theimprovement calls for the demolition of 350,000 existing square feet,the renovation of 250,000 feet, and 500,000 feet of new construction.The first phase of brand-new construction, to be built within thenext five years, calls for 450,000 square feet of research and officespace to be built near the existing Sarnoff building.Phase two, as required by last month’s zoning amendment, would notbe allowed until the Millstone Bypass is constructed. This phaseencompassesthe so-called “East Campus” — the 900,000-square-footportion of the project near the railroad tracks that includes a hoteland conference center in addition to research and office facilities.The final phase calls for the construction of 900,000 square feetand includes the front lawn of the site between the existing Sarnofffacility and Route 1. That 90-acre portion of the property is thesubject of an agreement between Sarnoff and Princeton University,under which Princeton will buy the site after the GDP is approved.Top Of PageNo Bar at the SquareNone of the big restaurant chains will locate at thenew Square at West Windsor shopping center on Route 1 North,apparentlybecause West Windsor Township asked too much for the sale of a liquorlicense. This new center is expected to open this summer with ahardwareanchor store (Lowe’s) but no restaurant.In March the township authorized the sale of a bar/restaurant licensewith a minimum bid of $595,000 to help bolster sagging revenues, butno bids were submitted by the May 1 deadline.West Windsor officials believed a restaurant looking to locate inthe Square at West Windsor might buy the license. The project, beingdeveloped by Garden Commercial Properties of Short Hills at the cornerof Route 1 and the new Meadow Road overpass, would be an ideallocationfor one of the large chains, officials reasoned, because there arecurrently no such restaurants on Route 1 North in the township.Not so, says the Square’s project director Tony DiGiovanni. “Theprice they were asking was prohibitive. Maybe people have paid thatmuch in the past, but tenants today are not willing to go thathigh.”He speculates that there might still be some interest in the license,but the price would have to be between $400,000 and $500,000. A largerrestaurant would also require a trip to the township planning boardfor changes in the site design. Larger restaurant chains have theirown distinct look and style that would not mesh with the currentlyapproved architecture in the Square, says DiGiovanni.Current tenants slated for the center include Lowe’s, Ethan Allen,Domain Home Fashions, Fidelity Investment, and Thomasville Furniture.There is also some 11,000 square feet available that could have beenmade available to a chain restaurant, but only if a license couldbe bought at the right price.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
