UCC Goes Global, but Stays in Lawrence
Corrections or additions?
These articles by Barbara Fox were prepared for the July 21, 2004
issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane
The University Medical Center at Princeton, formerly Princeton
Hospital, which has been talking publicly about finding a new home for
more than a year, has tallied up the costs of moving – and of staying
put.
“What is accurate to state,” says CEO Barry Rabner, “is that to remain
state of the art, we have to expand.” In its recently unveiled
“2004-2007 Strategic Plan,” the medical center puts the cost of
building a new facility at up to $230 million, which, coincidentally,
is approximately the cost of its annual operating expenses. The cost
of expanding on-site is estimated at $190 million, and that does not
include any land-acquisition costs.
A series of public hearings to present details about both options are
to be held beginning in September, says Rabner. But it appears that
the medical center is tilting strongly toward a move. The report
points out that renovating would most likely take longer than moving
because it would have to be done in a way that would accommodate
continuing operations. Further, renovation cost more per square foot
than would new construction. The report also states that only 30
percent of hospital functions would be carried out in new facilities
should the medical center stay put. The medical center currently sits
on seven acres in the heart of Princeton, but a new site would need to
be 50 acres.
Still, Rabner is unwilling to completely dismiss the option of
remaining in place. “One can conceive of alternatives (to moving),” he
says. No, the hospital’s footprint could not easily be enlarged, but,
he says, “We could go up, or do other things.”
Beyond lack of space, Princeton medical center has to contend with a
location on narrow, heavily-used Witherspoon Street. “Patient access
is an issue,” says Rabner. Few of the hospital’s patients walk in. In
fact, says the CEO, only 16 percent live in either Princeton Borough
or Princeton Township.
Also an issue is residents’ reactions to any expansion of the
Witherspoon Street complex. In the past, hospital neighbors have been
outraged by building plans, including the conversion of several small
houses to medical offices. Is this a factor in a decision to stay or
go? Diplomatically, Rabner says, “We think of our neighbors all of the
time. We think about any impact we may have on them.”
Sites being mentioned for a possible relocation of the medical center
include Carnegie Center, the Wyeth property on Quakerbridge Road, and
Forrestal Center. Published reports indicate that Princeton
University, which owns a great deal of land in and around the Route 1
Corridor from Princeton to South Brunswick, could be interested in
purchasing the medical center’s main building and its nearby Merwick
rehabilitation and nursing home facility. Should that option pan out,
there is speculation that a land swap would not be out of the
question.
While there is uncertainty about the future location of Princeton
hospital, the fate of the healthcare system’s nursing home facility,
Merwick, which is located on Bayard Lane, appears to be sealed. “We
acquired the facility in 1957,” says Rabner. “We need to build a
replacement for the nursing home.” It appears unlikely that a new
building will be erected on the current site, but Rabner says that no
final decision has been made.
The medical center, facing competition from a number of hospitals in
central New Jersey, also sees many of its potential patients journey
to New York City and to Philadelphia for care. It’s a tough market,
where healthcare choices abound. At least in part for that reason,
Princeton HealthCare had been losing money through 2002.
That situation has been turned around, says Rabner, who took over as
CEO in 2002. He reports that revenue now exceeds expenses by at least
a small margin. Aggressive cost containment along with new outpatient
facilities, including a new fitness center in Montgomery, have been
factors in the turnaround. On the marketing front, the medical center
got a new name a little more than a year ago, as did its parent, which
became Princeton HealthCare System.
It’s not enough for the long haul, however. If there is to be a viable
medical center between Hamilton and New Brunswick, it must have all of
the latest technology and a plethora of specialty programs housed in
modern, inviting surroundings that inspire confidence. A landlocked
building that was already 35 years old when Einstein died there in
1955, will not do.
-Kathleen McGinn Spring
Princeton HealthCare System: University Medical Center atPrinceton, 253 Witherspoon Street, Princeton 08540. Barry S. Rabner,president and CEO. 609-497-4000; fax, 609-497-4991.www.princetonhcs.orgTop Of PageNew Pharma For CranburyMiami-based Kos Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:KOSP) has leased 90,000 squarefeet of headquarters and laboratory space at 1 Cedar Brook Drive inCranbury. The company, with annual revenue of nearly $320 million, isengaged in developing, commercializing, manufacturing, and marketingproprietary prescription products for the treatment of chronicdiseases. Its principal product development strategy is to reformulateexisting pharmaceutical products with large market potential toimprove safety, efficacy, or patient compliance.Kos currently markets Niaspana and Advicora for the treatment ofcholesterol disorders and Azmacorta for the treatment of asthma.Adrian Adams, president of the company, says that “Kos is currentlythe fastest growing specialty pharmaceutical company in the U.S.” Italready has a facility in Edison, and Adams said “…we believe thatCranbury is not only a convenient location with respect to our Edisonfacility, but it also is in the epicenter of the resource-richenvironment of pharmaceutical talent.”The new facility, which reportedly will house 222 employees, isexpected to facilitate growth plans for Kos, which was founded in 1988and went public in 1997. Some personnel from Florida will betransferred to Cranbury as the company aims to maintain a 50-50operations split between New Jersey and Florida. Customization work onthe two-story building, owned by Cedar Brook Corporate Center, isexpected to be complete by “mid-year 2004.” It will house both R & Dand administrative personnel.Top Of PageUCC Goes Global, but Stays in LawrenceRemember the nervousness surrounding the introduction of bar codes,those now-ubiquitous collections of black lines and spaces of varyingthicknesses? There was concern that, minus glued-on price tags,supermarkets could run cans of tomatoes and boxes of cereal through alaser reader and charge the shopper any price at all. Even if themerchant was honest, who knew whether the system would be reliable?Consumers, of course, became comfortable with the speeded-up check outsystem in no time. So common had the system become by 1992 that somesay it cost George Bush the first a second term in office. A story gotaround that he expressed amazement when encountering a scanner duringa factory tour in Florida. In the intervening years there has beensome question as to whether he was just being polite. But no matter,pictures of a well-born president marveling over a supermarket scannerwith a “What hath God wrought” expression on his face tagged him asbeing hopelessly out of touch with the common man – whose bar-codedcanned tomatoes and Corn Flakes had been run through scanners foryears.Bar codes are about to change again, but it seems unlikely that thechanges will raise any fears in consumers, and appears impossible thatthey could affect the outcome of an election. The change does not evenstand to alter operations at the headquarters of the Uniform CodeCouncil (UCC), the standards body for U.S. bar codes, which is locatedin Lawrenceville.”On January 1, 2005, we go to 14 digits,” says Jack Grasso, seniordirector of public relations, for the UCC, a not-for-profitorganization. The “we” he refers to is a newly formalized globalstandards organization.Formed in 1977, UCC’s European counterpart, EAN International, hasused 13 digits from the start. The two organizations have strong ties,and in fact share a CEO, Miguel Lopera, who divides his time betweenBrussels and Lawrenceville. With rampant globalization, it makes agreat deal of sense that bar codes on the same product be uniform theworld over, points out Grasso. Toward that end, he says, both the12-digit and the 13-digit format are being scrapped, and replaced with14 digits.Later in 2005, UCC and EAN will be folded into one organization,called GS1. Headquarters for GS1 will be in Brussels, but, saysGrasso, there will be no downsizing at the Lawrenceville facility,where 200 people now work. “Our local offices will continue to behere,” he says, “and we will continue to add people. This is a stepforward in terms of expansion.”Growth at UCC, which is largely funded by the thousands ofmanufacturers, merchants, and vendors that make up its membershiprolls, is being fueled by technology, says Grasso. The next big thing,he says is EPC, or electronic product code. In the future, probablywithin the decade, products of all kinds will carry an electronic tagthat will be read by a radio frequency reader. The RFID technology, hesays, allows for “greater visibility.” In other words, merchants willknow exactly what the product in front of them is, and exactly whereit has been. For example, it will be possible to ensure that a bottleof prescription medicine really is Zolfot of Prozac, and not acounterfeit, and to know with certainty exactly when it wasmanufactured.RFID technology will be able to provide extensive information not onlyon single bottles of Prozac, but on a whole pallet full of the drug.The electronic tags are passive, so it will not be possible to trackwayward shipments through RFID, but it will be possible to determinethe contents of a pallet from a short distance, with no need to run itthrough a scanner.Uniform Code Council Inc., 1009 Lenox Drive, Suite 202,Lawrenceville 08648. Miguel Lopera, CEO. 609-620-0200; fax,609-620-1200. E-mail: info@uc-council.org. www.uc-council.orgTop Of PageContracts AwardedGPC Biotech Inc. (GPC), 101 College Road East, Princeton08540. Gregory Hamm, vice president. 609-524-1000; fax, 609-524-1050.www.gpc-biotech.comGPC Biotech AG has obtained a patent for its lead cell cycleinhibitor, RGB-286199. It claims the composition of matter of a familyof cell cycle inhibitors for pharmaceutical compositions (the compoundas a medicinal product), as well as methods of treating certaindiseases, including cancer. The genomics-driven drug discovery companyis based in Germany.”This patent strengthens our position in this family of small moleculecompounds that may be important in the area of cell cycle control andanti-cancer drug development,” says Sebastian Meier-Ewert, chiefscientific officer. “Our cell goal is to complete pre-clinicaldevelopment work on this compound in the first half of 2005.”Cytovance Biologics Inc., 353 Nassau Street,Princeton08540. William Fallon, CEO. 609-683-5833; fax, 609-683-5834.Cytovance Biologics Inc. has landed a $16.8 million financing deal toconstruct a 30,000-foot biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility inOklahoma City.Cytovance aims to meet the underserved need for clinical and earlycommercial stage therapeutic proteins and antibodies, says Spencer J.Reynolds, vice president of strategic and marketing. In other words,not enough companies are making these therapeutics in smallquantities.Cytovance has its origins in Novazyme, which was founded by JohnCrowley and William Fallon. When Novazyme was bought by Genzyme,Crowley, Fallon, and other former Novazyme executives foundedCytovance.The chief reason why the facility is being built in Oklahoma isbecause funding came from that state. “We were able to leverage ourrelationships in Oklahoma to access funding and high qualitylaboratory and office space,” says Reynolds. “We are establishing alow cost base for our manufacturing company.””Our decision to locate our manufacturing facility in Oklahoma City isaffirmed by the successful closing of this creative financingvehicle,” said Cytovance’s Fallon. A fund established by RuralEnterprises of Oklahoma (a federally accredited Community DevelopmentInstitution) has made a loan that is supported by federal and statetax credits. The package had funds for facility construction, processequipment and operating capital.Later this year Cytovance will begin cell banking, processdevelopment, and analytical development services. It will begin gullmanufacturing from cell banking to vial at the start of 2006.PharmaSeq Inc., 1 Deer Park Drive, Princeton CorporatePlaza, Suite F, Monmouth Junction 08852. Wlodek Mandecki, president.732-355-0100; fax, 732-355-0102. www.pharmaseq.comPharmaSeq has received its fifth SBIR grant from the National CancerInstitute. The Phase I grant is for developing a multiplex cell assayon PharmaSeq’s electronic microchips, called microtransponders.PharmaSeq hopes to grow cells on microtransponders in the presence ofa chemical compound and, depending on the compound, cell growth may beinhibited or arrested. PharmaSeq will measure potency of the drugusing the fluorescence intensity from the microtransponder.”Our technology can accelerate drug discovery programs in research andpharmaceutical industry laboratories and reduce costs,” says WlodekMandecki, president of PharmaSeq.Maptext, 666 Plainsboro Road, Suite 1025, Plainsboro08536. Herbert Freeman, president. 609-716-7552; fax, 609-716-7553.www.maptext.comIn connection with a $750 million contract from the Department ofHomeland Security, the engineering firm of Michael Baker hassubcontracted with Maptext to provide automated text placementsolutions. As the manager for the Multi-Hazard Flood Map Modernizationprogram, Baker will use MapText’s software solutions to place names onthe maps.By winning this important contract, MapText proved again that itslabel placement technology can generate enormous cost savings andproductivity gain, while providing uncompromising cartographicquality”, says Herbert Freeman, president of MapText Inc.Palatin Technologies Inc. (PTN), 4C Cedar Brook Drive,Cedar Brook Corporate Center, Cranbury 08512. Carl Spana PhD,president & CEO. 609-495-2200; fax, 609-495-2201. www.palatin.comPalatin Technologies has products for sexual dysfunction andappendicitis detection, and recently it made major advances in bothareas. Good news came from an early clinical trial that used Palatin’sdrug, PT-141, simultaneously with Viagra, manufactured by Pfizer.Patients with erectile dysfunction found they had better erectionswhen they used Viagra with PT-141 than when they used Viagra alone.The only significant side effect was that their skin was flushed.PT-141 has a novel central nervous system mechanism of action, whereasViagra is a peripheral agent that is a PDE-5 inhibitor. “Theco-administration of a PDE-5 inhibitor and PT-141 may offer anopportunity to reclaim a significant portion of the patient populationwho, although motivated to seek treatment, remains untreated,” saysCarl Spana, CEO of Palatin.Approval has also come from the Food and Drug Administration approvalto begin selling NeutroSpec, a product for detecting appendicitis.Formerly known as LeuTech, NeutroSpec will be sold throughMallinckrodt Imaging, a unit of Tyco Healthcare that is based in St.Louis. When injected into the blood stream, it binds toinfection-fighting cells that can be traced, radioactively, with agamma camera in less than an hour after injection. Previous methods ofdiagnostic imaging for appendicitis take from 12 to 24 hours.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
