Contracts Awarded: Bio Nano Motor
Corrections or additions?
This article by Barbara Fox & Kathleen McGinn Spring was prepared for the October 15, 2003 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane
A $70 million redevelopment of the old American Standard
toilet factory near the Hamilton train station is being planned by
a company based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
Erick Kolar, president of Preferred Real Estate Investments Inc.,
will divide the 112-acre Sloan Avenue tract into two parcels and is
naming it the American Metro project. On the 65-acre parcel, using
part of the factory where toilets were made, he will build a 472,458-square-foot
office complex and subdivision. Employing union labor, Kolar plans
to start construction by the end of this year and have the first phase
— 160,765 square feet — occupied by next summer.
In giving final approval for the first phase on Thursday, October
9, the township planning board required Kolar to make traffic improvements.
The office complex could house from 1,600 to 2,000 workers. Nothing
has been decided about what will happen to the remaining 47 acres.
Top Of PageContracts Awarded: Bio Nano Motor
An ultra-tiny motor small enough to travel through a
person’s bloodstream to help repair damaged cells, organs and DNA
— that’s the not-so-impossible task set by three Rutgers engineering
departments — mechanical, biomedical, and biochemical. The three
departments received a four-year $1,050,017 grant from the National
Science Foundation’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering program to
build a prototype of the “Viral Protein Nano Motor.”
The term “nano” refers to nanotechnology, or the science of
working with atom- or molecule-sized building blocks. The nano motor
will be so small that 50,000 of them could line up, width-wise, on
a human hair.
Rutgers scientists will use biological molecules derived from virus-based
proteins to build a super tiny motor that can perform a linear opening
and closing motion. It might also be able to spin, stretch, or sense
temperature or position.
The ambitious project of developing these bio-nano motors has been
compared to designing the internal combustion engine, which led to
the automobile and the airplane. “Two years ago, our ideas seemed
very ambitious, like science fiction. Now it’s becoming a reality,”
says Constantinos Mavroidis, Rutgers associate professor of mechanical
and aerospace engineering and principal investigator on the project
Valera/Hydro Med
Valera Pharmaaceutical’s Hydron Implant technology for
palliative treatment of advanced prostate cancer has just passed Phase
III clinical trials. This flexible implant provides 12 months of controlled
delivery of Histrelin and can be inserted at a physician’s office
with a local anesthetic.
In 1993 the firm, founded in 1972 as Hydro Med Sciences, had 25 people
and $2 million in revenues. Now the firm has no revenues (revenues
are hoped for in 2004) and employs 17 people. When David Tierney replaced
Robert Feinberg as president in 2000 he made some big changes, such
as the name. It represents the Latin root word for “strength”
and is meant to imply that the firm has repositioned itself for long-term
growth.
Early in 2002 Tierney led Valera to reacquire the rights to the implant
and accelerate the Phase III development. The next step is get approval
from the Food and Drug Administration. Petr Kuzma remains the chief
science officer and is an expert on hydrogel polymers.
Valera had been a division of the publicly held GP Strategies Corporation.
It is now a closely held private firm, but GP remains a majority shareholder.
Recently the company raised $20 million in two rounds led by an affiliate
of Houston investment bank Sanders Morris Harris, along with Wheatley
Partners, a Manhattan-based venture capital firm. Paladin Labs in
Canada has licensed the Canadian rights for the implant product.
Competitors to the Valera implant are the one-year titanium implant
developed by Alza Pharmaceuticals (now Johnson & Johnson) and licensed
to Bayer of Germany. It has been on the market for two years, but
as Matthew Rue, a Valera spokesperson, points out, “the market
we are entering is $1 billion and Alza’s product has under $100 million
of that.” Other products, injections that work for three or four
months, include Lupron, a joint venture between Abbott and Takeda
America that has three-fourths of the market, and Zoladex, by Astra
Zeneca.
Valera Pharmaceuticals, 8 Clarke Drive, Cedar BrookCorporate Center, Cranbury 08512. David Tierney, president. 609-409-9010;fax, 609-409-1650. Home page: www.valerapharmaceuticalsMercer County Community College is one of 10 communitycolleges that are sharing $800,000 in state monies to upgrade theskills of psychiatric hospital employees. MCCC’s Center for Trainingand Development will use its portion of the grant, $60,000, to providetraining in math, communication and English as a Second Language to150 employees of Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, Anne Klein ForensicHospital and the State of New Jersey’s Office of Education. Trainingbegins in November.Mercer County Community College Center for Training& Development, 1200 Old Trenton Road, Box B, Trenton 08690. NunzioCernero, director. 609-586-4800; fax, 609-890-6338. Home page:www.mccc.eduTop Of PageImport ExpansionGlobal Reliance Inc., 12 Roszel Road, Suite A-202,Princeton 08540. Sanjiv Kakkar, president and COO. 609-520-9779; fax,815-327-1411. Home page: www.efoodcommerce.comGlobal Reliance, a company in the business of importing vegetablesfrom India, is expanding to new markets. The company’s American office,formerly on Princeton-Hightstown Road and on Wallace Road, has purchasedan office at 12 Roszel Road to provide stability for its key workers.”The company needs more space for targeted growth to sales of$27 million,” says Jay Sikand, director of marketing.Global has 300 employees in India, where they freeze and can vegetables.Shipping costs are high, but low processing costs make the productscompetitive with U.S.-produced vegetables. The company’s staple ismushrooms. There are always shortages of mushrooms in the U.S., saysSikand, so there is a good market. But, he says, profit margins areextremely low, which is another reason for adding products.Global, which sells to the U.S. food market through Mitsui Foods,one of the largest buyers, is expanding its potato offerings. Gourmetpotatoes present difficulties for U.S. farmers and manufacturers.For one thing, says Sikand, soil conditions in the U.S. are such thata lot of moisture gets into the potatoes. For another, picking thesmall gourmet potatoes is labor intensive, and therefore, too expensive.The company does well with the potatoes in India, where labor costsare low, and is introducing a new product, scoop potatoes. (“Businessis Mushrooming — From Spuds to Software,” U.S. 1, April 3,2002). As Sikand describes the scooped-out, cheddar and bacon filledpotatoes, they sound suspiciously American. He goes on to say thatthe company’s researchers are working on stuffing tiny, low-moisturepotatoes with these ingredients. The aim, he says, is to come up witha filled potato that will fry in under a minute.That sounds very American, and that turns out to be the point. “Thisis the third generation we’re marketing to,” says Sikand. “Theywere born and brought up here.” The first generation, he says,wanted little to do with new foods. The second generation, parentsto fast-food craving children, find themselves caught in the middle,trying to preserve their culture, while, at the same time, adaptingto their Americanized children.Tiny stuffed potatoes are a good fit for these families, Global hopes.In another, even more ambitious move, Global is importing exotic vegetables,including lotus root and papri lilva, a bean, and is marketing themon both coasts of the United States, and in Canada, Germany, and theUnited Kingdom. A push into Africa is possible in the future.These vegetables are being marketed to the largest group of Indianemigrants, people from Gujarat, the home of Mahatma Gandhi. “Gujarathas only 5 percent of the population of India,” says Sikand, “but80 percent of the U.S. population from India.”Residents of Gujarat are traders, he says, and have re-settled allover the world. While he is from the north of India, and Gujarat isto the west, Sikand is learning all about the vegetables natives fromthis state crave.Global is distributing the vegetables through Raj Bhog, one of thelargest suppliers of ethnic foods. Headquartered in Queens, New York,the company’s name, he says, means “presentation to the king.”Global had to talk Raj Bhog into selling the vegetables. “Theywere known for sweets,” says Sikand. Sweets favored by Indianstend to be quite a bit different from those that appeal to Americans,he says.The same is true for all kinds of snacks, and Global plans on goingafter the snack market soon.There are now just three key people in Global’s new U.S. office, butSikand says growth into new markets will drive employment up to about15 people. Other companies here include Him Infotech Inc., E-FoodCommerce, and Transatlantic Marketing.— Kathleen McGinn SpringTop Of PageStock NewsInterpool (IPX), 211 College Road East, Princeton08540. Martin Tuchman, chairman and CEO. 609-452-8900; fax, 609-452-8211.Home page: www.interpool.comMartin Tuchman, the CEO of Interpool, accepted the resignationof president and COO Raoul Witteveen on Friday, October 10. The movewas triggered by a preliminary report by Morrison & Foerster, an independentlaw firm appointed by the company’s board of directors to investigateaccounting issues. Accounting issues caused Interpool to have to reconfigureits financial statements for 2000 and 2001. Tuchman will assume Witteveen’sduties.Tuchman says that the report showed Witteveen authorizing transactionsthat would have improperly increased earnings, but that the financialstatements did not contain any misstatement as a result of these transactions.The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened its own informalinvestigation. “The fundamentals of our company are sound andvery strong. Revenues and cash flows are growing and our financialcondition is solid,” Tuchman said.Cytogen Corporation (CYTO), 650 College Road East,Suite 3100, CN 5308, Princeton 08543-5308. Michael Becker, presidentand CEO. 609-750-8200; fax, 609-452-2476. Home page: www.cytogen.comThe new stock shares that Cytogen issued nearly three months ago arenow officially registered. On October 6 the SEC cleared the $10 millionin new shares for trading on the Nasdaq market. Cytogen has productsfor diagnosing and treating cancer.Top Of PageMoves on Deer Park DriveComGenex International Inc., 1 Deer Park Drive,Princeton Corporate Plaza, Suite J, Monmouth Junction 08852. BillHeilman, COO. 732-438-8001; fax, 732-438-8004. Home page: www.comgenex.comA three-person sales office of a Hungarian firm, ComGenex,moved to within Princeton Corporate Plaza, retaining the office spaceand allocating the lab space to Ras Labs LLC (see story below).With 250 employees in Budapest, ComGenex works in the pharmaceuticaland agribusiness fields. It employs combinatorial chemistry and molecularbiology to produce new organic compounds and small organic molecules,and it also provides laboratory services and software.Bill Heilman, the chief operating officer, came to this office lastJanuary after 19 years with American Cyanamid. He went to MuskingumCollege in Iowa, Class of 1966, has a PhD in medicinal chemistry fromOhio State, and an MBA from Case Western Reserve.Comgenix has major collaborations with Merck, Aventis, and Bayer,and it also sells to small biotech companies, including some of thosein the lab park, such as Morphochem and Nexmed.Acco Princeton Federal Credit Union, 9 Deer ParkDrive, Box 5366, Princeton 08543-5366. Dorell Wood, office manager.732-631-6051; fax, 732-631-6077. Home page: www.accopfcu.virtual.netThe credit union that used to be housed at American Cyanamid movedwhen that campus closed last year to Princeton Corporate Plaza, whereit has an office in the same building with other refugees from theCyanamid campus, the employees from Fort Dodge Animal Health. Thethree-person office includes Dorell Wood, Barbara Schelher, and AdeleDiDonato. Including those from other states who do their banking businesson the Internet, this credit union has 1,300 members. Membership isopen to employees of small and medium-sized businesses who have signedon as business members. This is the credit union’s main and only office.Princeton Biomolecular Research, 7 Deer Park Drive,Princeton Corporate Plaza Suite F, Monmouth Junction 08852. KennethDallas PhD, director development & research. 732-355-9920; fax, 732-355-9921.Home page: www.princetonbio.comOlivia Scientific has changed its name to Princeton Biomolecular Research.Kenneth Dallas, director of R&D, has also changed the name of thewebsite but declines to provide further information. The firm offersproprietary technology and services in agricultural and pharmaceuticalindustries. Services include research, custom synthesis, compounds,and accurate microplates processing.Transave Inc., 11 Deer Park Drive, Suite 117, MonmouthJunction 08852. Claire Strupinsky, manager of corporate administration.732-438-9434; fax, 732-438-9435. Home page: www.transaveinc.comTransave expanded earlier this year with a move within Princeton CorporatePlaza to just under 11,000 square feet, enough space for 20 fulltimeworkers and five part-timers. It has raised $14 million in venturecapital so far. Tom Giannone of Studley represented the tenant. Transaveworks on drug delivery for treatment of lung diseases.Ras Labs LLC, 7 Deer Park Drive, Suite M-2, MonmouthJunction 08852. Lenore Rasmussen, scientist and owner. 908-371-0855;fax, 908-371-0625. E-mail: h-lrasmussen@worldnet.att.netLenore Rasmussen thinks artificial arms ought to beable to work better than they do, and with her one-woman businessshe has set that as a goal. Her business card for Ras Labs LLC reads:”Inventions and Information, intelligent materials for the futureof prosthetics and automation.” She has written one patent foran “electro responsive” smart material, a soft substance thatresponds to electric stimuli and can be used in prosthetics, and sheis working on another.Expanding from her home office in Hillsborough, she has leased laboratoryspace at Princeton Corporate Plaza. “The lab is where I go todo on-my-feet standing-up experiments, but I do my planning and computerwork at home. I’m a night owl — that’s when I get my thinkingdone.”Rasmussen’s attention is absorbed by the realization that many currentprosthetic materials are metallic, whereas a soft synthetic materialwould be more like real human muscle (she describes muscles as “well-organizedliquids”), in which electrodes could be embedded. “I haven’tbeen able to leave this area alone,” she says, “so I decidedto take the time and the money and really focus on it.”A synthetic polymer chemist, Rasmussen is the daughter of an engineerand an artist. She majored in biochemistry and chemistry at VirginiaTech, has a master’s in biophysics from Purdue, and earned a PhD fromVirginia Tech. Her husband, Henrik Rasmussen, is assistant directorat Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Development, and theyhave two school-aged sons and a toddler boy.Rasmussen has worked at Johnson & Johnson Corporate Biomaterials Center,located on the premises of Ethicon in Somerville, to develop materialsfor implants. To fund her research, she has taught at Raritan ValleyCommunity College and done patent and literature searches in engineeringand chemistry.It’s not just the prosthetic market that beckons Rasmussen. Her materialcould open up the toy market so that little soldiers and other figurescould move more convincingly. “My second generation goal is tomake a variety of materials that are strong enough to be useful, sothey respond at the battery level,” she says. “In prosthetics,leg movements are pretty good but for arms you see something likea hook or hands that are not mobile. But if you had material thatresponded like a muscle, you could blend the two.”Funding would make her work easier, she admits, but she is not quiteready to get outside investment: “I want to see if what I thinkwill work will work. I will probably do some mathematical modeling,and my next patent will be a very strong one.”Top Of PageFoundation MovesPrinceton Area Community Foundation, 15 PrincessRoad, Suite A, Lawrence 08648. Nancy W. Kieling, executive director.609-219-1800; fax, 609-219-1850. Home page: www.pacf.orgThe Princeton Area Community Foundation, in need of more space, hasmoved from Tamarack Circle to Princess Road. It took 10 months tofind an office to fit the nonprofit’s budget and space requirements.”If you want to know anything about commercial real estate, askme,” quips Nancy Kieling, executive director.The foundation, formed in 1991, promotes philanthropy, provides givingexpertise to individuals and corporations, and awards grants to areanon-profit organizations. Last year PACF raised a record $12.8 million,and together with its donor-advisors and partners from 125 separatefunds, granted more than $1.4 million to nonprofit organizations.Kieling says the foundation’s new offices, at 4,500 square feet, threetimes the size of the old offices, are just right because they includelarge reception and conference areas, are centrally located, and arepriced within what she calls a “lean” budget. Buzz Woodworthof Keller Dodds & Woodworth represented the foundation in the negotiations,and Michael Sargis represented the landlord, First Industrial RealtyTrust.Top Of PageStart-UpsMedical Coding & Billing Solutions LLC , 957 Route33, PMB 252, Hamilton 08690. 609-577-8054.Natalie M. Coniglio and Michele A. Hollo started a company to easethe billing and compliance load for healthcare professionals. Eachis a certified coder; Coniglio has a CPC certification and Hollo hasan RCC. With their combined 25 years of billing experience, they believethey can reduce the risk of compliance problems and get faster reimbursementfor the provider. They can train the staff or remove the coding fromthe office to a local office.Among the coding services offered: outsourced coding on a full-timebasis, back-up coding during workload peaks and staff shortages, codingcompliance risk assessment, and staff training on the coding basicsof specific medical specialties. For billing, the firm can providebilling operation weakness assessment, workflow analysis and reorganization,and accounts receivable/insurance denials analysis. Coniglio and Hollooffer a free initial consultation and analysis.Top Of PageOut of BusinessThe Milestone Club at Princeton, 501 ForrestalRoad, Suite 218, Princeton 08540. Russell I. Fries, director. 609-520-1155;fax, 609-520-1313. Home page: www.milestoneclub.comAfter six months the Milestone Club on Forrestal Road has closed,but owners Russell and Ann Fries are planning to reconfigure the business,perhaps focusing on the sports specific performance training and thetesting.”We found that we were just not getting the people we needed tomake money,” says Ann Fries. “But we are passionate aboutthe sports training piece, a need that has never really been met.This was the type of expertise that was really only available in placeslike Denver and Ottawa. I think we had a location problem too.”She believes the niche for the high-end testing services is with cyclists,runners, and other serious athletes. For instance, it costs $120 totest your aerobic threshold, which tells you how to run at your mostefficient aerobic level.Top Of PageDeathsJames Edward “Bud” Bodley Sr., 56, on October4. He was a facility engineering manager at Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics,a Johnson & Johnson Company, and was president of DeKai EnterprisesInc., a sports and entertainment corporation.Martin D. Levine , 56, on October 7. As the founder andCEO of MarketSource Corporation in Cranbury, he had been named Ernst& Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He was also the founder of Kindlea Spark Foundation and former president of College Stores Researchand Education Foundation.A memorial service for Aaron Lemonick will be held Saturday,October 18, at 1:30 p.m. in Princeton University Chapel, followedby a reception at Prospect House. Lemonick, who died June 24, wasa Princeton University physicist who served as dean of the graduateschool and dean of the faculty.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
