Corrections or additions?
These articles were prepared for the February 28, 2001 edition of
U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane
Vela Pharmaceuticals, formerly known as Janus
Pharmaceuticals,
has received $16.3 million in second round financing from Venrock
Associates and New Enterprise Associates and is moving out of
incubation
space at Johnston Associates. The 10-person firm plans to move in
early March from 181 Cherry Valley Road to 3131 Princeton Pike. The
company works on drug development opportunities — therapeutic
agents for psychiatric, neurologic, and behavioral disorders —
from a variety of different sources.
The president and CEO, Kevin L. Keim, went to Delaware Valley College
of Science, Class of 1968, and has a master’s degree from Fairleigh
Dickinson and a PhD in neurophysiology from New York University. After
17 years at Hoffman LaRoche he moved to the Princeton area to join
the Ayerst Group, and when worked in Radnor for Wyeth-Ayerst. In 1991
he became one of four partners in International Research Corporation
in San Diego, which joined another clinical research organization
— Quintiles — and went public in 1994.
Following an unusual business model, Vela will derive most of its
revenue not from drug discovery, but rather from acquiring licenses
to drugs that were abandoned by other pharmaceuticals, typically
during
Phase II or Phase III testing.
“A company may have decided to drop a drug because it had other
priorities,” Stefan Antonsson, vice president of corporate
development,
gives as one reason that Vela might “in-license” a drug. Other
reasons, Antonsson says, could include a failed Phase II or Phase
III test. If Vela determines that the drug is promising, but did not
do well because of a flaw in the design of the test, it might pick
up the drug’s license. Mergers also provide opportunities for the
company. “When two companies merge, there is a complete portfolio
review,” Antonsson says, “There have to be priorities
set.”
Often, he says, the result is that some drugs are removed from the
newly-joined company’s pipeline.
In addition to picking up drugs that are part way through the Federal
Drug Administration’s approval process, Vela plans to in-license drugs
that are in use in other countries, but are not approved in the United
States. It also plans to develop new uses for approved drugs. Once
Vela has obtained a license to a partially-developed drug, it will
outsource further development to a contract research organization.
The company will design the clinical trials and will oversee their
progress.
After its drugs are approved, Vela will not market them itself in
most cases. It will seek to license them to pharmaceutical companies.
Exceptions, Antonsson says, could be niche drugs — those for a
disease with a relatively small universe of patients. A drug to treat
anorexia nervosa could be an example, he says, because the number
of physicians who treat the disease is small enough for a company
like Vela, which has limited marketing resources, to reach.
Vela will look for development candidates among drugs targeting
central
nervous system disorders, Antonsson says. That is where the expertise
of the company’s management lies. Keim is a neurophysiologist. Steven
Leventer, a neurochemist and vice president of clinical research and
development, is a graduate of Loyola University School of Medicine
who initiated research in the creation of animal models for
Alzheimer’s
disease. Sharon L. Rogers, whose training is in clinical pharmacology,
is a graduate of Ohio State University College of Medicine. While
she was at Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, she was global
project
leader for the Alzheimer’s therapeutic agent Aricept. She negotiated
approval for the drug in the United States.
Antonsson is a graduate of Columbia who holds an MBA in marketing
from New York University. Before joining Vela he worked in marketing
for Pharmacia, Forest Laboratories, and Richwood Pharmaceuticals,
which has been acquired by Shire Pharmaceuticals.
Robert F. Johnston, president of Johnston Associates, the venture
capital firm with offices on Cherry Valley Road that provides seed
capital for biotechnology and healthcare startups, is a founder and
serves as chairman of the board. Other founders are Mark Fisher,
president
of MBF Capital Corporation; Seth Lederman, director of the laboratory
of molecular immunology of the department of medicine of Columbia
University; Donald W. Landry, chief of the division of experimental
therapeutics of the department of medicine of Columbia University;
and S. Leslie Misrock, senior partner, Pennie & Edmonds. On the board
are Anthony Evnin, managing general partner of Venrock Associates,
Ernest Mario, chairman and chief executive officer of Alza
Corporation,
Charles Newhall of New Enterprise Associates; and Philip M. Satow,
past president of Forest Pharmaceuticals.
Vela Pharmaceuticals Inc., 3131 Princeton Pike,Building 4, Suite 216, Lawrenceville 08648. Kevin L. Keim, CEO.609-895-8352; fax, 609-895-8353. Until the move: 609-683-9616; fax,609-683-7524. Www.velapharm.com.Top Of PageDelayed MoveOn Monday, February 26, Eduneering — a fast-growingonline learning and testing firm — was scheduled to move from1 Summit Square in Langhorne to Campus Drive, just off Alexander Road.The moving vans were at the door — and were turned away. Thereason:An unexpected delay in obtaining a certificate of occupancy. Now themove is scheduled for Monday, March 5.Founded by Robert P. Delamontagne at Research Park, the firm movedto Titusville when it was bought by Hastings Healthcare Group. Itspun off when Hastings was acquired, and then moved to Langhorne.The 40-person firm has the contract for the Food and DrugAdministration’stesting and training, and it also does similar work for the petroleum,pharmaceutical, and manufacturing industries.EduNeering Inc., 100 Campus Drive, Suite 100,Princeton08540. Robert P. Delamontagne, president. 609-627-5300. fax,267-757-0880.Home page: www.eduneering.com.Top Of PageNew in TownOrth-Rodgers Associates, 810 Bear Tavern Road,Mountain View Office Park Suite 307, West Trenton 08628. P. NormanDeitch, director traffic engineering services. 609-530-0888; fax,609-530-0868. Home page: www.orth-rodgers.com.A private engineering consulting firm, based in center cityPhiladelphia,has opened a office at Mountain View Office Park for transportationengineering, planning, and design. This office has an on-goingcontractwith Monmouth and Cape May County, and it is assisting a West Trentonfirm, New Jersey Logos, with site plan review services. Another officeis in Somerset.Top Of PageStart UpsRipula Inc., 666 Plainsboro Road, Suite 1161,Plainsboro08536. Ramu Kalyanasundaram. 609-897-9700; fax, 609-897-9474. Homepage: www.ripula.com.Web-enabled software for the banking and financial industries is thefocus for this start-up, which has opened a 700 square foot officeat Princeton Meadows Office Center. It also has a technical supportcenter in Maryland and R&D operations in Bangalore, India.Its web-enabled Banking Suite (rBS) is a modular system for platformsusing major databases. No longer must the client depend on hardwareor maintain client software on end-user stations. The rBS offers apaper-free environment with scalability, 24-hour worldwideavailability,and high security.One of the modules receives data and image files from the centralbank, processes the checks, archives the dated image to be accessedremotely at any time. Or it can be posted to accounting in real time.This module can validate digital signatures and cope with old checksand stop payment orders. Remote clients can make web-based inquiries.Simple Solve Inc., 600 Alexander Road, Princeton08540. Sam Serrapede, principal. 609-452-2323; fax, 609-452-2314.Www.technology-alternatives.com.Insurance companies ask homeowners to keep a record of householdcontents,but do they? Almost never. It’s too much trouble. Sam Serrapede hasa solution, a “Simple Solution,” as his company is named.By September the firm will have a $49.95 fixed asset software programnamed Simplex.Serrapede plans for insurance companies to equip their agents withthe Simplex program. Agents take their laptops on the initial visitto the home and record all the homeowners possessions on the Simplexprogram: item, original cost, replacement cost, etc. All the homeownermust do is try answer the agent’s questions. The record of thisinventorywill reside, password protected, on the Internet. New purchase? Addit by phoning your agent or by going to the Web and making the changeyourself.Serrapedes’ parents were Italian immigrants, and he went to CityUniversityof New York, Class of 1964. He is married to a human resources personat KPMB; she is the director of the work/life initiative there.Serrapedes and his partner, Antony Xavier, started their company lastyear and have a three-person office at 600 Alexander Road. Most ofthe software development — 8,000 person hours — is beingaccomplishedin Madras, India, Xavier’s home country. The firm is developing areporting database for Milmic, a medical malpractice insurance companyin New York City. Both men had been working for Delphi Technologyuntil it moved to New Brunswick.Top Of PageExpansionsElementis Specialties/Rheox Inc., Wyckoffs MillRoad, Box 700, Hightstown 08520. Neil Carr, president. 609-443-2000;fax, 609-443-2422. Home page: www.elementis-specialties.com.A London-based firm, Elementis PLC, has acquired Rheox Inc. from NLIndustries, which once owned 300 acres here, everything up to theturnpike. Both firms are now located on Wyckoffs Mill Road. An NLrelated firm, Kronos, has moved to Dayton.Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling, 810 Bear TavernRoad, Mountain View Office Park, Suite 301, West Trenton 08628. MarkJ. Manta, managing partner. 609-883-6990; fax, 609-883-7730. Homepage: www.klettrooney.com.Mark Manta has left Manta & Welge, a Philadelphia firm, to join aPittsburgh-based firm. There are two attorneys at this office. KlettRooney has offices in Harrisburg, Wilmington, Newark, and the Districtof Columbia — a total of 170 attorneys.Top Of PageCrosstown MovesGarden State Electrical Inspection Services, 2277Route 33, Hamilton Square 08690. Brian Hartmann, vice president.609-631-7799;fax, 609-631-7797.This 30-year-old company moved on January 29 from Princeton CorporatePlaza to Hamilton Square. With a staff of about 50 people, it doeson-site plumbing and electrical inspections for municipalities thathave no inspectors on staff or that need extra help.Great American Mortgage Service Corp, 3687ANottinghamWay, Hamilton 08648. Robert W. Koepke, executive vice president.609-631-9600;fax, 609-631-9699.Great American Mortgage Service Corp., a lender specializing inresidentialand small commercial mortgages, has moved from 3,100 square feet inLawrence Commons to about 2,000 square feet in Hamilton Square.Bob Koepke, executive vice president, says the company relocatedbecauseits lease was up and its former landlord wanted to raise the rentto what he termed “Carnegie Center rents.” Koepke says helikes the Hamilton Square location better. “It’s the sixth largesttown in the state.”Steven L. Sacks-Wilner, Attorney at Law, 707AlexanderRoad, Building 2, Suite 208, Princeton 08540. 609-452-8383.The attorney moved from Lawrence Commons to Alexander Road.T2 Ventures Design & Development, 4478 Route 27,Box 446, Princeton 08540. Carlos and Raoul Momo. 609-924-4009; fax,609-924-4074.The Momo brothers, restaurateurs, closed a Nassau Street office andconsolidated the administrative functions in Kingston. They ownMediterra,Teresa’s, Winepress, Pizza Colore, Witherspoon Bread Company, NovaTerra, and Momo’s.WWINS, 116 Youngs Road, Hamilton 08619. DmitriStylianou, president. 609-586-5565; fax, 609-586-5124.Dmitri Stylianou has moved his company, which does financial softwaredevelopment and multimedia systems, from the Princeton Pike area toYoungs Road.Top Of PageContracts AwardedPharmaSeq Inc., 1 Deer Park Drive, PrincetonCorporatePlaza, Suite F, Monmouth Junction 08852. Wlodek Mandecki, presidentand CEO. 732-355-0100; fax, 732-355-0102. Home page:www.pharmaseq.com.The biotech company has made a strategic partnership with Mitsui &Company, one of the three largest corporations in Japan and sixthworldwide in annual revenues. Mitsui has made a multi-million dollarequity investment in the licensing opportunities for light-poweredmicrotransponders for particular markets. PharmaSeq offersinstrumentationfor diagnostics and assay for drug discovery.Princeton Video Image Inc. (PVI) (PVII), 15PrincessRoad, Lawrenceville 08648. Dennis P. Wilkinson, president and CEO.609-912-9400; fax, 609-912-0044. Www.pvimage.com.Princeton Video Image signed a $17.5 million contract with CablevisionSystems Corp. of New York. PVI will give Cablevision 4 million newlyissued shares of stock and nonexclusive rights to its virtual imagingtechnology. Cablevision, which owns three sports teams and numeroustelevision stations, will be able to use EyeVision instant replaysand eventually, using a technique called iPoint, will be able totargetcertain households with particular advertisements on virtualbillboards.Pretiem (FAF), 195 Clarksville Road, PrincetonJunction 08550. Ezra Schneier, vice president. 609-297-3000; fax,609-716-3062. Home page: www.pretiem.com.Pretiem Corp. — which does preemployment screening services andbackground checks on job applicants — has been acquired byHireCheckInc., formerly CIC Applicant Background Checks. Pretiem was formerlyknown as MBI Services. HireCheck is a subsidiary of First AmericanCorporation, located in Santa Ana California.Ezra Schnier, former president of Pretiem, is vice president ofHireCheck,and David Kennedy will remain in charge of day to day operations forthis 50-person office. John W. Long is president of HireCheck Inc.Top Of PageDown-SizingSilver Reporting Services, 634 Arena Drive, Suite206, Trenton 08610. Edwin Silver, owner. 609-888-0111; fax,609-888-2497.”Technology increases, need for space decreases,” says EdwinSilver, owner of Silver Reporting. The 12 court reporters who workfor Silver used to come in to the office to transcribe their notes.Now, Silver says, there is no need for them to do so. They takeshorthandnotes at depositions and then type them up on their home PCs ande-mailthem in.Needing less space for his business, Silver has moved from 2,600squarefeet at 3131 Princeton Pike to 750 square feet at 634 Arena Drivein Trenton.Top Of PageDeathDurinda Dobbins Putnam, 79, on February 24. She and her husbandPeter co-founded and led the Princeton Memorial Association.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
