Corporate Report

Corporate Report

by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Romark announces new drug test

Could a Tampa company have found a new drug to cure certain people with Hepatitis C? It is much too soon for a definitive answer, but Tampa-based biotechnology company Romark Laboratories released positive results of randomized phase II clinical trial for the specialized virus-inhibitor nitazoxanide that suggests just that possibility.

Romark Laboratories officials say that 79% of patients with chronic Hepatitis C had undetectable levels of the virus 12 weeks following a treatment with the drug versus 43% in a control group, which received the standard level of treatment. At the same time, the study indicated that patients treated with nitazoxanide didn't report any side affects or unusual relapses.

The company reported its results earlier this week at the 58th annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in Boston.

"Patients treated with nitazoxanide responded earlier and maintained their responses without relapse after receiving only 36 weeks of treatment with peginterferon and ribavirin," Dr. Emmet B. Keeffe, chief of Hepatology at Stanford University School of Medicine said in a press release. "These data suggest the emergence of a new therapeutic approach for treating Hepatitis C. While more study is needed to confirm these results in a broader population of patients, nitazoxanide appears to increase the potency of interferon without increasing toxicity or inducing resistance."

Nitazoxanide is the first of a new class of small molecule drugs called thiazolides that inhibit replication of a broad range of viruses.

The drug was discovered by Jean-Francois Rossignol, director of the Romark Institute for Medical Research, and was initially developed by Romark and approved for marketing in the United States as a treatment of a parasitic infection of the intestines. While it was being developed, the company discovered its antiviral properties and ultimately its potential as a new class of antiviral drugs.

Hepatitis C is a blood transferred liver disease caused by a virus. Chronic HCV infection may cause liver scarring and damage (cirrhosis) or malignant tumors of the liver. An estimated 3.2 million people in the United States are chronically infected by the Hepatitis C virus while globally that extends to an estimated 170 million people with three to four million persons newly infected each year, according to the World Health Organization.

Sun Hydraulics

buys stake in California company

Sarasota's Sun Hydraulics Corp. says it plans to buy up to 48% of the shares of Nevada City, Calif.-based High Country Tek Inc., which represents about 36% of its shares on a fully diluted basis. The price is expected to be $2.4 million. Sun Hydraulics expects to have the option to purchase the remaining stock after Dec. 31. However, Sun Hydraulics officials emphasize the closing will require a number of endorsements, including an approval vote of HCT's shareholders.

High Country Tek designs and manufacturers electronic/hydraulic control solutions for the mobile equipment market; its products include digital valve controllers, designed specifically for the hydraulic industry, and a patented suite of software products called Intella.

"HCT adds products, sales personnel, and system integration capabilities that dovetail into our business strategy," Allen Carlson, Sun Hydraulics' president and CEO, said in a press release. "This investment is complementary to our electro-hydraulic efforts, including our earlier investment in WhiteOak Controls. HCT will help Sun get closer to our customers and better understand their electro-hydraulic system requirements."

Sun Hydraulics is a designer and manufacturer of high performance screw-in hydraulic cartridge valves and manifolds.

Odyssey Marine Exploration

in National Treasure campaign

Tampa treasure hunting firm Odyssey Marine Exploration is partnering with Walt Disney Pictures as part of a promotion leading up to the film National Treasure: Book Of Secrets.

As part of Disney's promotion "The World's Biggest Treasure Hunt" visitors to www.disney.com/NationalTreasure can play two video games featuring Odyssey Marine's shipwreck exploration operations and the SS Republic shipwreck site. One game lets players pilot Odyssey's remotely operated vehicle Zeus through the SS Republic site. The second is a based on several sonar-themed puzzles. People who play the games have an added incentive beyond just entertainment; they're eligible to win authentic shipwreck treasure from the Civil War era SS Republic shipwreck discovered by Odyssey.

"We're thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Walt Disney Studios on this unprecedented promotion," Greg Stemm, Odyssey co-founder, said in a press release. "There are some amazing parallels between the shipwreck treasure of the SS Republic and the plot of National Treasure: Book Of Secrets. The film begins as the Civil War is ending, about the same time that the SS Republic was on her way from New York to New Orleans carrying a fortune in coins and cargo to help rebuild the war-ravaged South. Amazingly, rare coins minted by the Confederacy in 1861 were among the treasures carefully recovered from the shipwreck in the most extensive deep ocean archaeological excavation ever accomplished."

Visitors who play at least one game from each location in "The World's Biggest Treasure Hunt" over the 10 week promotion period will be eligible to win the grand prize, a 2008 Mercedes-Benz C-class car.

Blood Bank Cryo-Cell

collects menstrual stem cells

Oldsmar-based cord blood bank company Cryo-Cell International Inc. launched a service for women to store menstrual stem cells. The company says the new service, called C'elle, is the first program of its kind worldwide. C'elle preserves menstrual stem cells, through a specialized process that isolates them and then cryogenically freezes them.

Cryo-Cell is promoting the service based on what is says is new scientific evidence that menstrual flow contains millions of stem cells that have many properties and characteristics similar to those of both bone marrow and embryonic stem cells.

Company officials point to the work of Dr. Amit N. Patel, director of Cardiac Stem Cell Therapies at the McGowan Institute at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, whose recently preliminary results reported in October pointed to menstrual blood as a potentially large source of stem cells capable of multiplying quickly and differentiating into others types of cells.

Verizon opens Tampa

Fiber Solutions Center

Verizon is opening a new regional Fiber Solutions Center in Tampa to handle FiOS services for Florida market. The office, downtown at 610 Morgan St., is scheduled to open in December.

The company plans to ultimately employ 200 people from the new office, including 120 customer-support and technician positions. The office will be Verizon's ninth regional Fiber Solutions Center. Other fiber centers are located in California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

At the end of the third quarter, Verizon had 1.3 million customers receiving their FiOS broadband service and 717,000 subscribers to FiOS TV.

Etc...

Kforce Professional Staffing

releases salary, employment book

Tampa-based Kforce Professional Staffing has released its 2008 Salary & Employment Guides for its Technology and Finance & Accounting practices. The guides list job titles, job descriptions and salary information for more than 40 major U.S. markets and commentary on significant industry trends. The salary figures are compiled from data provided by Kforce field managers and associates instead of third party Web sites and historic government figures.

"We believe our method of asking local Kforce offices to share salary data gives readers an accurate, insightful look at the current state of employment in various regions," Steve McMahan, Kforce chief sales officer, said in a press release. "Our staffing specialists analyze salaries on a daily basis and are in the best position to gauge the impact of a tight labor market on compensation trends."

Kforce  is a professional staffing firm providing staffing  for technology, finance & accounting, health and life sciences, and government industries. 

Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota

named a World's Best Spa

In the 2007 World's Best Awards Reader's Poll, Travel + Leisure readers ranked The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota a World's Best Spa. The announcement appears in the October 2007 issue.

The Ritz-Carlton Members Spa Club ranked 19th in the magazine's October issue, which listed the Top 25 U.S. and Canada Spas. The Members Spa Club is one of three spas in Florida to appear on this list. According to an industry update from the International SPA Association, there were 13,757 spas in the United States as of August 2006 with an average annual growth of 16%.

The Moorings relocates base

from La Paz to Baja resort

Clearwater-based charter yacht company The Moorings says that  effective Nov. 12 its bareboat sailing and power yacht base in La Paz, Mexico will relocate to CostaBaja Resort & Marina. The new double-basin marina has slips for more than 250 yachts in the five-star resort.

The Moorings will offer a full range of sailboats with monohulls and catamarans.

The Moorings will also offer its newest 47-foot power catamaran, the 474 Power Cat, from the new location.

The CostaBaja Resort & Marina is 10 miles from the La Paz airport and is located on a 500-acre master planned community on the Sea of Cortez. The resort features a Beach Club offering a fitness center, pool, restaurant and bar and lounge area. Groundbreaking on an 18-hole Gary Player Design golf course is scheduled to start this November. 

The Moorings has 800 employees, more than 850 yachts in over 30 locations, and offers the largest catamaran charter fleet in the world.

New CEO, president 

for Institute for Business

Julie A. Rochman has been named to succeed Harvey G. Ryland as president and chief executive officer of the Tampa-based Institute for Business & Home Safety.

Rochman, who is currently senior vice president of public affairs at The Glover Park Group, a Washington strategic communication consulting firm, will assume her new duties in mid-November. 

IBHS is a national nonprofit association funded by the insurance industry tasked with working to reduce the social and economic effects of natural disasters and other property loss events by conducting research and advocating improved construction, maintenance and preparation practices.

Rochman has more than 20 years of public affairs and advocacy experience representing major corporations, research and safety organizations, and issue-based coalitions. From November 1996 until late 2000, Ms. Rochman was vice president of communications for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.