Corporate Report

Corporate Report

by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Pinellas brownfield 

program earns grant 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Pinellas County three brownfield cleanup grants totaling $600,000. The grant funds will be used to remove garbage from historic landfill sites in the Dansville neighborhood and fill the excavations with clean soil. The parcels served as unregulated landfills for dumping solid waste in the 1960s and 1970s.

Only seven communities out of 108 received the maximum award of $600,000 in cleanup grants. In all, 209 applicants were selected to receive 314 brownfield grants.

 The EPA's Brownfields Program allows states, communities and other stakeholders to work to prevent, assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by actual or perceived environmental contamination. Designating an area as a brownfield can spur redevelopment efforts, and offer reduced construction costs and financial incentives for local businesses.

Pinellas County launched its Brownfield Land Recycling Program in 2002.

Sirion Therapeutics shows

positive trials for Durezol

Sirion Therapeutics Inc., a privately-held, eye-disease focused biopharmaceutical company, reported two successful new Phase 3 clinical trials of Durezol, a twice-daily, topical steroid Sirion hopes to employ as a treatment for ocular inflammation particularly after surgery.

The clinically and statistically significant findings of the studies on 438 subjects showed that Durezol was superior to a placebo in reducing inflammation after surgery. The results also indicated that Durezol was better than a placebo in eliminating pain, measured clinically using the Visual Analogue Scale.

Sirion's new drug application for Durezol has been granted priority review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has issued an action date of June 26. Sirion is currently conducting a Phase 3 trial with Durezol in patients with anterior uveitis and expects to have data by the end of 2008.

Romark Laboratories

rolls out new drug study

Romark Laboratories, a Tampa-based biopharmaceutical company, has begun enrolling patients in a U.S. clinical trial to evaluate its drug nitazoxanide for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Preliminary data from the study is scheduled to be released in the second half of this year.

The study, STEALTH C-3 (Studies to Evaluate Alinia for Treatment of Hepatitis C), is a Phase II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of nitazoxanide in combination with peginterferon alpha-2a and ribavirin to treat patients with chronic hepatitis C infected with genotype 1.

The goal of the study is to evaluate the virus's response after a treatment regimen of four weeks of nitazoxanide lead-in therapy followed by 48 weeks of standard of care plus nitazoxanide. The trial will enroll 60 patients at 15 centers in the United States.

"Earlier clinical studies in patients with chronic hepatitis C infected with genotype 4 have shown that nitazoxanide improves virologic response rates when used in combination with standard of care," Dr. Emmet B. Keeffe, chief medical officer of Romark, said in a press release. "This study and our ongoing STEALTH C-2 trial are designed to evaluate the effect of treatment with nitazoxanide plus standard of care in patients with genotype 1. Future clinical trials will explore new combinations and treatment durations, including current and emerging HCV therapies."

Alinia(R) (nitazoxanide) is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and marketed by Romark for the treatment of infections caused by Cryptosporidium or Giardia.

To learn more about Romark clinical trials currently under way or to find out if a study is recruiting patients in your area, visit www.romarktrials.com, or www.clinicaltrials.gov (for the latter site, enter the search terms "nitazoxanide hepatitis United States.")

Chronic hepatitis C is a blood-born infection that can eventually lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure. The current standard treatment of care, peginterferon and ribavirin, is effective for about half of all patients treated. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HCV affects 4.1 million Americans.

Odyssey court case

forces preliminary IDs

Following a court decision, Tampa's Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. has released its working hypothesis on the identity of the ships at two of its shipwreck sites. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Pizzo of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida denied Odyssey's motion for a protective order covering certain information Odyssey provided in two of its possession court cases. Odyssey officials say the company wanted more time to confirm the identities of the ships. Faced with having this hypothesis leaked out in court, Odyssey decided instead to make it public.

One of the shipwrecks is suspected to be the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes y las Animas (the "Mercedes"), a Spanish vessel that sunk in 1804. The Merchant Royal, a British vessel lost in 1641, has been identified as the second site on a preliminary basis.

"We are all on new ground here and managing the disclosure obligations of a public company against the release of information in an admiralty case like this is a complicated balance," Melinda MacConnel, Odyssey's general counsel, said in a press release. "Judge Pizzo had previously invited us to submit a proposed protective order, which we did. In response, he has now made it abundantly clear how he wants us to proceed with public disclosures, and we will obviously fully comply."

Gold Coast Eagle scores 97% in

customer survey

Sarasota-based Anheuser-Busch distributor Gold Coast Eagle Distributing was recently recognized for its outstanding score in the 2007 Voice of the Retailer survey, a company-run customer service research tool.

Gold Coast Eagle's overall service and satisfaction score of 97% ranked the local beer distributor among the top 10 highest performers out of 750 Anheuser-Busch wholesalers in the United States.

 "We rate ourselves against other companies, other Anheuser-Busch distributors, and against our own past performances," John Saputo president/owner of Gold Coast Eagle Distributing, said in a press release. "This involves tracking everything from special deliveries, to helping the retailer merchandise their shelves or in their bar. Competition in the beer industry remains intense, [so] retailers are demanding more service and a greater variety of products. We have five different selling systems to satisfy the needs of all our 1,300 customers."

Gold Coast Eagle Distributing distributes more than 100 brands of domestic, craft and imported beer from St. Louis, Europe and Asia. Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob, Busch, Natural Light, Monster Energy drinks and Icelandic Glacial are some of the brands that make up their extensive beverage portfolio.