Issue 5  Volume 1 February 1, 2008

 

 

It's Not Your Father's Marlboro

 

At the Center for Research and Technology in downtown Richmond, Philip Morris USA is reinventing the tobacco industry. In the pipeline: smokeless tobacco products and, hopefully, cigarettes that cause less harm.

 

 

by James A. Bacon

 

Dr. Richard Solana is a big wheel at Philip Morris USA. As senior vice president of research & technology, he is overseeing a doubling of the research budget for the $17 billion-a-year tobacco giant that entails the recent construction of the $350 million Center for Research and Technology in downtown Richmond and filling it with some 500 scientists, engineers and support staff. To a remarkable degree, the future of the company is in Solana's hands: Philip Morris is looking largely to this non-smoker to develop new tobacco-related products -- less harmful, if possible -- to compensate for the steady erosion of cigarette consumption in the United States.

 

But you'd never imagine how senior Solana is in the Philip Morris organization from walking past his nondescript office on the fourth floor of the research center. The space measures 10 feet square, with barely enough room for a desk and bookcase. The office does offer a view of downtown Richmond, but it provides no privacy whatsoever. Solana has no antechambers, no gatekeepers, no prim receptionists to fend off visitors. Anyone can walk by, peer through the plate glass wall into his office and practically read what's on his computer screen.

 

Rather than receiving minions ushered in and out of his presence, as one imagines senior Fortune 500 executives normally do, Solana manages by wandering around. Draping his jacket over the back of his chair, he's often out and about, practicing the kind of collaborative culture he preaches. As he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch last October, scientists, engineers and product developers shouldn't spend too much time behind a desk. "A bunch of your day should be spent interacting with other people."

 

The Philip Morris Center for Research and Technology

 

Philip Morris has long been known as highly secretive. That's not surprising given the super-competitive nature of the cigarette business, not to mention the ceaseless litigation, bad press and intense loathing that many people feel for the company. But hunkering down behind moats and walls does not promote the open exchange of views that are a prerequisite for creativity. The company is determined to forge a new corporate culture. More.

 

First, Do No Harm

Philip Morris makes no public claims about the efficacy of efforts to produce less harmful tobacco products. But there are hints that the R&D program run out of Richmond could save thousands of lives.

by James A. Bacon

Any Philip Morris USA executive will tell you that there's no such thing as a safe cigarette. But the company is betting its future on the prospect of one day creating a cigarette that, if not exactly safe, is at least less likely to kill you.

The company has plunked down $350 million to build a state-of-the-art research center, in effect doubling a R&D commitment that in 2007 had totaled about $200 million over the previous decade. It's a good bet that the people responsible for investing roughly $40 million a year, both in company labs and in sponsored research at universities around the country, have laid out a plan detailing the most promising places to spend the money. 

Philip Morris' research program will constitute such a huge share of the life sciences research in the Richmond region, however, and the prospect exists that, if successful, so many lives could be saved, that Greater Richmond BioSynthesis was determined to learn more. And it turns out that Philip Morris does leave a trail: It's possible to gather hints about research priorities from patent filings and employment ads. More.

The FDA has approved a VCU-invented compound that can stop severe bleeding in minutes. Its use in combat is anticipated by late fall.

“Uncontrolled bleeding continues to be the primary cause of death on the battlefield,” said Kevin Ward, M.D., a VCU emergency physician and associate director of the VCU Reanimation Engineering Shock Center – VCURES. “After years of research we’ve developed a versatile and robust material that is specifically suited to treat the tremendously complex wounds of war under very demanding environmental conditions. The material is both absorbent and adherent which helps to quickly stop bleeding while simultaneously facilitating clotting.”

The patent-pending technology behind WoundStat is the result of more than three years of study and development by VCURES researchers. The university center not only conducts research on micro-circulatory technologies, but also plays a key role in training Special Operation Combat Medics in the U.S. military. VCU licensed the technology behind WoundStat to TraumaCure Inc. of Bethesda, Md. The compound is expected to be available for field use by the late fall. More.
 

Sense of Urgency

The employees at Bostwick Labs process their prostate biopsies as if were their cancer diagnosis they were working on.

From the moment the courier arrives at Bostwick Laboratories, around 6 a.m. most days, the clock is ticking. Around the United States, and around the world, people are waiting on a diagnosis -- do they have cancer or not?

News

Business

ECR Sells Amrix Rights. ECR Pharmaceuticals, a Richmond-based pharmaceutical company, has sold the marketing rights to Amrix, a once-a-day dosage muscle relaxant formulation, to Cephalon, a major U.S. pharmaceutical and biotech firm. Amrix is the first in its class of once daily musculoskeletal relaxants. (November, 2007) More.

CBI Boosts Business. CBI Services, a business unit of Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc., won $1.4 million in new contracts in December, on the heels of $2.9 million in new business the previous month. (December 28, 2007) More.

Insmed Initiates Clinical Trials. Insmed Inc. ran clinical trials for patients with Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy (MMD) using the drug IPLEX. (November 5, 2007) More.

Insmed Receives $2.1M. Insmed Inc. has been awarded a grant of $2.1 million from the Muscular Dystrophy Association to help pay for its trial for MMD patients. (December 12, 2007) More.

Insmed Receives FDA Approval. Insmed Inc. has announced that the Food and Drug Administration has granted Orphan Drug Designation for IPLEX for the treatment of MMD. (December 18, 2007) More.

People

CBI Appoints VP. Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. has appointed Mark Hober as vice president of business development and marketing. (December 7, 2007) More.

Insmed Appoints Lanfear. Insmed Inc. has appointed former Amgen executive Dennis Lanfear to its board of directors. (December 6, 2007) More.

MCV Names Biostats Chair. Shumei S. Sun, Ph.D. will serve as the new MCV Department of Biostatistics Chair. Sun brings research experience in designing and analyzing longitudinal studies and clinical trials of growth, body composition, obesity, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders. (November 12, 2007) More.

Research

MCV Receives $2.5M. The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine has won a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to provide mentorship and training to young scientists researching women's health. (October 11, 2007) More.

Massey Awarded $1.3M. A VCU Massey Cancer Center research team has received a $1.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to improve the activity of histone deacetylase inhibitors which improve the treatment of leukemia and other blood malignancies. (December 4, 2007) More.

VCU Granted $1.2M. A Virginia Commonwealth University researcher has received a $1.2 million federal grant to study whether an interactive system electronically linking patient’s health information to their primary care physician’s records will increase the delivery of screening tests, immunizations and behavioral counseling. (October 23, 2007) More.

Massey Awarded $700,000. A VCU Massey Cancer Center researcher has obtained two grants totaling $700,000 from the Foundation for Cancer Research and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation to develop new antileukemic/anti-cancer strategies. (November 14, 2007) More.

VCU Wins Fed Grant. Virginia Commonwealth University will use a federal grant to determine how disabilities that are present at birth affect how physicians identify, evaluate and treat hearing loss in infants and young children. (October 30, 2007) More.

VCURES Elevate Immune System. VCU researchers are studying a way to improve the survival of severely injured soldiers and civilians with the discovery that a naturally occurring hormonal agent, androstenetriol, ignites the immune system to limit injured tissue and massive bleeding. (October 10, 2007) More.

VCU Identifies CEH. Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified the role of a key enzyme, CEH, as it helps reduce plaques in the arteries and the threat of heart disease. (October 24, 2007) More.

Massey Discovers Cancer-Fighting Enzyme. VCU Massey Cancer Center researchers have identified the enzyme, sphingosine kinase 2, which can possibly improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy for colon and breast cancer. (November 1, 2007) More.

VCU Study Reveals Addictive Genes. VCU study has found that the genes that play a role in illegal drug abuse are not entirely the same as those involved in alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine addiction. (November 5, 2007) More.

Researchers Pinpoint Anti-clotting Properties. VCU researchers have discovered a new mechanism to inhibit key enzymes that help in clotting disorders. (November 8, 2007) More.