New science-based companies succeed even in weak economy, C&EN reports

Management experts believe successful emerging companies share certain traits. A key characteristic is that the company's head is a great salesman of the firm's vision as well as its products. Older companies, on the other hand, are plagued by a kind of "we've never done it that way" attitude.

The most important of these traits is the ability to innovate and, perhaps, depart from the original plan, according to the authors of the 2001 business book, "Creative Destruction." They maintain that this ability enables the younger companies to outperform the older companies.

As part of the story, C&EN profiled seven companies that are either new or have changed course in innovative ways to become competitive with other established firms.

InterMune is a three-and-a-half-year-old Brisbane, Calif., biopharmaceutical company working — backwards, it would seem — from products to research and development. The firm already has three biopharmaceuticals on the market and projects more than $100 million in revenues this year. The key to InterMune's rapid growth is Actimmune®, a form of interferon gamma-1b, used to treat rare diseases. Actimmune® has the potential to be a $1 billion product, depending on clinical trials, other studies and the Food and Drug Administration's reaction.

The company was founded on a unique strategy to raise shareholder value through the acquisition and commercialization of products it marketed. InterMune has acquired licenses for products that were not good fits at large drug firms or biotech companies and has been using the revenues from these products to build its operations and conduct R&D for new products. Actimmune® is an example of such a product.

Under new ownership, Ozark Fluorine Specialties of Tulsa, Okla., has many of the characteristics of an emerging company. Most notably, it is expanding its product line and developing new markets, especially among research chemists in the pharmaceutical industry. In the process, the company wants be known as the one to go to when difficult or novel fluorine chemistry is needed.

In addition to moving into new product territory, Ozark is still the only U.S. maker of the three major dental fluorides.

Asychem, a North Carolina-based Chinese fine chemicals producer, does all of its production in China. For the past seven years the firm has successfully balanced the use of inexpensive resources in China with the need to maintain U.S. standards in manufacturing and business management. The firm is based in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

The firm is planning to shift its focus to China and emphasize active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for generic drugs. Asychem has grown with no debt and has been able to amass $10 million for its move to APIs, using bank loans and private and government investment.

Three Pittsburgh companies — Alung, Fluorous Technologies and Thar Technologies — are examples of new types of businesses with their roots in academia, aided by development agencies such as the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance. Alung, the youngest of the three, produces an artificial lung that, when implanted into an emphysema patient, will substitute for 40 to 60 percent of decreased lung capacity. Fluorous Technologies, now two years old, predicts revenues above $900,000 this year from the sale of fluorous products and separation media to pharmaceutical companies to speed up the synthesis, extraction and examination of potential drug candidates. Thar Technologies makes supercritical fluid equipment and provides process development services. The 12-year-old firm has annual revenues of some $4 million and is making a small profit. It is the furthest along of the three companies.

Cyclics Corp. of Schenectady, N.Y., is another example of a firm that has acquired a technology from another firm and run with it. The company took over a line of resins from General Electric Plastics in 1999 when GE decided that the product didn't fit in with their business plan. These resins melt at a low temperature, flow very well and solidify, producing a strong plastic that readily can be molded into large, complex parts. In addition, unlike many traditional materials, such as epoxy resins, these CBT™ Resins can be recycled easily.

Cyclics has amassed tens of millions in financing for the product and plans to open a $20 million plant in Germany in 2004.

A nonprofit organization with a membership of more than 163,000 chemists and chemical engineers, the American Chemical Society publishes scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.