Former LTI Networking Site

I wanted to let you know that Kevin Shifferly has started a new Yahoo!Group called FormerLTI.

You can find it here: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/formerlti/

You’ll need to have a Yahoo! account, but it’s free.  I am still impressed I am getting so many visits everyday, yet almost no comments!  Maybe this forum will work?

So, I ‘ll catch you up.  Thus far, Kevin and I are the only members of this group.  Any other takers?

Here is an example of the thrilling and stimulating social intercourse you can expect:

Hey Jim,

Yea, I thought that since there were so many of us on here, why not
have a discussion/forum to still keep in touch/network/ etc…

Anyhow, I am just going to rely on word-of-mouth for now and
hopefully as this discussion group gets bigger it will become quite
active….hopefully

— In formerlti@yahoogrou ps.com, “jhardy62″ <jhardy62@.. .> wrote:
>
> Kevin,
>
> Like said on linked-in, Good Idea!
>
> It will be great of we can get a few people on-board, but it may
take
> some time.
>
> I have been bloggin about it for a while and not getting many
> comments. I saw a lot of people at RK Mason’s funeral and most do
> not appear to be actively doing much at all on-line. Hard enough
for
> them to answer e-mails , let alone comment on my blog
> http://fredcobio. wordpress. com
>
> So I would be surprised if the group of people who developed many
of
> the tools so commonly used today by everyone through the world
today,
> who created the Biotech revolution, are so completely behind the
> archaic that they don’t blog, wiki or join groups for conversation
> with like-minded individuals.

Site Maintenance and Old news

I had a little time today and knew I needed some site maintenance, especially with the Biotech Companies section.  That page gets the most page views on the site.

Speaking of page views, I thought you may find this interesting:

I like the trend.  I hope I can keep it going.  More comments and support from all the reader out there would be appreciated.  This was alway intended to be an interactive forum with multiple contributors.  Anyone who would like to kick in, just let me know.

A couple of other tidbits to pass along.

On the Rumor front, I heard from good sources that the GeneChoice facility on Pelican Ct. is going to finally close. It seems that the schizophrenic management of Pelican has sold the CLP business to VWR and it’s shutting down. That is a shame.  Maybe we’ll have to make a special BioBeers to celebrate their closing and find the few people still around new jobs?

On the “Good News” side, I found a nice article from a publication called the Federal Laboratory Consortium on Justin Hartings company, Biaera.  I think it’s from Feb. ‘07, but old news is better than nothing and it’s a nice write up.  I know he’s doing quite well and moving some of his units.  If you’re not familiar with his device, according to the article:

“The patented technology, which was later named the AeroMP upon commercialization, allows scientists to challenge animals by the aerosol method. The most likely route of exposure in a bioterror event is through an aerosol. Therefore, inducing experimental infection by inhalation is a critical component of developing medical countermeasures for biological threats. During testing, animals are often injected with an agent to induce disease. This method of infection produces an illness that may or may not progress like an aerosol acquired infection. This aerosol technology creates a wellcontrolled aerosol in a small chamber so that animals inhale particles in a fashion similar to a real bioterror event. Creating this environment means there is a greater chance for accuracy in replicating what may happen in a real-world scenario when humans are exposed to harmful pathogens.

The product itself is a single hardware and software platform that controls and monitors all aspects of an inhalation exposure, including aerosol generation, characterization, sampling, airflow, system balancing, environmental parameters, animal respiration, and dose calculation.”

I also found a press release from Capricorn Pharma, a little known entity off Wedgwood & English Muffin.  According to their web site:

NEWS :

04 Aug 08 Capricorn Pharma Inc and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA enter into agreement. FREDERICK, MD. (BUSINESS WIRE) S. Rao Cherukuri — Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capricorn Pharma Inc., announced today that his company has an agreement with Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, to develop products using Capricorn’s proprietary KORKOAT technology platform. KORKOAT beads accommodate high drug loads; Modified drug release can be achieved by incorporating release-modifying agents inside the bead, in the coating or in both. “We are honored and pleased to have this agreement with Teva,” Mr. Cherukuri said “We are proud of our technologies, which offer flexible solutions to difficult formulation challenges. We believe this agreement further validates our commercialized oral drug delivery technology platforms and Capricorn’s proprietary encapsulation processes.” Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. About Capricorn Pharma Inc., Frederick, Maryland-based Capricorn Pharma is a specialty oral drug delivery systems company that develops, commercializes, and manufactures pharmaceutical products. The company has five commercialized oral drug delivery technology platforms and seven commercialized encapsulation processes.

Teva USA is associated with the Israeli Company and calls itself the largest Generic drug manufacturer.  This could be big news if Capricorn’s technolgy pans out.  And why wouldn’t it?  It was created in Frederick, right?