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January 16, 2008

Wyeth acquisition finalized

New pharmaceutical firm pledges equal pay, benefits

By DAN HEATH

PLATTSBURGH -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer was in Rouses Point Tuesday to formally announce acquisition of the Wyeth Pharmaceuticals facility, which will save all 800 jobs.

He said the announcement is the culmination of two years of hard work.

"I don't think it's too late in the year to say happy holidays," Spitzer said.

The buyer is Akrimax Pharmaceuticals, a startup pharmaceutical manufacturer headed by Chairman Joseph Krivulka and Vice Chairman Leonard Mazur.

Akrimax closed on the purchase of Wyeth's Rouses Point manufacturing facility on Friday.

Wyeth will lease space in the facility until it can finish transition of its Rouses Point operation to Ireland and Puerto Rico by the end of 2009. Akrimax and Wyeth will cooperate during the transition, with Wyeth continuing to manufacture as Akrimax begins integrating its own products into the facility.

"We've looked at other facilities," Mazur said. "This facility is world class."

Krivulka and Mazur toured the plant Tuesday morning, where they saw a first-class workforce.

"This facility has been open for 70-plus years. It is our intention that it stays open another 70-plus years," Mazur said.

Akrimax plans to acquire additional patents for manufacture in Rouses Point, where it will manufacture its own products and make pharmaceuticals for other companies.

The company has also acquired Wyeth patents associated with its beta-blocking drug Inderal, as well as the contraceptives Ovral and Lo Ovral.

The purchase saves about 800 manufacturing jobs. Krivulka said employee pay and benefits will remain the same.

QUICK START

Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas said the announcement is a welcome conclusion to a journey that began in late 2005, when Wyeth announced it would close its Rouses Point plant.

"Those who say we cannot attract manufacturing investment to upstate New York have been proven wrong, while the North Country has once again shown how solidarity and teamwork can help turn bad news into a new opportunity, as our area did when Plattsburgh Air Force Base closed in 1995," he said.

Douglas said the chamber began working with federal, state and local leaders within 24 hours of Wyeth's announcement that it was going to close operations in Rouses Point.

That led to formation of the Wyeth Transition Coordinating Council and helped secure federal training support for employees, with the assistance of U.S. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer and U.S. Rep. John McHugh.

Spitzer's office cemented the deal, Douglas said.

"Closing the deal came down to this governor and his team."



nod to CLINTON

Douglas said Clinton provided the link to Krivulka and his partners.

"We knew the ready workforce was the key asset to be marketed, and in April of 2006, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called us at the chamber and connected us with a group of entrepreneurs led by Joseph Krivulka, who were looking for what we had. She really got the ball rolling."

Douglas said the chamber headed up a 21-month team effort to finalize the deal.

"Our job at first was to be the salesman, but then to be the steady hand that coordinated the North Country team, kept everyone patient and engaged and helped address the challenges as they came up along the way.

"The teamwork was extraordinary, and I'm especially proud of the work of our vice president of economic development, Susan Matton, who has again proven herself to be one of the region's top professionals."

WYETH SUPPORT

Douglas said Wyeth has also been very supportive as the deal moved toward fruition.

"We also continue to be grateful to Wyeth, which gave us the time we needed to pursue such a complex deal and worked with us as a true partner. That's not always what happens once a closure is slated. A different owner could have left us with no way forward."

Spitzer said the state offered Akrimax a $2 million capital grant through Empire State Development and that State Sen. Betty Little was able to secure a $1 million economic-development appropriation.

"I'm thrilled to be here and to have helped get this deal across the finish line," Spitzer said.

Wyeth announced on Oct. 11, 2005, that it was going to close the facility, which would mean the loss of 1,250 jobs. The company would keep two local locations: one in Chazy and the other on the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base.

Late in 2006, Wyeth said it was going to keep the chemical-development facility at Rouses Point in operation and subdivided that property from the rest of the Rouses Point facility.

In June 2007, Wyeth announced it would continue some pharmaceutical manufacturing in Rouses Point through 2009.

OWNER'S BACKGROUND

Krivulka and Mazur have extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, especially in startups.

In November 2004, they were co-founders of Triax Pharmaceuticals, a company that specialized in dermatology treatments neglected by large pharmaceutical companies.

Before that, in 1999, Krivulka co-founded Reliant Pharmaceuticals, described on its Web site as a "privately held pharmaceutical company that markets branded, patent-protected pharmaceutical products to primary-care physicians."

At the time Krivulka resigned to found Triax, Reliant had a nationwide sales staff of about 1,000 people. It was described as a company that "acquires and develops branded pharmaceutical products, as well as products in mid- to late-stage clinical development, that typically have FDA-granted marketing exclusivity or long-term patent protection."

Krivulka also saw success at Lederle Laboratories, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, the Janssen Division of Johnson & Johnson and Mylan Laboratories.

Mazur was involved in founding Genesis Pharmaceuticals in 1995, which specialized in the marketing of cosmetic dermatology products. In 1989, he was one of the first executives of Medicis Pharmaceuticals, in charge of sales, marketing and brand acquisition.

Mazur was also involved with Cooper Laboratories, Knoll Pharmaceuticals and ICN Pharmaceuticals.



dheath@pressrepublican.com

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