Without The Hype
| David Grimes Photo Courtesy Pharmaco International, Inc. |
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| A scientist logs frozen biological samples for analysis at Pharmaco International, a contract research organization in Henrico County. |
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Without The Hype
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Pharmaco is one of those high-tech companies that has quietly done business in Virginia for more than a decade without the benefit of the hype accompanying North Carolina's Research Triangle or California's Silicon Valley.
It's not a household name, like Motorola or IBM/Toshiba, which recently announced plans to invest billions of dollars in Virginia, but it is one of the 5,000-plus smaller high-tech industries that have steadily pushed Virginia into the limelight. Economic development officials agree that if such companies weren't already here and charting such successes, it's doubtful the high-tech giants could be attracted.
"We are a contract research organization -- a CRO -- that got started in 1985 and has grown tremendously in the past five years," said Jennifer Branin, associate director.
The organization was founded as CAL Lab East, a venture of California Analytical Laboratories in Sacramento, with a staff of four Henrico County residents. Over the years, it subsequently became part of Enseco and Corning before being purchased in 1992 by Pharmaco of Austin, Texas, and renamed the Pharmaco Analytical Laboratory. The company is on the verge of expanding into larger space with more employees than the current 130.
In 1993, the local facility was renamed the Analytical Laboratory Division of Pharmaco-LSR International Inc. Company revenues in 1993 approached $200 million.
The phenomenal growth experienced by this company is attributed to its flexibility in matching services to the needs of the marketplace. Branin explained that CROs gained popularity as large pharmaceutical companies followed the lead of other businesses across the United States in downsizing workforces. "Companies found it cheaper to outsource much of their research to bring new drugs to the market," Branin said.
Most of Pharmaco's employees are chemists, who are plentiful in the Richmond area. "Richmond is a great place for us to recruit degreed scientists and biologists straight out of school because we hire from schools in the area," Branin said. Those schools include Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical University of Virginia in Richmond and the University of Virginia in nearby Charlottesville.
Even when the company has to go outside the area to fill a senior-level, specialty-type position, Branin said, few problems are encountered. "The only hurdle is that people may be from a large pharmaceutical company where the salary level is higher than we can offer. That's when you really have to sell the heck out of your company and the area. Once we get people here, however, Richmond is viewed very positively because of its cost of living, its relatively low taxes, the quality of its lifestyle and its location."
While the lab's work is confidential, Branin noted that research is being conducted in the anti-viral market, as well as in generic drugs, biotech compounds, proteins and peptides. Pharmaco is able to conduct its work in English with pharmaceutical companies worldwide. "We work with companies in France, Germany and The Netherlands and they fax us in English," Branin said.
| Pharmaco's work involves measuring biological samples -- blood, urine and body fluids. "When a research compound is in a clinical trial, we measure parts-per-trillion levels of the research drug -- that's the high-tech," Branin explained. "We use a lot of high-tech techniques, measuring hundreds of thousands of samples a year." |
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The company, with employees on two overlapping shifts, researches 50-100 projects each month. "Some are short-lived and others are very lengthy," Branin said.
Pharmaco research is audited by the Federal Drug Administration and must be found in compliance with Good Labor Practices, guidelines the FDA has established. Branin said the audit is the last step before a drug is approved for market. "The FDA makes unannounced visits to check our research, and we get audited several times per year because of the volume of work we do. (FDA auditors) come in and ask for our records and we must be able to present whatever they ask for immediately, on demand." The lab has never been found out of compliance, she said.
Still, few people outside the pharmaceutical industry realize that this high-tech lab exists in Virginia. "We're one of Henrico's best-kept secrets, although we don't mean to be," Branin said. "We just don't get the hype somebody like Motorola does."
--Frances Helms
