Turning over a new leaf

Page 2 of 2 New leaf Maybe tobacco has found a new market. In the medical world, tobacco presents several advantages in the production of pharmaceuticals. It’s easy to grow. It’s self-pollinating. It regrows after being cut. And it’s easy for researchers to manipulate. “There are a lot of advantages to using tobacco to produce proteins,” Fortnum said. “The positive aspect of this is it brings the cost way down. A lot of these cancer pharmaceuticals are very costly because they’re costly to produce.” The Pee Dee research center is working on technology to extract proteins from tobacco that can create pharmaceuticals for cancer treatment. “Every major agriculture company in the world is conducting research in this field,” said Karl Kelly, former CEO of SC BIO, a nonprofit agency dedicated to helping startup biotech companies prosper. “This has great potential to bring new opportunity to the tobacco-producing regions of the state,” said Kelly, who now works for Clemson University, trying to create public-private partnerships to advance and market biotech research. “I think we’re seeing the early stages of the growth market.” Yet Elliott and Johnson, both members of the S.C. Tobacco Board, had heard little of the new technology that could add stability to their industry. “It’d take a lot of tobacco to make it work financially,” Johnson said. But biotech companies likely won’t need a lot of tobacco to meet demand, Fortnum said. He compared it to the insulin market. About 10,000 acres of safflower can supply the global demand for insulin, Fortnum said. “That’s not much,” he said. “You’re never going to need 100,000 acres of tobacco for pharmaceuticals. That’s just not going to happen.”  Still, farmers can make more money on fewer acres by growing tobacco for pharmaceuticals, Fortnum said. “I think the profits are within the system to do it,” he said. “Here you would have a product with enormous value.” Farmers would need to comply with stricter federal oversight, the same oversight faced by other pharmaceutical manufacturers, Fortnum said. That likely would limit production of tobacco for pharmaceuticals to certain farmers, specifically larger farms, he said. “We have the producers who can do it,” he said. But when will this new technology reach the tobacco fields of South Carolina? “It’s hard to forecast these successes,” Fortnum said. “If I were to guess, I’d say 10 years.” Risky business So far, successes haven’t reached the fields of South Carolina, despite several attempts from private companies.  Expectations in the biotech industry run high, perhaps too high at times. In 2003, for example, Pilot Therapeutics made noise when announcing plans to open on Daniel Island, before quickly running into financial trouble. Similarly, CropTech Corp. filed for bankruptcy in 2003 before completing construction of its much-anticipated headquarters planned in Berkeley County. The company was one of several biotech firms that investors eventually gave up on, said Richard Maxwell, a Roanoke, Va., lawyer who represented CropTech in bankruptcy proceedings. Biotech “ideas” are risky investments, he said, and CropTech became another casualty in the dot-com bubble burst. “It turns out they needed more money than anticipated to bring the product to market,” Maxwell said. “It was just another good idea that ran out of money.” Venture capitalists often place timelines on the funding stream, forcing biotech companies to produce quick outcomes, Fortnum said. Many face a four-year deadline, he said. Those problems aren’t unique to South Carolina. Chlorogen Inc., a St. Louis-based biotech focusing on tobacco research, shut down in September, ending a five-year run. California-based Large Scale Biology Corp. sold its assets in 2004. Poor development processes and unprofitable manufacturing facilities were the demise of many early biotech companies, Kelly said. Second- and third-generation technology will be more profitable, he said, and venture capital will be available. “Everyone says there is not enough seed capital in South Carolina, but we’ve been able to find monies both within the state and outside the state,” Kelly said. While researchers develop the product and hunt for funding, farmers like Elliott will just keep doing what they do: work. “I’m 69 years old, and I still don’t know what a vacation is,” said Elliott, who doesn’t expect to retire anytime soon. “I think I’ll be here as long as I can get around. I’ve had people think I’m nutty.”   Scott Miller is a staff writer for SC BIZ magazine. E-mail him directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>