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ImmuCell is a public biotechnology
company dedicated to marketing products that improve animal health and productivity in the
dairy and beef industries
ImmuCell
Healthcare
(NASDAQ/ICCC)
ImmuCell Corporation
56 Evergreen Drive
Portland, ME 04103
Phone: 207-878-2770
Michael F. Brigham
President and CEO
Interview conducted by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFOinterviews.com
April 7, 2005
Company
Profile:
ImmuCell Corporation (NASDAQ/ICCC), headquartered in
Portland, Maine, is a biotechnology company dedicated to benefiting its employees and
shareholders through the development, manufacture and sale of innovative and proprietary
products that improve animal health and productivity in the dairy and beef industries.
CEOCFOinterviews: Mr.
Brigham, how has ImmuCell changed under your leadership as CEO during the last five years?
Mr. Brigham: “With Joe Crabb, Vice President and Chief
Scientific Officer, what we did back at the end of 1998 going into 1999, was redirect the
company to animal health products. We spent a lot of time in the nineties developing human
applications of our technology prior to the redirection to animal health We became
profitable because the human health development programs were much more expensive while
the animal health programs were a little less expensive. We have run a profitable business
for the last six years and sharpened our focus on products that would follow our most
successful product, which is First Defense®, the product we sell to the dairy and beef
industries. We were looking for ways to build on that and keep our focus on the specific
targeted market the dairy and beef industries.”
CEOCFOinterviews: Is
there much competition in that area?
Mr. Brigham: “There is a lot of competition with some of
the biggest companies, such as Pfizer and others. There are also some very small
companies. From the big guy to the small guy, it is a diverse range of competition and a
very competitive market.”
CEOCFOinterviews: You
have an agreement Pfizer, will you tell us about it?
Mr. Brigham: “As we started working on the animal health
focus, one of the biggest programs that we started working on was the development of
Nisin, a natural antibacterial peptide that had some broad spectrum activity against
mastitis pathogens. The first thing we did is acquire a product called Wipe Out® Dairy
Wipes, which is a biodegradable towel that is moistened with the active ingredient Nisin
and used to prepare the cows for milking. Mastitis pathogens are a big problem to the
dairy producer. We are making and selling that product to prevent mastitis and then
developing an application of it to be infused into the teat to treat mastitis. We started
working on a product called Mast Out in 2000. We are very excited and fortunate that by
the end of 2004, we brought the technology to a stage where it interested Pfizer and they
teamed up with us to take it further. With our Pfizer deal, virtually overnight, the
opportunity went from what ImmuCell had as a USFDA effort to a worldwide global effort.
Pfizer’s resources can help us expand the program to outside of the US, principally Europe
and other territories around the world. They will be primarily responsible for the
regulatory, clinical, as well as the commercial manufacturing development of the product.
Ultimately, with FDA approval and with the claims that we are hoping to achieve, they will
be the marketer. We took an opportunity from an early stage and worked on our down the
path to an FDA US approval. We have now been able to expand it to a global opportunity
with the Pfizer partnership.”
CEOCFOinterviews: Would
that be your plan for future products?
Mr. Brigham: “This application of Nisin to treat
Mastitis is a big opportunity. The disease itself is such a huge cost to the dairy
producer. The opportunity is large enough that a company like Pfizer would be interested
in it. More often, other things we work on are smaller. They are interesting to ImmuCell
with just over three million in sales and not so interesting to someone larger.”
CEOCFOinterviews: How do
you decide on what to work on?
Mr. Brigham: “Where we have been consistent about over
the last six years is the target market. We stepped away from the human market. We had
many scientific achievements in the human area during the nineties but no commercial
success. We came back to sell First Defense, and we wanted to know what else we could do
to add onto the focus of the dairy and beef industries. We have to look at opportunities
we think have a good shot at getting regulatory approval if required, and if not with
regulatory approval, with proprietary advantage. We are being opportunistic and we want to
focus on a market that we think we can serve reasonable well.”
CEOCFOinterviews: Once
you have sold a number of products to the same industry, is it more likely that they will
readily look at a new product?
Mr. Brigham: “If you are looking with the USDA or FDA,
every product application is completely independent; it may as well be your. We gain some
expertise each time we go through the process and learn how it works better. Each
application stands on its own. We have six products today and two of them are significant,
the Wipe Out® and the First Defense®. We work really hard and have had some success
selling those products. First Defense has a really good reputation and it helps us
to be able to tell the producer “hey, you know First Defense, can we introduce you to
something new that we have”? We have a certain amount of credibility based on the
First Defense reputation. We try to sell those services and products.”
CEOCFOinterviews: You
mentioned that with Pfizer, you would be able to go worldwide with the product. Do you
anticipate going global with the others as well?
Mr. Brigham: “We do not, not to a large extent anyway.
First Defense is in North America, so it does go up into Canada. Sales outside of North
America are very limited. There are some areas of potential growth for us. The excitement
of working with Pfizer on Mast Out® is that they have the capacity to run global trials
in multiple countries. ImmuCell does not. First Defense is a very effective product
because of its claims against Corona virus and E. coil. To get into Europe we think we
would need to expand those claims to cover rotavirus. We keep an eye out for a
cost-effective way to get into Europe as the logical next target.”
CEOCFOinterviews: What
is ahead for ImmuCell?
Mr. Brigham: “We run on two tracks; to add to, maintain
and hopefully grow the current business as best we can, and to continue to make and sell
products efficiently. The business has been good to us and has kept us liquid financially.
It has been profitable and we have been able to invest heavily back in R and D with some
of those profits and bring along an opportunity like Mast Out. Pfizer clearly has the
primary role and responsibility for this second track being the further development and
marketing of Mast Out® should we obtain FDA approval. We will be careful and diligent to
help in the areas where we are still responsible, which today is principally to supply a
product for clinical trials.”
CEOCFOinterviews: In
closing, what would you like to say to potential investors and what should they know that
they might not realize when they first look at the company?
Mr. Brigham: “Looking out over the last few weeks, you
would have to say that Pfizer brought a lot of interest into our stock. We have been
telling a very consistent story. We started the development of Mast Out in 2000 and said
all along that we are working down the road for FDA approval and have made some progress.
We increased that potential hope with a deal and the endorsement of Pfizer means a lot to
me. We are a firm believer. We have been investing in this technology for years now, and
to see that Pfizer would like to be involved in it, I think it has been very meaningful to
validate our decisions and it seems to have endorsed the potential of the product to
investors that have just noticed ImmuCell for the first time with the mention of Pfizer.
Ultimately, we need to get FDA approval before we realize the value.”
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