Biotech firm lured to Lowcountry plans new product debut

Pilot Therapeutics' temporary new headquarters on the fourth floor of the Blackbaud building feels largely deserted, save for some of the managers' offices and a couple of cubicles. On one of the bare desks is a sign, "Welcome to Charleston." All that is about to change.

Shortly after Pilot finishes moving into the building in a week or so, it will begin test-marketing its first big product, an over-the-counter treatment for asthma called Airozin. In the meantime, the Lowcountry's newest biotechnology company is working on its Orangeburg manufacturing plant which, when done next year, is expected to employ 80. The headquarters in Charleston will have 50 workers.

"It's unbelievably exciting," said Dr. Floyd Chilton, the company's chief executive.The asthma treatment is based on his research. "Fifteen years of work is culminating in this event. We're about to see what the last 15 years has produced."

In explaining why his 4-year-old company decided to move to Charleston from its Winston-Salem roots, Chilton said that the area is a desirable place to live, and that recruiting people to move here is easy. He also acknowledged that the state's aggressive moves to lure the company to the Lowcountry had something to do with it.

South Carolina outbid North Carolina with an incentive-laced, $10-million package to get Pilot to relocate. Not bad for a company that has yet to generate revenue, much less a profit.

The state, Chilton said, "was incredibly progressive in its recruitment. South Carolina is committed to making the Charleston area a cluster for the biotech industry." Pilot was lured here about the same time that CropTech, a company that makes medical treatments using tobacco plants, broke ground on new headquarters in Moncks Corner. They, along with companies such as ArborGen and GenPhar, make up what economic development officials consider a burgeoning local biotech cluster.

Pilot makes specialty pharmaceuticals from plants and chemicals. Airozin is a dietary treatment. It's designed to block the production of a fatty acid produced in high levels in asthma patients. "It's the cholesterol of asthma," Chilton said.

Blocking the fatty acids can reduce the severity and frequency of asthma attacks. According to the company, tests for Airozin have found it to perform as intended in 78 percent of test patients. Early this year, the company plans to begin test-marketing Airozin in Charleston as well as the Upstate and Asheville, N.C. Results from the tests are expected to provide the company with information that will help with the drug's national launch.

The company believes the market is there. About 20 million Americans suffer from asthma, and $7 billion in asthma products were sold worldwide in 2000, though just $100 million were for over-the-counter treatments. Those that are available over the counter are for crises, to stop an asthma attack. There aren't any available to manage asthma, according to the company.

Chilton doesn't plan to stop with asthma. Pilot is working on a pipeline of products for a range of diseases, including treatments for conditions that lead to cancer, diabetes, heart attacks and strokes. It has 41 issued patents and another 28 U.S. and foreign patents are pending.

"Medical food" products don't require Food and Drug Administration approval, though there are certain regulations companies must follow. Chilton says that the dietary supplement industry is seen as a "cowboy industry." But he hopes to bring to the industry the same scientific rigor found with other pharmaceuticals.

Airozin has undergone extensive clinical trials, he said. "We're bringing the science of Johns Hopkins to the industry," said Chilton, a former professor at the Baltimore school. "We're developing our product as you develop pharmaceuticals." That should keep Pilot's offices humming.