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Firm with UK origin wins Series A venture financing
Intranasal Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI), a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing nasally delivered, preservative-free drug products, has closed a $39.1 million financing commitment from a syndicate of high quality venture investors to advance its clinical programs and manufacturing capabilities. SV Life Sciences, headquartered in Boston, led the Series A financing, which included the participation of Burrill & Company (San Francisco), Tullis-Dickerson (Greenwich, CT), Fidelity Biosciences (Cambridge, MA), ApjohnVentures (Kalamazoo, MI), Fort Washington Capital (Cincinnati, OH), Commonwealth Seed Capital (Lexington, KY), and Kentucky Co-Investment Partners, LP, a Fort Washington Capital-managed fund for the University of Kentucky.
Edwin Cohen, ITI founder and board chairman, said the company will use the new funds to launch its proprietary hydromorphone nasal spray for acute pain, which is in Phase 2/3 clinical trials and is being initially considered for military use. In addition, ITI expects to advance trials of an intranasal version of lorazepam, a benzodiazepine used for treating seizures and anxiety, which is currently in Phase 1 trials. ITI currently has four products in clinical development, with several others in earlier stages of development.
Funding will also be used to expand ITI's proprietary manufacturing facility in Lexington for clinical research and commercial scale operations as well as its corporate offices in New Jersey.
Founded in 1998, ITI facilities are located on UK's Coldstream Research Campus on Newtown Pike. ITI has licensed key technology from the University of Kentucky.
Ford cuts production in Louisville
High gas prices and intense foreign competition have sent a new ripple through the Kentucky economy. Blaming those factors, Ford Motors will slash production of pickup trucks and SUVs in the fourth quarter by 21 percent, the company's biggest North American production cut in more than 20 years.
The production cuts will hit two plants in Louisville.
Following announcement of the cuts, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ford's debt deeper into junk status while the company was placed on review at Standards & Poor's Ratings Services.
Ford lost $254 million in the second quarter. A company spokesman said Ford anticipates announcing additional cost-cutting actions in September.
Study warns of rate shock in adjustable mortgages
Rate shock may be coming the next time their mortgage payments are adjusted for many Kentucky homeowners locked into high-cost, variable rate "subprime" mortgages, according to a study by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN.)
Based on data available under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, homeowners in African-American neighborhoods are shouldering a disproportionate percentage of high-cost loans, defined for ACORN as "at least three points above the comparable rate on U.S. Treasury securities." Such loans also often expose borrowers to the uncertainties of variable interest rates.
The study notes that at 7 percent interest, the monthly payment on an adjustable-rate loan of $150,000 would be $995. Increasing the rate to 9 percent raises the monthly payment by $212, to $1,207, an additional annual burden to the household budget of $2,544.
The study focused on only one Kentucky city, Louisville, where it found 31 percent of all refinancing loans in 2005 fell into the high-cost category. Approximately 21 percent of home purchase loans were of the high cost variety.
Cingular to offer exclusive SEC mobile content
Cingular Wireless will become the exclusive telecommunications sponsor of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) as part of a multi-year deal with HOST Communications. As part of the relationship, Cingular will provide exclusive video content from key SEC events, which may include game highlights and press conferences, through its Cingular Video wireless service. In addition, Cingular will become the exclusive presenting sponsor of SECsports.com, the official athletic Web site of the conference. The portal has been re-branded as "SECsports.com powered by Cingular," and Cingular will present all SEC Video on Demand content available on the site.
Through HOST, which manages the corporate sponsorship program for the SEC, Cingular will deliver up-to-the-minute SEC sports scores and highlights, features, news and information to its wireless customers.
Financial terms of the sponsorship were not disclosed.
UK's Gatton College launches Global Scholars program
Competing in a global environment is no longer an option, it's a must. With that in mind, the University of Kentucky's Gatton College of Business and Economics welcomed its first class of Global Scholars during a special ceremony and reception on Saturday, Aug. 19.
A part of Gatton's Project Destiny initiative, this first class of Global Scholars is comprised of 31 exceptional first-year students who are seeking to develop their professional acumen and leadership skills. The selective admission criteria utilized in the program includes an ACT score of 28 or higher (or SAT score of 1240 or higher) and an un-weighted high school grade point average of 3.6 or above.
Gretchen Price, a 1976 Gatton College graduate and member of the school's alumni hall of fame, addressed the scholars, together with parents, faculty, and staff. Price has enjoyed a distinguished career with Procter & Gamble and serves as the global corporate giant's vice president for Go-To Market Reinvention.
The four-year Global Scholars program requires each student to spend one semester abroad during their junior year studying with students from one of UK's partner universities. "All of the Global Scholars will earn a minor in international business, in addition to their college major," said Suzanne Waldrop, director of Project Destiny."The Global Scholars program opens a new chapter in our college," said D. Sudharshan, dean of the Gatton College. "Traditionally, students are admitted into our academic majors at the completion of their sophomore year at UK. As Global Scholars, these students are eligible to enroll in specially designed courses that will challenge them to excel and expand their horizons."
More information on the Global Scholars program is available online at gatton.uky.edu/GlobalScholars, or by calling (859) 257-0043.
KY's workforce training ranks among nation's top 10
Expansion Management magazine's annual survey of industrial site selection consultants once again cites Kentucky's workforce training programs. For the fourth consecutive year, Kentucky has ranked in the top ten, placing eighth in the magazine's most recent issue."On-the-job training is no longer an option," said Ken Krizner, managing editor of Expansion Management. "Companies that are expanding and relocating want a workforce that is trained from the day operations begin. That type of workforce is available in Kentucky. That's one reason why many companies considering an expansion or relocation put the commonwealth on their short list of potential sites, and why many of those companies ultimately choose Kentucky for their project."
Universities join to boost minorities in key fields
Ten Kentucky and West Virginia universities have formed an alliance to share information and program strategies in recruiting, training and steering outstanding minority students into studies and careers in math, science, engineering and technology.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, the universities have formed the Kentucky-West Virginia Alliance for Minority Participation to develop effective strategies that will result in the doubling of the number of engineering, science and mathematics baccalaureate degrees awarded to minority students in both states over five years. The target number of baccalaureate degrees after five years is 270, a 111 percent increase.
Participating are UK, the University of Louisville, Centre College, Kentucky State University, Western Kentucky University and the Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Kentucky; and West Virginia University, Marshall University, West Virginia State University and the West Virginia State Community and Technical College.
Bluegrass tourism: the numbers
The Bluegrass region enjoyed growth in direct and indirect expenditures from travel and tourism at a rate of 16.1 percent from 2003-05, according to research cited by state Tourism Commissioner Randy Fiveash.
Referring to the result of a study by the Travel Industry Association of America at a recent TravelHost magazine reception at Sal's Steakhouse, Fiveash offered figures that spoke volumes about the significance of travel and tourism to the economy of central Kentucky. According to the TIA report, visitors spent $9.4 billion in Kentucky in 2005, a year in which 176,200 Kentuckians were employed in travel and tourism related businesses. That represents a two-year growth rate in employment of 3.2 percent. The study found that Kentucky travel and tourism accounted for $952.8 million in federal, state and local taxes in 2005, a jump of 8.9 percent from 2003.
JPMorganChase to sponsor Jessamine Stakes
JPMorganChase has signed on as the signature sponsor of Keeneland's Jessamine Stakes beginning with the race on October 26, 2006.
Keeneland will increase the purse of the Jessamine — a stakes for two-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles on the turf — to $125,000-guaranteed from $100,000-added.
Keeneland's fall race meeting opens Friday, Oct. 6, and runs through Saturday, Oct. 28.
WoodSongs gets national TV slot
Beginning Friday, September 1, folksinger Michael Johnathon's WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour will begin airing as a weekly TV series. Viewers will see the artists, the technical crew, the audience, the performances, the conversation and all the WoodSongs action from the stage of the historic Kentucky Theatre in Lexington.
The show launches on KET1-PBS, available in an estimated seven million homes in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and northern Tennessee.
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