Laguna Beach Company Buys Rights to Ultrasonic Device for Use on Tumors
A Laguna Beach company headed by high-technology veteran Robert W. Herman has obtained the rights to market an ultrasonic medical instrument that may someday be used to destroy brain tumors in humans.
Under a tentative agreement announced Thursday, Allante Capital will provide $300,000 in research money to the Indianapolis Center for Advanced Research, which has developed an instrument it says has been effective in removing tumors from laboratory animals. In humans, the device would be used to destroy deep-seated brain tumors that cannot be reached by surgery.
Indianapolis Center is a private, nonprofit research center widely recognized for its work in developing ultrasonic diagnostic devices. The 16-year-old center is affiliated with Purdue University and the University of Indiana.
As an alternative to ionizing radiation devices, the center has developed an ultrasonic breast scanner that is being used to determine the threat of cysts in breast tissue. Among other medical devices under development at the center is an ultrasonic instrument that could be used to dissolve gallstones.
It Must Be Tested
The center hopes to market the tumor-destroying instrument in “three or four years,” said Dr. Thomas D. Franklin, a cardiovascular physician who serves as the center’s president.
Before that can happen, however, the device must be tested in clinical trials on humans. The next step would then be to seek federal Food and Drug Administration approval to market it to clinics and hospitals.
Herman has helped found a number of the county’s high-tech firms over the past 30 years. He founded Decision Control in 1959 before selling the electronics firm to Varian Associates in 1967. Several other high-tech firms--AST Research, Computer Automation and Emulex--trace their roots to Decision Control.
Herman also founded Newport Beach-based Codercard, a developer of computer security devices, serving as president and chairman of the company from 1984 until early 1988. He remains a Codercard director.
After years of development, Codercard has recently moved closer to bringing its products to market. The Treasury Department recently certified one of its security devices for use in electronic funds transfers, which the firm hopes will open the door to significant sales to financial institutions and government agencies.
‘His Face Lit Up’
Herman, meanwhile, said he has been looking for a new technology venture in the medical field. He said he first learned about the Indianapolis Center device during a visit to Indianapolis in 1986, where he met Franklin.
“I took Bob to the (Indianapolis Center) laboratory, and at almost every work station his face lit up like a light bulb,” Franklin said. “He’s a very brilliant and innovative fellow. . . . We were very intrigued with Bob as a person and with his entrepreneurial spirit and background.”
Herman’s various other ventures have had mixed results. Two companies he founded in the 1970s to make computerized photocomposition equipment and high-speed computer disk drives both failed. Digital Research, a company he founded in 1972 to make automated weather stations, was a modest success. He sold Digital Research to Genisco Technology in 1974.
Allante was founded nine months ago by three private investors for the purpose of acquiring or merging with another firm in the high-tech or biotechnology fields. Herman recently bought a 20% interest in Allante from co-founder Dallen E. Wendt and was named its chairman, president and chief executive.
