Medical Industry Cycle

What goes around comes around.

In 1987, H. Thad Morris was hired as president of Disease Detection International to take the Irvine company public. Seven years later, he sold the company, which made diagnostic tests for disease, to an Ireland-based business. Morris then started up his own Irvine firm--Worldwide Medical Corp.--to make diagnostic tests.

A year ago, Morris said, he ended up in charge of a publicly held company again when Worldwide Medical merged with International Forum Centers Inc. International Forum Centers was a publicly held shell company that had previously leased building space, Morris said.

Last year, Worldwide Medical lost $800,000 on sales of $597,000. It’s forecasting a profit this year and sales of as much as $2 million, he said.

Barbara Marsh covers health care for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7762 and at barbara.marsh@latimes.com.