A Drug Firm Going Places, So Why 2 O.C. Shootings?

One is a “high-energy” chief executive officer known for creating start-up businesses. The other was a respected doctor and leader in the national fight against AIDS--a “boy genius” who friends said began patenting medical products while still in school.

Together, James Patrick Riley and Dr. Larry C. Ford launched Biofem, an Irvine drug company that after a decade of research was ready to start clinical tests on what some considered a breakthrough female contraceptive.

But the seemingly flourishing partnership shattered this week with two shootings: One that left Riley with a face wound in what prosecutors called a well-orchestrated ambush, and another that left Ford dead from what is believed to be a self-inflicted wound.

The violence left friends and colleagues in the drug industry stunned, especially considering the strong buzz in some circles about Biofem’s Inner Confidence product.

Police say they are investigating whether Ford played a role in the Monday morning attempt on Riley’s life.

One source familiar with the case said detectives are pursuing a number of theories, including one that the assailants wanted to kill Riley, fold Biofem and create a new company that would produce similar products.

Prosecutors and Irvine police declined to provide details on their continuing investigation, though detectives said they are closing in on two more suspects.

“It’s a case with a lot of angles,” said Lt. Jeff Kermode. “We’re working on all of them.”

Meanwhile, the investigation took another strange turn Friday. Police evacuated part of the Irvine civic center and a nearby child-care center following a tip that hazardous materials were stored in a car impounded as part of the investigation.

An FBI Haz-Mat team deployed a robot to remove packages and gym bags from the vehicle, which is registered to a Biofem employee. Authorities found no dangerous substances in the car but did discover more evidence in the case, police said. Ford’s house was also searched for possible biomedical materials.

Colleagues of Ford’s said they can’t imagine that he would have wanted Riley dead, noting that the doctor would not have benefited financially. Riley and Ford were equal shareholders in the pharmaceutical development company, said company attorney Raymond A. Lee. Riley’s holdings, he said, would have been inherited by his estate--probably by his wife--and not by Ford.

Another source said authorities are trying determine whether Ford stood to gain from any of Riley’s life insurance policies. Some businesses take out what professionals call “key man” policies on vital executives to protect against the loss of that employee. “It’s a real shock to everyone who has been associated with Biofem,” Lee said of the week’s events. “There was no indication that anything like this could happen. It’s a tragedy.”

Friends said Ford was a devout Mormon and a loving father of college-age children. He was an avid gun collector and a hunting enthusiast who loved African safaris.

Friends knew him as an eccentric but brilliant researcher. He dazzled colleagues with his medical breakthroughs as much as his wacky wardrobe. Ford, friends said, felt most comfortable dressed in blue sneakers, even when wearing three-piece suits.

“He was always a bit of a renegade,” said Dr. William Ledger, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Cornell University’s New York hospital. “Larry was never a mainstream person. He always looked at things a little bit differently.”

Mainstream scientists raised eyebrows when Ford first discussed the possibility of using a simple suppository to end the spread of AIDS in Africa and other parts of the world. Nevertheless, Ford spent more than a decade trying to develop what researchers called the “holy grail of AIDS research”--a product that would protect women against venereal diseases--and he expected to start testing on humans in the summer.

Dr. Hunter Hammill, an obstetrician and associate professor at Baylor College in Houston, met Ford while the two were resident physicians at UCLA’s College of Medicine. They quickly became friends.

Ford, a year ahead, had already developed a reputation as a skilled researcher, patenting a test for infections even before he arrived at the college, and at least six others by the time of his death.

“Larry was the boy genius of his class,” Hammill said.

Hammill collaborated on projects with his soft-spoken friend, and on Thursday received a package of sample bacteria that Ford had asked him to test in connection with Inner Confidence suppositories.

“Larry was a kind soul,” he said. “He wasn’t the kind of person who would kill himself or shoot anybody. He just wasn’t the angry young man.”

Colleagues said Ford’s passion for creating a contraceptive to prevent the spread of disease seemed to mesh perfectly with Riley’s nuts-and-bolts business background. Riley was already a veteran entrepreneur in 1990 when he went into business with Ford.

In 1973, Riley founded a financial corporation and watched sales top $25 million before selling the firm 15 years later, according literature Biofem provided to potential investors. He had also headed a multimillion-dollar company based in Laguna Beach that distributed nutritional products, the literature said.

“Pat’s a very energetic, high-energy CEO-type of guy,” said Lee, the company attorney. “It seemed to me that in meetings there was a bond between the two.”

That bond generated enough excitement in business circles to win sufficient funds recently to keep the company’s goals alive.

In 1998, Biofem sought $6 million in funding, telling potential investors that its suppositories would protect women from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases for as long as eight hours without causing yeast infections or vaginal lesions.

Total profits for such products, company literature said, “could exceed $1 billion in the United States alone. . . . There are more than 10 million women in the U.S. who would actively protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases if they could. Unfortunately, there are no products, other than condoms, for them to buy.”

The days of big profits were some years off, however. The company projected nearly $6 million in losses over 1998 and 1999. But officials expected big things from Inner Confidence, predicting that sales would take off and reach $6.2 million this year and nearly $12 million next year.

It’s unclear whether the sales pitch was successful, but company officials said this week that Biofem had recently received money from a Connecticut-based private investment fund.

Ed Doyle, an Irvine management consultant in medical devices who offered informal advice to Biofem from 1997 to 1999, said the company was trying to raise the capital needed to make the business viable.

“Like other biomedical companies, Biofem was having difficulty raising money,” Doyle said. He described Riley as “a gregarious businessman, an upbeat businessman,” offering a contrast to the quieter Ford. “The two of them,” he said, “were an interesting pair. They were kind of opposites.

Despite Ford’s death, the company said Biofem would remain in business. Riley is recovering from the wound to his cheeks after an assailant shot him as he arrived for work at his Irvine Spectrum office Monday morning.

But once he recovers, he will retake the reins of the company’s financial side, Lee said.

“While it obviously has a sad impact, a tremendous impact from a human standpoint, the company will continue to go forward,” he said.

Dr. Roger Schlesinger, a Fullerton gynecologist and Biofem investor, agreed that the company’s pioneering work would proceed.

“I believe there are other people who are on board scientifically,” he said. “I don’t think it’s dependent on Dr. Ford anymore.”

Ford’s suicide came a day after police searched his home. The day of his death, Ford had met with his lawyer for nearly five hours and expressed fear that police would soon arrest him, said the attorney, Stephen Klarich.

Prosecutors allege in court documents that three people were involved in the plot. They charged that Los Angeles businessman Dino D’Saachs drove the gunman to and from the scene of the shooting and a third person masterminded the operation.

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Times staff writers Edmund Sanders, H.G. Reza and Lisa Richardson; Times librarian Sheila A. Kern; and Times correspondent Louise Roug contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Crime Shakes a Corporation

A bizarre case involving an Irvine drug company that has left one man dead, another wounded and a third in custody. Police found more clues Friday. A closer look at the shootings:

WHO’S WHO

James Patrick Riley, 58, of Newport Beach, Biofem Chief Executive. Shot once in the jaw by masked assailant. Treated and released from hospital.

Dr. Larry Ford, 49, of Irvine, Biofem director of science. Possible suspect in shooting. Commited suicide.

Dino D’Saachs, 56, of Altadena, tax consultant. Prosecutors allege he drove the gunman to and from shooting scene. Plead not guilty.

Unidentified Newport Beach woman. Police impound her car, find evidence in trunk.

WHAT;S HAPPENED

Monday

Morning - In botched assassination attempt, Riley shot in face by masked gunman as he arrives at work.

Evening - Police trace alleged getaway car to D’Saachs, arrest him after he brings his vehicle to Los Angeles auto repair shop to be repainted.

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Tyesday Morning - Police search D’Saachs home, find a hitman instuctional manual, the deed to Riley’s home and a map with an “X” mark on Riley’s parking spot at Biofem.

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Wednesday

Morning - Police search Ford’s home, discover evidence “germane to case”

Afternoon - Alleged getaway driver D’Saachs charged with attempted murder

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Thursday

Morning - Ford meets with his lawyer, expresses fear police will soon arrest him

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Friday Morning - Police discover evidence in trunk of impounded car, search for hazardous materials at Ford’s house.

Graphics Reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times