Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Concocting a cure?

A St. Petersburg company with a less-than-spotless history says its orange byproduct might halt the spread of the citrus infection.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
Published May 25, 2006

	[Times photo: Dirk Shadd]
	George Merrell, plant manager of Preservation Sciences Inc., sits near stainless steel batch tanks at the St. Petersburg company, which is best known for its compounds to preserve juice beverages. The company is seeking a partner to test a canker cure.

ST. PETERSBURG - Few in Florida's $9-billion citrus industry have heard of Preservation Sciences Inc., a tiny research and development company with just five employees and an ocean of red ink on its books.

But does this little-known St. Petersburg company hold the key to controlling citrus canker, one of the industry's most-vexing problems?

The company says it might, notwithstanding its lack of renown in citrus circles. Its innovation: an all-natural substance produced from the byproducts of the orange that it believes could lead to a cure for canker.

"We want to bring this stuff to the marketplace," said Emery Ellinger, Preservation Sciences' chief operating officer. "We think it's got potential to help the industry."

A public company outside the state's citrus belt, whose Web site promotes products to inhibit rust and juice spoilage but provides not a word about canker, Preservation Sciences says it has a patent pending on its canker-fighting idea.

Ellinger is quick to concede that his company isn't yet saying with certainty that its product works.

But in a test conducted in South Florida, the spread of canker in 10 infected trees appeared to be halted after two applications of the substance, Ellinger said. Fruit drop and leaf wilt, the damaging side effects of canker, appeared to have been halted, he said.

Canker on 10 control trees that did not receive an application spread unchecked, the company says.

"I definitely want to make it clear, the test was done on a limited basis," Ellinger said. "It was successful for a two-month period on infected trees. We're not saying this has been proved."

Ellinger said the product was invented by Paul Winniczuk, an assistant research scientist with the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred, a scientist formerly under contract with the company. A patent application was filed in March.

Winniczuk did not return calls for comment. "He's not one for publicity," Ellinger said.

Ellinger said the company now seeks a deep-pockets partner, either with the state, federal government or in the private sector, to help pay for a wide-scale test of the substance.

He acknowledges the company has done nothing to find a partner, instead hoping publicity surrounding the pending patent would bring one to its doorstep.

"We haven't done anything to promote it," Ellinger said. "What would be great is if somebody in Tallahassee would say, 'We need to talk to these people.' That would be wonderful.''

It could be a long wait. State scientists who work on citrus canker typically decline to test products brought to them by private companies as potential cures for canker, instead telling companies to conduct testing themselves and then come to the state.

And many have come before.

The most-unusual "cure" came in 2001 and was pushed by then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris. As first reported by the Orlando Sentinel, the state tested "celestial drops" blessed by a New York rabbi, which had been promoted as a way to eliminate the canker bacteria.

The state conducted the test despite its policy of refusing to conduct research on private proposals on eliminating canker.

The drops proved to be scientifically worthless.

"I'd be real surprised if a byproduct of an orange could help cure citrus canker," said University of Florida scientist Dean Gabriel, who has conducted research on canker. "Of course, I'd be delightfully surprised. ... There are too many people selling snake oil. Now, I'm not saying this company is selling snake oil. But there have been a lot of people who have made claims."

Gabriel said many companies and many scientists have searched for a canker cure without finding one. "You've got to do real intensive testing before you can make a claim," he said.

Few would think of Preservation Sciences as a leading contender to cure a citrus disease that has led to the destruction of more than 85,000 citrus acres since 1995.

Company officials acknowledge they don't specialize in work on citrus diseases. The discovery of this compound, they said, was simply an accident as Winniczuk worked on compounds to better preserve juice beverages, a company forte.

"A lot of the time, when you work on one product, it lends itself to something else," said Gary Harrison, Preservation Sciences' chief executive officer. "Once you find out how molecules work, it's kind of like dominoes."

Preservation Sciences' latest financial results, published on its Web site, lists $44,644 in sales in the six months ending June 30, 2005. But the company reported a net loss of $2.6-million.

Ellinger said the company still operates at a loss, though he could not cite specific figures.

The company was formerly called Nutraceutical Clinical Laboratories International Inc. In 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued two former company officers and four others, accusing them of a stock manipulation scheme that produced $1.8-million in illegal profits. The case is pending.

None of those sued are now with the company.

"We cleaned the company out and got a new board and a new management team," Ellinger said. "It's a completely new company."

Among other accusations, the SEC accused the company's founder, who is not associated with Preservation Sciences, of issuing false press releases, including announcements of $40-million in contracts.

Ellinger said he realizes Preservation Sciences has a long way to go before it can convince anyone it has a cure for citrus canker. The first step would be a large-scale test, which could cost as much as $500,000, he said.

But he's hopeful.

"I think it'd be really great to have a Florida company solve a Florida problem with a natural solution," Ellinger said. "This could change our company overnight and could change the orange industry."

[Last modified May 25, 2006, 05:49:05]