Hello all -
The full article can be accessed at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/technology/bal-bz.martek06jun06,1,2461760.st
ory
You must be registered to read it, but
registration is free (and I discovered if you're registered with the
Chicago Tribune you are already registered with the Baltimore Sun).
Here is the beginning of the article. Its well
worth a full read. My 'favorite' (TIC) quote from the article: "Heart
disease is another business opportunity for Martek."
Katherine Shealy
______________________
The Baltimore Sun
June 6, 2004 Sunday FINAL Edition
SECTION: BUSINESS, Pg. 2D
LENGTH: 2044 words
HEADLINE: FORMULA FOR SUCCESS;
The baby formula additive of a Columbia biotech company is so hot, it's
now in three of every five baby bottles.
BYLINE: William Patalon III
SOURCE: SUN STAFF
BODY:
What do you get when your company develops a product that boosts a
baby's IQ?
A bonanza, that's what.
Just two years after hitting U.S. store shelves, baby formula enriched
with Martek Biosciences Corp.'s patented nutritional oils have grabbed
nearly 60 percent of the $3.5 billion domestic market for infant
formula.
Three out of five baby bottles are filled with formula that includes the
Columbia company's additive, and that's important, doctors say, because
a significant share of babies get their nutrition from formula, not
mother's milk.
Hospitals routinely send newborns home with a starter kit of formula
containing Martek's proprietary fatty acids. The company's products are
such hot sellers that Martek can't keep up with demand.
The catalyst igniting Martek's growth spurt: Two fatty acids that occur
naturally in human breast milk. Research has shown that these two
nutrients, docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, and arachidonic acid, or ARA,
working in tandem markedly boost babies' brain and eye development.
Not surprisingly, parents worldwide are happy to pay a premium for
formula that makes their babies smarter.
"What parent doesn't want the very best for their child?" said Tara
Bartosz, mother of a 9-month-old daughter, Delaney, and a parent who
says the enhanced formula is well worth the 15 percent to 20 percent
higher cost.
Bartosz, who works at the Kiddie Academy Child Care Learning Centers in
Harford County, was given a starter package of Mead Johnson's Enfamil
LIPIL when she brought Delaney home from the hospital, and has been a
loyal buyer of that brand ever since.
With more than 4 million births annually in the United States alone,
Martek is tapping into a market that is literally reborn every year.
Though more than 80 percent of new mothers start off breast-feeding,
that percentage falls quickly during the baby's first year.
What's more, Martek sells its oil additives abroad in markets where
wholesale formula sales total $5.5 billion to $6 billion. Altogether,
Martek says, it has licensed its technology to more than a dozen of the
leading formula-makers - companies that together control about 70
percent of the worldwide market for that product.
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