A MONTHLY REPORT COVERING NEWS AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES JOSEPH MORGENSTERN, PUBLISHER July-August 2001 Vol. XVII Issue No.7 You are invited to visit us at our websit: http://ishitech.co.il Negev Saline Grown Tomatoes are Sweeter The Negev, the southern part of modern day Israel, appears to be on the track to realization. according to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, in the years 1800-1600 BCE was a favorite watering Recently, I participated in a tour of High-Tech place of the Jewish Patriarchs Abraham and Isaac. Industries and agrotechnology projects of the In the Old Testamenr Book of Numbers Moses is Negev area. The tour was hosted by the Israel quoted as saying, "Go up through the Negev and Export Institute and included a visit to the Rotem on, into the hill country". Industrial Park, a subsidiary of the Negev Nuclear Research Center and located near Dimona. Here, The modern day Negev includes desert and canyon technologies originating from the Nuclear regions; from Beersheva all the way down to Eilat, Research Center are developed for on the Red Sea. It covers approximately 5,140 commercial use. The square miles; more than half of Israel's total land area. The Negev receives a scant 2-4 inches of http://ishitech.co.il rainfall annually. The climate is hot and dry, typical of a desert. In this Issue Negev Saline Grown Tomatoes are Sweeter David Ben-Gurion IsraelÕs first Prime-Minister was Dispomedic Comes Straight to the Point the man credited as the key leader in the Agro-Tech Research Makes Desert Fruitful establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948. Article byBen Gurion UniversityÕs President Dr. Avishay Braverman: From a Dream to a Reality The Premier, called for the establishment of ISRAEL HIGH-TECH MODEL MILLENNIUM PORTFOLIO: pioneering settlements in outlying areas, especially News and Updates in the Negev. After leaving the government, he AudioCodes' Communications Board Selected by Clarent Business Week Names Check Point Software No. 10 in returned to Kibbutz Sde Boker. His retirement to `Information Technology 100' this small agricultural community in the Negev was Comverse Solutions Chosen by ChinaÕs Mobile Com a testimonial of his philosophy of developing the Orbotech sees 10-15% Decline in Q2 Revenues Magal Enters Into Security Monitoring Services wilderness. During one of my visits to Sde Boker in How the Global Individual Investor Can the 1960s I heard from the "Old Man" as Ben- Capitalize on IsraelÕs High-Tech Boom Gurion was called, his detailed dream of a desert Concord is Raising $200 mln for its Fourth VC Fund Major Drugs Responsible for Biotech Industry 33% Growth based agriculture, converting the hot desert sun MPM Biotech Fund Poised to Expand into a useful energy source and setting up a major ISRAEL HIGH-TECH MODEL MILLENNIUM PORTFOLIO University in Beersheva. Agriculture in the desert Israeli Pavilion at the 44th Paris Air Show in Le Bourgte The Scorpion SU-25 Scores was unlikely but Sdeh BokerÕs farmers raised An advanced cockpit impressively sized peaches, and adjacent to the ÒOld ManÕsÓ modest shack roses grew in the sand. "We succeed growing peaches but the lack of rainfall forces us to bring potatoes from Central Israel," he mused. Ben-GurionÕs vision finally Copyright 2001: Israel High-Tech & Investment Report Subscription, Bulk copy and reprint information available on request Editorial Offices: P.O.Box 33633, Tel Aviv 61336, Israel Tel: 972-3-5235279 Fax: 972-3-5227799 E-mail: [email protected] ISRAEL HIGH-TECH & INVESTMENT REPORT July 2001 Industrial Park includes 15 companies and plants, demand of the US market. He pointed out that as well as a Technology Incubator and a healthcare workers themselves will now play an Technological Training Center. important role in choosing safety devices that Also on the itinerary was a visit to Ramat offer superior protection and ease of use. "Never Hanegev, an area noted for advanced agro- has there been a better time to introduce industry including raising of fish in salt water, the protection at the point of injection into the breeding of shrimps for export based on workplace! Our unique hypodermic safety subterranean artesian wells, and the production syringe, CoverTipª, is a wise and affordable of olive oil from olive trees grown in the desert. investment in protective technology." he stated. Another highpoint was a visit to Ben-Gurion In the case of syringes, for the last few years, the University, Beer Sheva with its President "state of the art" has been to us a no risk Professor Avishai Braverman. retracting needle so that there is no possibility of In this July issue we are pleased to publish an in- injury to the needle user. The needle simply depth report devoted to some of the highlights retracts back up inside the hard plastic shell gleaned from an unusually exciting visit to a where the medicine, for example, was contained. thriving technology center in IsraelÕs Negev The syringe with the needle inside the housing is desert. then disposed of. This type of needle requires no change in the user's grip and only one hand for Dispomedic Comes Straight to the Point use. BesideÕs DipsomedicÕs CoverTipª there are Though its initial productive capacity represents several products on the market. The Product only a miniscule fraction of the $2.0 billion US market for medical safety syringes. Dispomedic DipsomedicÕs CoverTipª is said to have all of the is confident that its patented and FDA cleared above qualities and to possess superior CoverTipª passive injection systems, will allow it advantages as compared with products currently to carve out a profitable market niche, for its in the marketplace as well as others about to be product. introduced. DispomedicÕs innovative technology is On November 6, 2000, American President Bill Israel High-Tech & Investment Report Clinton signed into law the Needlestick Safety and published monthly since January 1985 Prevention Act. This "Act" could herald a new era Publisher and Editor in Chief of protection for the nationÕs 8 million healthcare Joseph Morgenstern, BA, Chem, His workers. The law requires that healthcare facilities implement the use of "safer medical Technology Review Board devices" to minimize accidental needlesticks. For Prof. S.J. Joel-Cohen, MD, FRCS. FRCOG Prof. Hylton Miller, M.B. Ch.B. Dispomedic this requirement now presents a Dr. Clive L. Carpel, M.B. Ch.B. "once in a lifetime opportunity". The timeliness for marketing the product for the newly mandated Copy Chief Debbie Mor market of safety syringes has created an immense business opportunity. Web Master In an interview held next to one of the production Marty Bokel lines of the sparkling new factory located in a Subscription Inquiries modern building in the Rotem Industrial Park, Tel. 972-3-5235279 Fax. 9723-5227799 Barry Berler, DispomedicÕs President could barely E-mail: [email protected] contain his enthusiasm. "The market that we Annual subscription $95.- per year, for 11 issues, address, is so great that even as we add an Israeli residents add 17% VT additional production facility on the Caspian Sea, Web Edition and Achives we will only be able to supply a small part of the http://ishitech.co.il 2 July 2001 ISRAEL HIGH-TECH & INVESTMENT REPORT in its automatic sheath mechanism. As the to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and Human plunger is fully depressed, a protective sheath is Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that activated and slides down the shaft of the needle, causes AIDS. More than 20 other infections can blunting and isolating the needle tip before it is be transmitted through needlesticks, including: withdrawn from the patient. There is no extra tuberculosis, syphilis, malaria and herpes. user intervention required to activate the safety Conservative estimates suggest that as many as mechanism and no manual manipulation with 80% of needlestick injuries could be prevented protective cover sheathing the with the use of safer needle used needle. The risk of devices. personal injury and disease The cost of needlestick transmission is significantly injuries is staggering. minimized and prevents the According to the American reuse of the syringe. Hospital Association, one Selling in the American and case of serious infection by other Markets bloodborne pathogens, can Mr. Berler harbors no illusions soon add up to $1 million or about Dispomedic marketing more in expenditures for its products in the US. Instead testing follow-up, lost time it the company concentrates and disability payments. The on research & development cost of follow-up for a high- and manufacturing. In risk exposure is almost January 2000 Dispomedic $3,000 per needlestick injury entered into a multi-phase, even when no infection proprietary agreement with occurs. Medisys Technologies Inc. The annual market size for (SCEP:OTC) to manufacture syringes is generally Daniel Morgenstern th CoverTipª for this American company. calculated at 10 times a countryÕs population. For example, in the US, a The Price May be the Limit 1% market share could exceed 100 million Dispomedic longer term goal is to reduce its price syringes. closer to standard syringe prices.. A leading hospital in Israel pays NIS 92.22 for a packet of Becton-Dickinson, AmericaÕs leading syringe 1000 of 2cc regular syringes, or about $0.02and producer, supplies 70% of the syringe market: $0..04 for standard 10cc syringes. $2.0 billion annual figure is generally agreed Dispomedic safety syringes are being tested in upon for the total US market. for all types of 25 hospitals in the US and five hospitals in the sharps. Most of its sales are in conventional Ukraine.The price is 4 to 8 times more then syringes. Medisys Technologies CEO Kerry Frey standard syringes.