Kiger's Notebook

Mayo loses patent battle

It looks like Mayo Clinic lost its legal dispute with Prometheus Labs over the patenting of standards for a diagnostic test.

This is a deal that went to the Supreme Court about six months ago. It involves Mayo's legal tiff with a researcher that used to work in Roch.

Some experts say this ruling could be a game changer.

Here's some from a Reuters piece on it.
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Medical tests can be patented, a U.S. appeals court ruled in its first decision on the issue since a landmark Supreme Court case six months ago on business-method patents. Prometheus Laboratories Inc.’s method of determining the dosage of medicines to treat stomach diseases can be patented, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington said.
Closely held Prometheus had lost a lower court case in which it sued the Mayo Clinic for infringing two patents. The Federal Circuit reversed the ruling in 2009 and today upheld its decision, saying a judge erred in ruling the patents invalid.
The ruling may aid companies including Myriad Genetics Inc. and Novartis AG, which have tried to capitalize on burgeoning demand for “personalized medicine,” where doctors determine if a patient is genetically susceptible to a particular disease or would be more responsive to certain medicines.
Interest in such testing has grown partly as health-benefit companies including Medco Health Solutions Inc. see a way to trim costs. “It’s a tremendous advance in the whole world of pharmaceuticals if you can better match people with the medicines you give them,” said Jennifer Gordon, a lawyer at Baker Botts in New York who submitted a filing in the case on behalf of Novartis. Companies “want the full capability of getting any type of patent that covers their technology. Patents have been very important to this industry.” Myriad, which is appealing a federal judge’s ruling in a separate case that invalidated its patents on a test for breast cancer, rose 74 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $23.71 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. Diagnostic Industry Boost The Prometheus case was being watched to see how the court would interpret a June ruling from the Supreme Court that considered what types of innovations would qualify for legal protection. The Federal Circuit specializes in U.S. patent law. “The court of appeals is fairly strongly of the view that methods of treatment and methods of diagnostics are patentable all the time,” said Nick Groombridge, a lawyer at Weil, Gotshal in New York.

Small Houston hotel named best in state

When John and Eileen Loken walked in the conference center in the Twin Cities last week, leaders of the biggest, most expensive hotels in the state surrounded them.

“We felt like the country cousins going up there from Houston (Minn.),” says John Loken.

It is a safe bet that most of the executives at the Minnesota Lodging Association’s annual meeting couldn’t have found the small town of Houston on a state map. However, by the end of the night they knew about Houston and its small hotel, Loken's Sawmill Inn & Suites.

The Lokens won the association’s Property of the Year award for hotels with 50 rooms or less. With its mere 14 rooms, Loken’s Sawmill is the smallest hotel to ever win the award.

“It felt pretty special. There you are being honored by all of these big hotels,” says Loken. “It was real exciting to win, since we’re new to this.”

Actually, Loken is probably best known in the area for his many years selling used cars at Clements Chevrolet in Rochester. After he left the car business, he and his wife moved to John’s hometown of Houston. There they bought the land where his grandfather’s sawmill had once stood along Highway 16, on the east side of the town.

At the time, a car wash was on the site and they ran that business for a while.

Then in 2005, the Lokens noticed that Houston was attracting many hunters, autumn leaf spotters, snowmobilers and others to the head of the Root River Trail.

“We saw a need for some lodging and we just took a chance,” says Loken.

So they tore down the car wash and built their small inn.

Now five years after opening, he says the homey hotel is really coming into its own.

Staffed by six plus the Lokens, it has been running at about 45 percent occupancy this year logging about 2,300 room nights in 2010.

“It has had an impact on the Houston economy,” he says, noting people spend more time and money in the town now that visitors have a place to stay,

When asked what made the Sawmill Inn stand out from the six other nominated hotels, Denny Breamer of the Minnesota Lodging Association said the drive they had to build this hotel themselves and work to make the business grow.

Positive customer reviews plus attractive and clean rooms helped the Sawmill cut through the competition.

So the “country cousins” ended up with a night in the spotlight and their urban peers learned a little about the geography of southeast Minnesota.

Nicest holiday card from a biotech firm

It is the time for Chrismas cards and holiday greetings.

Many businesses send them out to their customers and contacts. I know I've gotten some nice ones already from Knutson Construction and Andy Chafoulias.

However, in the biotech division, Cardio3 wins the holiday card contest hands down.

I'm still waiting on my card from Elk Run's G. Stephen Burrill.

Cardio3 is the Belgium bio business that is working with Mayo Clinic on a way to use patient's own stem cells to repair their hearts.

It has seen a lot of success in clinical trials this year as well as substantial boosts in funding.

So it makes sense that the Cardio3 crew seems so happy as the stand in the heart formation.

And it looks like the grass is still green in Belgium, too.

After 91 years, downtown Roch. biz closing

Since 1919, it has given downtown Rochester shoppers the warm fuzzies.

Now the current owners of Kersten Furs are preparing to retire and wrap up the specialty apparel store in the early spring.

That will mean the Med City's only furrier will close its doors at 211 S. Broadway.

Jim and Anne Galazen have sold fur coats, hats, gloves and other items for 30 years in the store once owned by Anne's father.

"We know many families of customers going back three generations," says Jim Galazen. "We have really gotten to know them as they come here a few times a year for Mayo Clinic."

While he and his wife say they certainly will miss the customers, they believe the timing is right to begin their retirement.

So they put up a "store closing" banner over the door of the store as the blizzard blew in Saturday.

Seven shoppers were browsing in the store Monday evening.

Kersten Furs, however, does much more than just sell mink coats and the like.

The Galazens and their staff are among the few people in the region who can repair, clean and alter fur clothing. Their client base stretches throughout much of Minnesota and into Iowa and Wisconsin.

One customer in the store Monday was from Blue Earth.

And then there is the storage service that Kersten Furs provides. Many owners of fur coats and other items keep them in the shop's climate controlled storage vault.

Galazen estimates that more 1,000 fur clothing pieces are in their care.

Letters have gone out to those customers that they will need to pick up their possessions or have them delivered before the end of March.

That's when the couple plans to start their time away from the world of furry retail.

Because they own the building, they hope to find another business to lease the prime downtown space.

Curtain falls on Katz's/Sushi Itto on Broadway

As the blizzard stomped into Minnesota wearing honking big snow boots on its "little cat feet," Katz's was packing up its downtown Rochester location. Here's some from I wrote about this in today's print edition:

After more than a two-year run on Broadway, the curtain came down for Katz's World Bistro this weekend as downtown Rochester was transformed into a churning snow globe.

  Owner Alex Schwartzmann first opened the eatery at 318 S. Broadway under the banner of Sushi Itto on April 1, 2008. It was the Med City's first sushi restaurant.

While it started strong, Schwartzmann says a variety of issues combined to pull the Japanese seafood restaurant under water.

"Renovating this building took a lot more money than was originally budgeted, so we started out with a lot more debt to overcome than we planned for," he says. "Then there was the economic crisis, the Minnesota weather, I had to move out of state and the (Sushi Itto) franchise based in Mexico City did not offer support in the U.S."

While difficulties are expected for new businesses, particularly restaurants, Schwartzmann says it all was too much to overcome.

"None of the issues would have been a problem on their own," he says.

In April of this year, he pulled the plug on the Sushi Itto franchise and re-launched the business as Katz's, his own creation.

"Unfortunately, it didn't turn out the way it was expected to," Scwartzmann says.

It did not catch on very quickly and so he re-introduced sushi in an attempt to bring back in Sushi Itto's fans.

"But people didn't realize when we brought sushi back that it was the same thing as before, same cooks and same dishes," he says.

So he eventually had to make the decision to close the doors of the restaurant, whose staff of 40 had dwindled to about 8.

Word went out that Saturday would be the last day, but then the snow began to fall and Friday night was slated as the final closing.

However, when staff were dismantling tables and equipment Saturday, people standing on the snowy sidewalks began knocking on the windows.

Schwartzmann says it made him happy to serve those final customers, who really wanted to eat there one last time.

Word is that there has already been some interest by others to open a restaurant and/or bar in the Katz's/Sushi Itto spot. However, nothing seems to be locked in yet.

The classic downtown building is owned by Nicole and Nels Pierson.

Hormel CEO + 43 percent paycheck bump in 2010

Here's a little tidbit from Spamtown, USA, 2010 was a good year for the CEO of Hormel Foods.

His compensation spiked by about 43 percent this year over last last year.

Here's some from an AP piece on this. The full piece is posted here.

The CEO of Hormel Foods Corp. got a 43 percent increase in compensation this year, outpacing gains in the company's profit and stock price.

An analysis by The Associated Press shows that Jeffrey M. Ettinger received compensation worth nearly $9 million for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31. That's up from nearly $6.3 million last year.

The increase was due to incentives and stock options.

Ettinger got $4.6 million in incentive pay in fiscal 2010, up from $2.9 million last year. And he got stock options valued at $3.3 million when they were granted, up from options worth $2.4 million last year.

Ettinger, 52, is also chairman and president of the prepared-foods company. He has been CEO since 2006.

Ettinger got a salary increase in fiscal 2010 of just over 3 percent, to $989,430. Like the year before, he received no bonus. He got $57,416 in other compensation, mostly in profit-sharing.

Hormel's profit rose 15 percent in fiscal 2010, to $395.6 million. Revenue climbed to $7.22 billion from $6.53 billion the year before.

Dancing to the tune of biz buzz

Some little birds – and by little birds, I mean building permits from the Rochester Building Safety office – have been chirping a lot lately about the city's northwest quadrant.

If I’m hearing one songbird’s tune correctly, a new child-care center is on its way to that area.

Also, a familiar tune is in the air. You probably already know the words and can sing along.

"A new nail salon is coming soon,

* Finally, something brand new is tuning up for downtown.

If this deal pans out, expect some new flavors to be served up with an international flair that will be a new trip for Rochester taste buds.

And no, it is not IHOP.

Red Cross's shop - gifts of charity

Some gifts don’t need wrapping.

Holiday shopping is taking a charitable turn with a new store in Rochester’s Apache Mall.

  On Black Friday last week, the local Red Cross office opened its own store in the Apache Mall.

“It is not selling items you might think of from Red Cross,” says Melanie Tschida, the executive director of the Red Cross’ Southeast Minnesota office in Rochester. “There aren’t first aid kits or anything like that.”

But there is plenty for people to buy … sort of.

For $60, shoppers can get 10 blankets. A comfort kit for an injured military person costs $50. The price for emergency water containers is $30.

None of those items can be directly picked up at the Red Cross store. Product tags representing those things as well, as a full day of emergency shelter, can be purchased at the store. Tags representing donations ranging from $10 to $100 are available.

Basically, a donation can be made to the Red Cross, and the donor gets a tag representing what the Red Cross can do with that amount.

”They are a lot of people on our holiday gift lists that don't need anything else,” Tschida says.

The Red Cross tags are a way to make a donation in someone’s name and show them what that money can do to help others.

She says the store at Apache Mall, which is staffed during the mall’s regular hours, is part of a pilot program. There are four such stores in Minnesota.

“It is a new concept,” Tschida says. Besides making donations for tags in the stores, people can also do so online and through a print catalog published by the Red Cross.

Kwik action in Roch., Byron, Lewiston and Zumbrota

Here's some from a recent column item I worked up from a wide ranging chat with Hans Zietlow of Kwik Trip.

A couple of tidbits that didn't make it into print are that the Lewiston Kwik Trip has a re-build in its future, though it won't be quite as big a deal as the Byron deal, which will significantly upgrade that city's C-store.

And Kwik Trip is working on plans for a Zumbrota. It is still early in the process, but it looks like it should get a green light in the spring.

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As it digs in for two meaty development projects in Rochester, the big dog in this region's convenience store pack is ready to sink its teeth into a Byron building project.

Kwik Trip, the La Crosse, Wis.-based convenience store and gas station operation, plans to scrape its rapidly aging building in Byron off its foundations this spring, says Hans Zietlow, Kwik Trip real restate guru.

"Then we'll put in a LEED-certified building with a car wash and more parking," Zietlow says. "Right now, the pumps are so close to the road. We'll move them back."

Before all of that activity kicks off in Byron, Zietlow is laying the groundwork for two projects in the Med City's busy northwest quadrant.

Earlier this year, he announced Kwik Trip's plans for mixed-use developments — 100 acres at 19th Street Northwest and West Circle Drive and 50 acres at Valleyhigh Road and West Circle Drive. The vision is to have streets lined with stores, banks, industrial operations and office buildings, anchored by a Kwik Trip.

"This is the biggest growth corridor within Rochester," Zietlow says. "Unquestionably, there will be a grocery store on one of the two sites, if not both."

Kwik Trip finished buying the Valleyhigh land earlier this month, and it is closing on the 19th Street land this week.

"When we own all of the land, then we can much more actively market it," he says.

Work with local officials to map out the details is underway, with hopes to be able to start moving dirt in the summer and begin construction in 2012.