October 06, 2004
Carilion Biomedical Institute
Media Contact: Cheryl Valentine
(540) 581-0123
biomedicalinstitute.com

Carilion Biomedical Institute Announces Business Plan Competition Winner

Roanoke, VA (October 6, 2004) The Carilion Biomedical Institute (CBI) is pleased to announce the winner of the CBI biomedical business plan competition, American Biosystems of Roanoke, Virginia. American Biosystems will receive a $10,000 cash prize. “We are thrilled to receive this honor. This award validates our plan to develop products that will improve patient and hospital staff safety”, states Edward Goyette, President of the company.

The goal of the CBI Biomedical Business Plan program is to accelerate the development of breakthrough biomedical technologies, develop new start-up companies, and enhance existing biomedical companies in the Roanoke and New River Valley Region. The program solicited commercially viable business plans for innovative biomedical products and services such as medical equipment and devices, research devices and services, software, and therapeutic compounds. The competition was open to both new business ventures and existing businesses with new product ideas for the biomedical industry that will be developed or produced in the Roanoke-New River Valley region. “This competition is beneficial because it gives CBI the chance to see some of the impressive young companies that are starting up or are interested in relocating to our region. The competition also ties in nicely with Virginia’s Technology Capital Access Forum which is designed to connect companies to capital. The bottom line is that early stage and growing companies are attracted to and prosper in the Roanoke New River Valley Region due to the environment that fosters growth here”, states Daniel Barchi, CEO Carilion Biomedical Institute.

Located in the New Century Venture Center, American Biosystems develops and markets products derived from microorganisms and the enzymes that they produce. The company’s current product line includes enzyme based animal feed ingredients, aquaculture water treatment products, and microbe based enzyme products to treat a variety of industrial, institutional, municipal and household wastes. The company is developing a high quality enzyme based product to pre-clean bio-burden from surgical instruments before the instruments are sent for processing at a central sterilization station. Enzymatic presoak solutions improve safety and efficiency in healthcare environments because they remove debris from surgical instruments before sterilization. Enzymatic presoaking also increases staff efficiency due to elimination of manual cleansing of the instruments. American Biosystems was founded in 1982 by Lewis E. Goyette, Ph.D. He is now Chairman of the Board of Directors and his son, Edward M. Goyette is currently President of the company.

“We were very impressed with American Biosystem’s ability to take advantage of the tremendous resources available in our region”, states Sam English, Ph.D., Manager of Research at CBI. Mr. Goyette has employed interns from Roanoke College, Radford University and University of Virginia and has even used grant funding through UVA to do so. “A key to our success has been the help that we have received here in Virginia. Specifically, Alan Vierling, Director of Operating Room Services at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, the Whitaker Foundation and Roberta Nixon from the University of Virginia Biomedical Engineering Department have been a tremendous help with this new product that we are developing. This award proves what a small business can accomplish if it is willing to simply ask for assistance. Our company has received help from the New Century Venture Center, the Center for Innovative Technology and Roanoke’s Small Business Development Center and many others. My advice to other entrepreneurs is to take advantage of these tremendous resources by simply picking up the phone and asking for help”, states Goyette. American Biosystems’ new cleaning products for the surgical and dental markets should be available in the second quarter of 2006.