In the 1980s, Toronto-based Polydex Pharmaceuticals was developing dextran products, including a high-viscosity cellulose-dextran compound intended for developing Polaroid film. The film company, however, eventually chose to use another chemical. Some years later, research showed that dextran-based compounds were an effective contraceptive that also killed the herpes and gonorrhea viruses as well as HIV. Polydex CEO George Usher had a hunch that the cellulose-dextran compound stored in his warehouse might work. Usher tracked down initial funding from a now-defunct nonprofit organization to do animal studies, and the results looked promising.
The company already had the infrastructure and expertise in working with dextran-based products, and the compound had initially been developed as an industrial product, so production costs had been tightly managed. But the company had only $2 million in annual sales and was in no position to fund additional studies. "What part of 'money' don't you understand?" Usher quipped to ...
