Tallahassee Democrat 01/12/2013 Page : A01

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Getting muggedmay have beenthebest thingthat

ever happened to JacobVanLandingham.

It changed his life,thatmuch is certain. Thehead injury he sustainedalso inspired him to de-velop a drug to treat con-cussions, an inventionthat has theFlorida StateUniversity professorand researcher knock-ing on the door of whatcould end up being thenext big thing.

VanLandingham hascreated what he hopeswill be the first Food andDrugAdministration-ap-

proved medicine fortreating mild traumaticbrain injuries such asconcussions.

“It’s an unmet need,”the Gadsden County na-tivesaid.”We’re trying totake people out of thedark.”

But first there’s theback story, how VanLan-dingham evolved from acareerasaphysical ther-apist into a neuroscien-tist fascinatedwithbraininjuries.

It starts inGainesvillein the summer of 1995,when VanLandinghamwas helping his olderbrother move into anapartment so he could

Miracle drug?

FSU medical school researcher, Jake VanLandingham is leading an international team to try to secure a patentand funding for a drug to treat concussions. GLENN BEIL/DEMOCRAT

VanLandingham creates nasal spray to treat concussions

By Doug BlackburnDemocrat senior writer

FSU College of Medicine

See CONCUSSION » 2A

ONLINESee video about the research atTallahassee.com/VanLandingham

In 2011, FSU receiver Kenny Shaw suffered aconcussion after a devestating hit. DEMOCRAT FILES

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Vol. 108, Issue No. 12, January 12, 2013

A Gannett newspaperCopyright 2013 Tallahassee Democrat

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013 PROMOTING DEMOCRACY SINCE 1905 | TALLAHASSEE.COM

INSIDEBusiness.....................8AClassified...................4DComics .......................6BCrossword.................7BEditorials...................4A

Lottery ....................2ANation .....................6AObituaries...............5BOpinion...................4ATelevision ................7B

WEATHERToday: 78Tonight: 56Rain: 0%

Full forecast » 6C

INSIDE THE DEMOCRAT

Dismissalbacked inMarks case

The executive direc-tor of the FloridaCommission onEthics says the com-mission should dropcharges against

Mayor John Marks. » Page 2A

Marks

The Big GameNorth Carolina takeson FSU today at 2p.m. at the CivicCenterVisit NoleSports.comtoday for exclusive

coverage:» Live Game Blog» Postgame videoanalysis from CoreyClark and Ira Schoffel» Photo galleries

INSIDETODAY» Preview of thegame, 1C» Looking back atlast year’s 33-pointrout, 3C

JamesMichaelMcAdoo

MichaelSnaer

FAMUnamesHolmeshead coachEarl Holmes got his start atFlorida A&M, and now theformer star linebacker is tak-ing over as the Rattlers’ nexthead coach.

INSIDE:» Jim Lamar on Holmes’introduction, 1C» St. Clair Murraine’s columnon the hire, 1C» Reaction from FAMU sup-porters, 2C

ONLINE:» Press conference video:Tallahassee.com/HolmesHC» Photo gallery:Tallahassee.com/HolmesPic» More video reactions fromFAMU supporters:RattlerNews.com

Tallahassee Democrat 01/12/2013 Page : A02

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2A » SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013 » TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT » NEWS

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begin medical school. VanLan-dinghamwas blind-sided by a va-grant, knocked to the ground andstruck the back of his head on thecurb.

His head hurt — a lot. But hedidn’t think anything was toowrong until the next day when herealized he was woozy.

An emergency room doctordiscovered VanLandingham’sbrain was bleeding. He had suf-fered a concussion, and for thenext 19 months he coped withshort-term amnesia. Eighteenyears later, he is still aware thathissenseofsmellhasbeendulled.

VanLandingham believes thatif there had been a nasal sprayavailable similar to what he hasdeveloped, a product to quicklyreduce swelling in the brain, hisrecovery time could have beenshortened immeasurably.

His drug, Prevasol, containsthe female hormone progester-one. It is almost two years in themaking at this point, still 90 daysfrom earning a patent, VanLan-dingham said.

While it will be at least threeyears, and more likely five, be-fore VanLandingham’s productwill be readily available — andthat’s assuming all goes wellalong the way during clinicaltrials and investors continue tostep up — a lot has happened al-ready.

FSU’s Office of Research andEconomic Development has as-sisted VanLandingham fromearly on, providing advice andseedmoney thatwas essential forcreating Prevacus, the companyresponsible for thedrug.VanLan-dingham also has assembled ateamthat includes aCFObased inWest Palm Beach, a consultantwith ties to pro football’s Pitts-burgh Steelers and a productionfacility in China.

“It’s a process that’s fairlywellunderstood. Whether you havethe results to advance to the nextstep remains to be seen,” JohnFraser, assistant vice presidentfor research and economic devel-opment at FSU, said. “It’s prettyclearfromthetimeandamountofmoneyyouneed, Jake is at the be-ginning. I think everybody recog-nizes that.

“What’s thepotentialhere?Is itanewBand-Aid,or is it somethingthat might be more significant?

It’s something we think could bemore significant,” Fraser added.

He is speaking from experi-ence.FSUhassigned36spinoff li-censes during the past 14 years,including the one responsible forchemistry professor Robert Hol-ton’s Taxol, the breast-cancerdrug that produced hundreds ofmillions of dollars for both FSUandHolton.

It’swaytoosoontoknowifPre-vasol is the next Taxol, but ScottBurkhart believes there’s a bankvault’s worth of potential in whatVanLandingham has developed.Burkhart, now a consultant withPrevacus, is doing a fellowship inconcussion treatment at thePitts-burgh Medical Center, which hasdirect ties to the Steelers (Burk-hart is scheduled to join Tallahas-see Orthopedic Clinic in August).

“Jake is a smart and savvybusinessman. A lot of smart sci-entists are not very smart busi-nessmen. Jake brings both,”Burkhart said. “The NFL is a bil-lion-dollar industry. I think theywould be ecstatic to get theirhands on this medicine, not tomention the Department of De-fense andevery emergency roomin the country. We’re talkingabout something pretty tremen-dous if it takes off.”

VanLandingham, eager forclinical patient trials to get underway, sees unlimited markets forhis drug, from youth sports pro-grams to the military to agingAmericanswhoaremoreprone tofalls that can cause concussions.

It could even be used as a preven-tative treatment, prior to partici-pating in contact sports, he said.Traumaticbrain injuries are abigbusiness in theUnitedStates.TheCenters for Disease Control andPrevention reports that 1.7 mil-lion Americans sustain a TBI ev-ery year, and 75 percent of allTBIs are concussions or othermild brain injuries. Treatingthem is a multi-billion dollar in-dustry.

Dr. Hugh VanLandingham, afamily physician in Tallahasseewho is Jacob’s senior by 18months, is the brother who wasbeginning medical school whenVanLandinghamsufferedhis life-changing injury. He marvels athow his brother, who was assis-tant director of the Brain Re-search Laboratory at Emory Uni-versity in Atlanta for two yearsbefore joining FSU’s College ofMedicine in 2006, is following adream that began with a flukemugging.

“It was a complete turningpoint in his life, and changed hisdirection,” Hugh said. “The truthis, with his injury he got quitelucky. He healed. He could havebeen a lot worse. A lot of folksdon’t fare as well.

“What he’s doing could changehealth care as we know it,” HughVanLandinghamadded. “Itwouldbe great to have a medicine totreat concussions so they don’tend up the way they do now. I’mexcited as a practitioner and abrother.”

From left to right, Jeff Johnson, Beth Corson, Jake VanLandingham andMegan Deane. GLENN BEIL/DEMOCRAT

Continued » 1A

Concussion

The executive director of theFlorida Commission on Ethicssays the commission should ac-cept an administrative-lawjudge’s recommendation when itmeets later this month and dropcharges againstTallahasseeMay-or JohnMarks.

The Ethics Commissioncharged Marks on June 15 withfive violations of state law overvotes he cast involving Honey-well, oneof thecity’s smart-metervendors and a major client of themayor’s law firm at the time, andtheAllianceforDigitalEquality, anonprofit that paid themayor as amember of its board of advisersand was involved in a federallyfunded broadband project withthe city that ultimately was can-celed.

After a one-day hearing Oct. 8,DianeGuillemette, a senior assis-tant attorney general who acts asa prosecutor for the Ethics Com-mission, asked AdministrativeLaw Judge Lawrence P. Steven-son to recommend penaltiesagainst Marks including $30,000in fines and public reprimand.

But Stevenson, in his recom-mended order Nov. 28, saidcharges against Marks should bedroppedbecauseofa lackofclearand convincing evidence. TheEthics Commission meets Jan. 25to take final action on thematter.

In a recent memo to ethicscommissioners, Virlindia Doss,executive director of the EthicsCommission, wrote that Florida’sethics lawslimit thecommission’sability to reject or modify find-ings and conclusions in Law-rence’s recommended order andthat commission staff optedagainstfilinganyexceptionschal-lenging it.

“Therefore,” she wrote, “thematter comesbefore the commis-sion for final agency action, andthe commission should enter a fi-nal order and public reportwhichadopts the recommendedorder inits entirety.”

Doss wrote that under statelaw, an agency may not reject orchange findings of fact made bythe judge unless a review of theentire record shows that theywere not based on competent,substantial evidence or did notcomply with the essential re-quirements of law.

“The agency may not reweighthe evidence, resolve conflicts

therein or judge the credibility ofwitnesses because those are mat-ters within the sole province ofthe ALJ,” she wrote. “Conse-quently, if the record of the (Divi-sion of Administrative Hearings)proceedings discloses any com-petent, substantial evidence tosupport a finding of fact made bythe ALJ, the commission is boundby that finding.”

The nine-member Ethics Com-mission also can’t reject orchange conclusions of law unlessitcanstate itsreasonsfordoingsoandmake a finding that its substi-tutedconclusionor interpretationis as reasonable or more reason-able than the judge’s, Doss wrote.

The charges against Marks in-volved allegations of voting con-flicts made by Erwin Jackson, alocal businessman who ran forCity Commission in 2010. UnderFlorida’s ethics laws, local offi-cials are prohibited from votingon any measure that would givethem, a principal who has re-tained them, a relative or a busi-ness associate a special, privategainor loss.Officials foundguiltycan face penalties including finesand, in the most serious cases,suspension or removal from of-fice.

MarksvotedSept.15, 2010, ona$1.2-million federal grant to bringbroadband Internet programs tothe south side. The Alliance forDigital Equality, one of the grantpartners, would have receivedmore than $700,000. Marks, whowas paid $86,000 for serving on

the ADE board of advisers from2007 through October 2010, ab-stained froma subsequentDec. 8,2010, vote to execute contracts.

The mayor also voted March28, 2007, to authorize city staff tonegotiate with Honeywell to pro-vide contract-management ser-vices for the smart-meter net-work and install the meters andrelated infrastructure. Markswas working at the time for theAdorno & Yoss law firm, whichcountedHoneywell as amajorcli-ent. The contractwasworth near-ly$15million.MarkscastvotesonHoneywellmatterson threeotheroccasions in 2007 and 2008.

BeforetheMarch28,2007,CityCommissionvote,Markssaidhe’dchecked with his law firm to seewhether there was a conflict andfound none. However, Stevensonwrote in his recommended orderthatMarks in fact never ran a cli-ent check with his firm, insteadrelying on information fromHon-eywell, which didn’t realize thelaw firm was representing thecompany inasbestos litigationbe-cause it had been hired by an in-surance company.

“Theevidencepresentedat thehearing confirmed that Honey-well made a conscientious, goodfaith effort to determine its rela-tionshipwithAdorno&Yoss,”Ste-venson wrote in his recommend-ed order. “(Marks’) reliance onHonywell was, in hindsight, mis-taken but not unreasonable at thetime and under all the circum-stances.”

Commission recommendsdismissal of Marks caseBy Jeff BurlewDemocrat senior writer@JeffBurlew on Twitter

Mayor John Marks. MICHAEL SCHWARZ/DEMOCRAT FILESFla. Fantasy 5

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