Irvine Foundation Gives $3M to Columbia
The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, an Irvine nonprofit, has given a $3 million, three-year grant to Columbia University’s medical school and the Children’s Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian.
The money is set to go toward a pediatric oncology research laboratory to help Columbia researchers look into genetics, immunology, biochemistry and cellular processes of childhood lymphomas.
Dr. Mitchell S. Cairo, principal investigator and head of the pediatric cancer research program at Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, is slated to head the new lab. Cairo joined Columbia in 2000 after serving as director of Pediatric Cancer Research and Bone Marrow Transplantation at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation was started in 1982 and has corporate alliances with Ingram Micro Inc., Taco Bell Corp., Allergan Inc. and other local business. The foundation has raised more $10 million to fund research into treatments for childhood cancers.
Cooper Sees Device Push
Lake Forest eye-care products maker Cooper Cos. said it plans to nearly double sales of women’s surgical devices to $100 million by 2003 through acquisitions and internal growth.
For the 12 months ended Oct. 31, the company’s CooperSurgical device unit had $58 million in sales, about a quarter of its $234.6 million total. The bulk of Cooper’s revenue comes from contact lenses.
Cooper said at its annual meeting last week it expects overall sales of around $320 million for its current fiscal year.
Investment Firm Plans Intersil Stock Sale
An investment firm that led the buyout of Irvine-based Intersil Corp. from Harris Corp. plans to sell about 3 million shares of the chipmaker, a stake worth about $110 million.
Sterling Holdings Co., a Citigroup Inc. portfolio company, announced the stock sale in a recent federal filing. Sterling didn’t disclose when it plans to sell the shares other then to list “various” for the sale date.
Sterling led the $700 million buyout of Harris’ semiconductor arm, Intersil’s precursor, in 1999.
The investment firm didn’t cite a reason for the stock sale. In November, it sold some 15 million shares. It also acquired a similar amount that same month in the exercise of warrants. Sterling owns about 90% of Intersil Holding Corp., Intersil’s parent company.
