Arthrex founder proposes accelerated healing institute in Collier as alternative to Jackson Lab

Arthrex employess on Jackson Labs

Arthrex employess show their disapproval

Commission Chairman Fred Coyle may not have expected an alternative but it’s coming.

At community forums on the controversial Jackson Laboratory proposal, Coyle speaks out to naysayers to come up with an alternative for creating jobs and getting away from agriculture, real estate and tourism as the backbone of the local economy.

Reinhold Schmieding, founder and president of the privately-held Arthrex, which manufacturers medical devices for orthopedic surgery, is doing just that.

He is pitching a not-for-profit institute that would focus on accelerated healing that could be built in North Naples near Arthrex headquarters. Schmieding said it can be done at a fraction of the $130 million in local taxpayer money considered for the Jackson proposal.

“This institute would require building a new clinical research facility and a recruited team of clinical and basic science researchers that would conduct multi-center level 1 clinical studies locally and around the U.S. for new personalized biologic treatments for accelerated healing of human illnesses, orthopedic injuries and arthritis that would provide real medical breakthroughs in our community within just a few years,” Schmieding said in a recent e-mail to Coyle. “Hundreds of new career opportunities for the local economy would be guaranteed, not just forecasted, at a fraction of the cost that has been proposed for Jackson Labs.”

The Jackson project, which Coyle has been spearheading with the Economic Development Council, would involve $130 million in local money so the nonprofit Jackson, based in Bar Harbor, Maine, could build a genetics research facility on 50 acres near Ave Maria. Barron Collier Co. has agreed to donate the land.

Jackson officials vow to create 200 jobs over 10 years but what’s envisioned is the genetics center, which would focus on the emerging industry of personalized medicine, would serve as an anchor to attract other medical-related entities. That would foster a larger bio-medical park and potentially thousands of new jobs over 20 years and beyond.

The local money would be matched by $50 million the state Legislature approved this past spring, which hinges on a federal stimulus package being approved by Congress later this summer. After that, the state Legislature would have to appropriate the remaining $80 million in subsequent years.

Schmieding has been critical of the Jackson proposal, saying Jackson lacks business partnerships for commercial ventures in personalized medicine. Secondly, the county bypassed the competitive bid process when it zeroed in on Jackson for economic diversification. Moreover, he says the county should focus more on local companies and what they can do to promote economic diversity.

He points out that Arthrex is forecast to have more than 1,000 employees by the end of the year and annual revenue exceeding $1 billion.

In addition to the healing institute, Schmieding said Arthrex outsources more than 50 percent of its product manufacturing and said doing more manufacturing locally could create 1,000 new high-wage jobs in less than the 10 years proposed with Jackson.

That part of his proposal is in contrast to an announcement earlier this week that Arthrex will consider soliciting bids from outside of the state for a manufacturing plant expansion.

He has a team putting together a business plan for the accelerated healing institute and would like to make a presentation to the county “as an alternative to (Jackson Laboratory) funding prior to your vote” in late July, he said in his e-mail to Coyle. The board has a July 27 deadline to decide about Jackson and funding, if it goes forward.

Schmieding was out of town Thursday and unavailable for comment.

Another idea he pitched would involve Arthrex sponsoring continuing education programs with a biomedical technology teaching facility and apprenticeship program to teach high-tech manufacturing skills to local residents.

Arthrex already has an extensive training program for orthopedic surgeons to come to Naples from around the world to learn surgical techniques involving Arthrex products or to attend conferences. Thousands of people come for conferences annually, said John Schmieding, general counsel for the company.

In response to the proposal from Arthrex, Coyle said he is intrigued by the healing institute concept but that the Jackson and Arthrex projects are not mutually exclusive opportunities.

“(Reinhold Schmieding) wants us to drop the Jackson Laboratory proposal and accept his proposal,” Coyle said.

If an economic analysis shows the Jackson project is unacceptable, then it would get dropped but that isn’t going to happen solely on the basis that Arthrex has an alternative proposal, Coyle said.

Both projects can be examined in the same framework of economic job creation and biomedical clustering.

“If we feel both proposals are acceptable, we might find a way to do both,” he said. “I would be delighted to view these on a parallel track.”

Connect with health-care reporter Liz Freeman at www.naplesnews.com/staff/liz_freeman