When wildfire swept across much of the Greek island of Chios in August of 2012, alarm bells sounded on 8 Mile Road in Ferndale. Flames had destroyed about half the island’s groves of Pistacia lentiscus.
Commonly known as mastic trees, they produce the resin used by Eloquest Healthcare in its most-recognized product, Mastisol Liquid Adhesive. Called the “tears of Chios,” the resin droplets have the European Union’s protected designation-of-origin status, like Champagne or Gruyere, and are irreplaceable.
After the disaster, Chris Stein, today president and COO of Ferndale Pharma Group Inc., journeyed to the island to meet with the growers’ cooperative to help ensure continued supply.
“We went over to talk about that and make sure that doesn’t happen again, and they’ve done a great job,” says Stein, who started at Ferndale Pharma 27 years ago in quality control. He had previously been to Chios to finalize an exclusive distribution agreement. “It’s a cool place to go. You can see the Turkish coast from the island.”
With a campus at 670 to 780 8 Mile Rd., Ferndale Pharma Group is a privately held manufacturer of health care products, including pharmaceuticals. Stein counts 130 employees. The holding company encompasses five divisions, one of which includes three subsidiaries. Besides Eloquest, there’s Ferndale Healthcare Inc., offering prescription and over-the-counter products treating a wide variety of medical conditions, while Ferndale Labs & Contract Manufacturing develops and produces pharmaceuticals and engages in warehousing and distribution. (The company has a warehouse in Warren.)
Biopelle Inc. specializes in OTC skin-care products sold by national chain stores. Ferndale Worldwide includes Ferndale International, a licensing arm for global partners, and it has a majority stake in Ferndale Pharmaceutical Ltd., located in Wetherby, Yorkshire, England — as well as owning Ferndale Laboratories SRL of Siena, Italy.
Marketing approaches vary among the divisions. E-commerce is important for Biopelle, television spots are used for Ferndale Healthcare, and ads in trade journals promote Eloquest. One constant, though, is pressing the flesh in person. “We attend a lot of trade shows and maintain relationships with what we call KOLs, or key-opinion-leading physicians, to get recommendations for our products,” Stein explains.
The company was started in 1897 by Johannes Frederick Hartz and operated out of the Hartz Building at 1529 Broadway St. — now home to the Detroit Beer Co., with condos on the upper floors. The J.F. Hartz Co. purveyed vitamins and surgical supplies. Hartz married Gertrude Boynton and they had two children, Albert and Frances.
The parents passed away in the mid-1940s, and Albert and Frances assumed control of the company. They continued to operate under the Hartz name until the early 1950s when Frances, who married the Italian writer and translator Delfino Cinelli, set up an independent business in Ferndale, while Albert kept the downtown store. The Cinellis also owned Tenuta di Spannocchia, an estate near Siena, Italy.
In 1958, Frances changed the name to Ferndale Surgical Inc., which later became Ferndale Laboratories Inc. She and Cinelli had three children, including son Ferdinand (1916-2002), who married Sarah McGraw. Among their four children was Gioconda “Gigi” McMillan, who remains the company’s majority shareholder. She and her husband, James Thayer McMillan II, live in Grosse Pointe Farms and Rancho Mirage, Calif., and are benefactors of the Palm Springs Art Museum. Gioconda’s sister, Francesca Stratton, runs the 1,100-acre Spannocchia estate as a working farm and conservation center.
For Ferndale Laboratories, a breakthrough occurred in the 1970s. Growing from a local maker of pharmaceuticals to a national health care company meant establishing a tele-sales force and introducing new products. Mastisol was one. It was first used for wound-dressing closures. Made nowadays in 1,000-liter batches, it’s also used for securing IV lines, catheters, and ostomy bags. A counterpart product is Detachol, which dissolves the resin for removal of the coverings.
Eventually, an outside sales force was established, growing by the year 2000 to about 60 reps who called on dermatologists and gastroenterologists. But market conditions changed. Third-party payers were becoming more conservative, and generic drugs were readily available.
“We made a strategic decision to start selling off our prescription drug assets,” Stein says. “We did that and went back to the over-the-counter drugs and herbal supplements, and some medical devices.”
The near future requires continued adaptation as brick-and-mortar stores struggle and e-commerce rises. “You don’t need to be an executive in this industry, you just need to be a consumer, to know how easy it is to order something from Amazon” Stein says.
Ferndale Labs & Contract Manufacturing, meanwhile, keeps serving Big Pharma and small startups. The other divisions will embrace digital advertising and marketing. “Where I see us going is to continue to develop those markets, continue to innovate, to have good products where there’s a great consumer need, and to be able to back that with clinical evidence,” Stein says.
