S I O U X F A L L S

BUSINESS JOURNALJuly 12-18, 2006 Vol. 4, No. 21 • $2w w w . s i o u x f a l l s b u s i n e s s j o u r n a l . c o m

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INDEXVital Signs 4News 5-11Business in Brief 12Insight 13Profiles 16-17Movers & Shakers 19Calendar 19Viewpoint 22The List 23Databank 24-26

BUSINESS BUZZLandowner cleaning upold junkyard near falls

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NORTHWESTInterchange sparks plans

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LEISURESUITSCompany teams find

action on fields, courtsPAGE 18

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INSIDE

By Rob SwensonSioux Falls Business Journal———

The eastern fringe of Sioux Falls isgaining hundreds of acres as com-mercial and residential developersposition themselves to take advan-tage of coming water, sewer and streetimprovements.

A package of four requests thattotals approximately 670 acres likelywill be the next chunk added to thecity limits.

The package is comprised of WillowRun Golf Course, two developmentparcels owned by PariPassu Cos. ofMinneapolis and a 40-acre tract ownedby Sioux Falls businessman Tom Hein.

Dr. Dick Tschetter, majority ownerof Willow Run, said PariPassu hadasked if the golf coursewanted to join therequest for annexa-tion, and he decidedthe time was right.

“There’s moreupside than down-side,” Tschetter said.

The downside mightbe higher property tax-es, he said. The upsidewill include the addi-tion of city servicesthat will make 25 to30 acres of undevel-oped res ident ia lproperty along thegolf course moreattractive, Tschettersaid.

“The east side is just really going toboom,” Tschetter said. “To me, theeast side is the prettiest terrain inSioux Falls.”

PariPassu, which has land both eastand west of Willow Run, plans todevelop 450 acres of that rolling east-side turf.

The largest portion of the compa-ny’s tract, which borders Willow Run

East-sidedevelopersask city toannex land

See ANNEX, page 21

By Randy HascallSioux Falls Business Journal———

CANTON – The 250 sheep grazing in a hilly pasturenorth of Canton look like any other flock.

But these sheep are special. They’re being raised forbiomedical research – to develop a medicine forAlzheimer’s patients, to assist in the study of fetaldevelopment, to provide heart valves for humanpatients.

Raising sheepfor science

DickTschetter

ABOVE: JerryPommer givesdewormer to oneof his sheep.Greg UndeenFor the Business Journal

➤ More aboutthe flock,page 15

➤ Map ofaffectedareas,page 21

See SHEEP, page 14

Canton flock helps in medical research

PAGE 14: NEWS siouxfallsbusinessjournal.com | July 12-18, 2006

Area producer Jerry Pommer ishopeful his sheep will lead scientists toa medical breakthrough, that his ani-mals might help make life better forpeople with diseases or deterioratingorgans.

“That’s kind of what drives you,” hesaid.

Pommer has been raising sheep forresearch since 1991 and providesabout 100 head a year for that purpose.His production facility is named Ovis,a Latin word that means sheep.

The wooly animals are popular inthe research field for a variety of rea-sons. First of all, their size and struc-ture is more similar to the humanbody than many animals’.

Pommer raises Cheviot sheepbecause that breed is hardier andsmaller than some breeds.

“If they’re too big, they don’t fit onthe operating table,” he said. “They’rea very hardy breed and recover betterfrom surgery.”

Pommer takes several steps and pre-cautions to ensure his flock isn’tinfected by commonly carr iedpathogens found in many normalsheep flocks. Those pathogens couldinterfere with research results, affectresearchers’ health and alter a sheep’sability to produce a safe, high-qualitybiological product.

The process involves collectingblood samples from each of the ani-mals and sending them to a diagnos-tic lab to test for a variety of diseases.

The sheep are vaccinated and wearidentification tags on their ears soPommer can keep accurate and exten-sive records. Those include genealogyrecords showing which ewe was bredwith which ram. Pommer collectssemen from rams off-site and artifi-cially inseminates his ewes. He saidhe’s a firm believer in animal welfareand providing the best conditions pos-sible.

The sheep are used by scientists,doctors and researchers in at leasteight states.

Targeting the spinal cordAt the Northern B iomedica l

Research laboratory in Muskegon,Mich., Bob Boyd and other staff mem-bers use the sheep for spinal cord andbrain research of diseases such asAlzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Lou Gehrig’sand epilepsy.

Northern Biomedical works withpharmaceutical companies to developdrugs and technology that allow thetreatment to go directly into a spinalcolumn or brain.

Among the advantages of usingsheep for research are that their spinalcords are about the same length ashumans’, the animals are smallenough to place in a magnetic reso-nance imaging machine, and surgical

procedures on sheep are similar tothose used on people.

It’s difficult to find good sheep inMichigan because of long, wet springseasons and a problem with a deer dis-ease that contaminates sheep, Boydsaid. When a project requires the useof sheep, the lab will order about 60from Pommer.

“People are surprised when we haveto go all the way to South Dakota forclean (healthy) sheep,” he said in aphone interview. “I have been outthere and looked over his facilities, sowe know who we’re buying from. Wespend a lot of money on animals.”

Pommer prefers to keep his pricesprivate but said the sheep sell for “a lotmore” than they would at market.

“Worth the price”Boyd said researchers go to extremes

to locate and maintain a healthysource of test animals, and cornerscan’t be cut when it comes to properresearch.

“The sheep are worth the price ifthey’re clean,” he said. “Research isalways slow, but having appropriateanimals is important.”

Northern Biomedical pays about$5,000 each for monkeys, which alsoare used for research.

All animals “get treated very, very

well” and are housed in air-condi-tioned buildings with large rooms,Boyd said. The lab tests new drugs onsheep or other animals and reports itsdata to the Food and Drug Adminis-tration. If tests are successful, thatopens the door to experimental useby people – patients with LouGehrig’s disease, for example. Andthat can lead to FDA approval of anew drug.

Some researchers and doctors arereluctant to talk about their work. Adoctor at the Mayo Clinic declined aninterview request. That facility usessheep for heart-valve replacements,and bone and joint replacements.

Other institutions use the sheep fororgan transplants and research pro-jects on fetal surgery, blood products,medical devices for hearts and a drugused for miscarriages.

Sean Limesand, an assistant profes-sor in the University of Arizona’sdepartment of animal sciences, spentfive years at another university con-ducting fetal research on pregnantsheep supplied by Pommer.

Studies looked at such things as res-piratory, heart and placental func-tions, insulation secretion and envi-ronmental heat stress.

“A sheep really lends itself to thesetypes of studies,” said Limesand,

whose team studied only young ewesthat were pregnant with a single fetus.

Antibody productionMany animals have to be anes-

thetized to be studied, but not sheep,said Limesand, a native of Luverne,Minn. Researchers can insert acatheter and sample blood as it’s cir-culating while a sheep is in its normalstate. Another benefit in pregnantsheep is that they have less violentcontractions than monkeys do.

In Sioux Falls, Pommer’s sheep areused by Hematech Inc., a biotechnol-ogy company that focuses ondeveloping new human therapeuticsin transgenic cattle. Pommer alsoworks at Hematech.

The company uses the sheep to pro-duce specific antibodies that areimportant reagents for detecting andmonitoring immunoglobulins andviruses that will be removed duringthe manufacturing of human anti-body products. Immunoglobulins arespecial proteins made by the body’simmune system as a defense againstforeign materials.

Because of their large bodies, sheepcan produce a much larger quantity ofantibodies than rabbits or mice can.

SHEEP: Extensive flock managementContinued from page 1

Greg Undeen | For the Sioux Falls Business JournalJerry Pommer watches a lamb and its mother in the pasture at the Ovis farm north of Canton. Pommer has a herd of 250 sheep thathe is raising for the medical research market. He keeps extensive records and takes several steps to ensure that the sheep are healthy.

See FLOCK, page 15

NEWS: PAGE 15July 12-18, 2006 | siouxfallsbusinessjournal.com

“Sheep are a very useful tool to a lotof research,” said Jin-an Jiao, seniorvice president of product developmentand manufacturing at Hematech. “It’sgood to have research tools so close.”

Because bacteria become resistant toantibiotics, Hematech strives to devel-op new human, polyclonal antibody-based therapeutics to fight the bacte-ria. Polyclonal means that multipleantibodies bind to multiple foreignmaterials to destroy them and preventdiseases.

Sheep are vaccinated with a bovineantigen and, in turn, generate specif-ic antibodies against that antigen.Researchers collect that antibody as aplasma or serum and can preserve itfor several years for use in research,Jiao said.

Testing for animal diseaseResearch on Pommer’s sheep isn’t

limited to medical advancements inhuman treatments. The animals alsoare being used by the South DakotaState University veterinary sciencedepartment at Brookings and theNational Animal Disease Center atAmes, Iowa, to do research on scrapieand chronic wasting disease.

Pommer annually supplies SDSUwith a half-dozen sheep that are bredto be genetically susceptible to scrapie,a degenerative nervous disease thataffects the animals. Researchers infectthe sheep with the disease so they canstudy them for diagnostic purposes.

Pommer said it takes these special

sheep 18 months to two years to devel-op the disease, whereas it could takefive years for normal sheep.

“That saves a lot of time and mon-ey,” he said.

Alan Young, an SDSU researcher,said the goal is to develop a live-ani-mal test for scrapie and chronic wast-

ing disease. Current tests to diagnosethe diseases can be done only on deadanimals.

“It’s convenient for us being this closeto Jerry,” Young said. “It’s been very for-tunate for us having his sheep there.”

Pommer has received inquiries fromas far away as Florida, Canada andPuerto Rico, but high transportationcosts have discouraged thoseresearchers from buying his animals.

He said no one else in the Midwestis producing sheep for these types ofresearch. Most similar flocks are on theEast and West coasts.

Pommer’s flock suffered a major set-back in 1999 when a neighbor’s Dober-man pinschers attacked. Thirty ewesand lambs were killed or had to bedestroyed because of serious injuries.Others suffered from stress-relatedsyndrome, mastitis or injuries thatweren’t life-threatening. Some had tobe culled to strengthen the flock.

Because there’s no replacement stockfor the speciality sheep, it took severalyears to build the flock back up. Thingseventually returned to normal, andtoday the ewes and frolicking lambsgraze on 45 acres of prime pastureland.

They look just like any other sheep,but Pommer knows they’re special,and he’s hoping they’ll lead to a med-ical breakthrough one day.

FLOCK: Most research farms on coastsContinued from page 14

By Randy HascallSioux Falls Business Journal———

A little more than 15 years ago, South Dakotanative Jerry Pommer launched a program inresponse to a growing demand for research in thebiomedical and agricultural science fields.

Today, Ovis is a federally licensed sheep pro-duction facility that specializes in producingsheep that are suited to meet the needs of doctorsand researchers.

The flock is developed and maintained so thesheep aren’t infected by commonly carriedpathogens that can be found in most normalflocks.

That takes “a lot of management,” Pommer said.His Cheviot-breed sheep are known for their

hardiness, disease resistance and smaller size.Adult males weigh 160 to 180 pounds. Adultfemales weigh 140 to 160 pounds.

Ovis provides male and female sheep of variousages, including pregnant ones.

Sean Limesand, a University of Arizona assistantprofessor who conducted sheep research when heworked for another university, said the pregnantOvis ewes were ideal for fetal research. The stud-ies focused on younger ewes with single fetuses,not twins.

The herd is used in human research studies inaddition to studies of sheep diseases, treatments,reproduction and nutrition. Here are some exam-ples:

• Experimental surgery research. The sheep’ssize is convenient and similar to humans. Ovis hasprovided sheep for surgical research in cardiovas-cular, neurological and organ transplantationfields.

• Fetal research. Pregnant sheep and their fetus-es provide a close model for human pregnancyand are studied to provide insight into conditionsthat affect human development before birth.

• Biomedical device research. Sheep are beingused to research joint replacements, implanteddrug-delivery devices and cardiac shunts.

• Blood products. The flock can provide a sourceof blood products such as normal and hyperim-mune serum and plasma, and whole blood.

The sheep are being used for biomedical pur-poses at Hematech Inc. in Sioux Falls; NorthernBiomedical Research in Muskegon, Mich.; theMayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.; and institutionsin five other states.

Agricultural science research is being conduct-ed by the South Dakota State University veterinaryscience department in Brookings and at theNational Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa.

Sheep’s anatomy,physiologymake them ideal for research

Photos by Greg Undeen | For the Sioux Falls Business JournalThe sheep raised by Jerry Pommer are Cheviots, which areknown for their hardiness, disease resistance and smaller size.

THE POMMER FILEName: Jerry PommerOccupation: Works at Hematech Inc.; also

operates Ovis, a research-sheep production fa-cility north of Canton. Ovis is a Latin wordmeaning sheep.

Age: 51Family: Wife and two childrenBackground: Grew up at Willow Lake,

graduated from Willow Lake High School.Earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiologyand biology from South Dakota State Universi-ty and a master’s degree in veterinary sciencefrom North Dakota State University. His thesiswas on sheep respiratory diseases.

Ovis Web site: www.ovissheep.com

LEFT: Jerry Pommer also works at Hematech,one of the firms that use his sheep in research.