Here's an interesting article (excerpted from
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/7155049.htm )

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Posted on Sat, Nov. 01, 2003

SinoFresh gets whiff of drug store success

VICKIE CHACHERE

Associated Press

ENGLEWOOD, Fla. - Charles Fust found his future in business right under his
nose.

On a drive to a consulting job in Houston and on a particularly lonely stretch
of highway, Fust was suffering from a badly stuffed nose and irritated sinuses.
It was then the chemical engineer realized how addicted he'd become to nasal
sprays.

He began to hyperventilate as the miles stretched on until he found a truck
stop where he could buy some nasal spray. The incident stuck in Fust's mind,
and when he returned home to Atlanta he started thinking out loud to some
friends who happened to be pharmacists about the need for a non-addictive nose
spray that could kill mold and bacteria in people's sinuses.

That was 10 years ago. Fust gave up his career and put his personal finances on
the line to create SinoFresh, an over-the-counter antiseptic nasal spray which
kills germs and molds responsible for some chronic sinus conditions.

"SinoFresh is the Listerine of the next century," said Michael Stampar, a Punta
Gorda ear, nose and throat doctor who also serves as SinoFresh's chief medical
officer.

The concept is simple: SinoFresh is essentially mouthwash for the sinuses. It
even uses some of the same active ingredient, Cetylpyridinium chloride, that's
used in mouthwashes to kill bacteria.

It is sold over the counter at drug, grocery stores and through the Internet.
In recent months, SinoFresh has been made available nationwide at national
drugstore chains.

SinoFresh finally turned its first profit in May, the month it sold 225,000 of
the 1-ounce bottles, which retail for about $17.

Fust's goal is to claim some of the $2.6 billion spent each year on cold
medicine or the $4 billion allergy relief industry.

SinoFresh is registered with the Food and Drug Administration as an
over-the-counter drug.

"Every physician I have ever met has said, 'Why did it take you so long?'" Fust
said. "It was so obvious. It was right up under everybody's nose."

An allergy expert at the University of South Florida said patients should not
expect SinoFresh to be a cure all.

Dr. Richard Lockey, director of allergy and immunology at South Florida's
College of Medicine, said some of his patients with sinus problems feel better
after they clean their noses, but that can be accomplished with inexpensive
saline or steam from a hot shower. He said cleaning the nose also can decrease
the likelihood of more serious sinus infections.

"The important thing is to treat the underlying, basic problem," Lockey said.
"If they have a disease, you treat them correctly with medications and in
general they don't need to spray their noses on a regular basis."

For Fust, his recent success caps a long road that nearly drove him to
financial ruin. Now, SinoFresh Corp. has been infused with new investments and
in September it became a publicly traded company in a reverse merger with EBook
Network Inc.

The inspiration for SinoFresh is now what drives its sales: the toxic mold that
circulates through air conditioned office buildings and homes. A 1999 Mayo
Clinic study found millions of Americans have chronic sinus problems because of
mold.

"It was evident no one had done anything for the nose and sinuses where I was
looking," Fust said. "There were lots of complex steroids and antibiotics, but
nothing for basic hygiene."

Initially, Fust said he tinkered with the project in his off hours from work
with guidance from his friends in the pharmacy business and other contacts who
were dentists.

He applied for a patent in 1994, and was granted one in 1996. Fust now holds
130 patents on SinoFresh worldwide.

The expense of pursuing patents meant Fust needed to start selling things, at
first luxury items including a 46-foot boat and then it consumed all of his
personal assets, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"I remember waking up one morning afraid, thinking I could almost be homeless,
I may be past the point of no return," he said. "I had nothing left to sell."

Fust quit his consulting job in 1999 to focus full-time on SinoFresh. He moved
to southwest Florida and opened the first SinoFresh offices in Venice, where he
was able to find affordable warehouse and manufacturing space in an industrial
area.

Working through contacts in Colorado, California and Arizona, they gave
SinoFresh to 300 people in an informal test. SinoFresh has since passed
independent safety tests.

Success started building in strange places.

A chance meeting and conversation with NASCAR driver Jerry McCart three years
ago at the airport in Atlanta prompted Fust to give the driver a bottle of
SinoFresh. McCart said he'd long suffered from sinus problems aggravated by the
fumes and smoke at the racetrack.

"I just use it every day and don't get sick," McCart said. "I don't think I've
been to the doctor for a sinus problem since I started using it."

.....

SinoFresh is guided by a 13-member medical board that includes former FDA
officials, medical professors, health care professionals, and SinoFresh
officials.

Herbert Silverstein, founder of the Silverstein Institute in Sarasota, one of
the state's leading treatment centers for nose and ear ailments, is on the
board. He said he began advising some of his patients to begin using SinoFresh
about a year ago.

"Most of the patients like it very much. They say their nose feels a lot
cleaner, fresher, they can breathe better," he said.

Silverstein added that some patients have found it did not work, a typical
result for over-the-counter products. At least one person has complained in an
Internet news group that SinoFresh made his nose hurt.

Company officials hope to ask the FDA next year for approval to make more
medical claims for the product. In September, SinoFresh moved into a new,
12,500-foot offices and production facility in Englewood.

"I am glad we endured all the years of development because it has given time
for us to prepare," Fust said. "We've done it the right way."