Imagine a pharmaceutical industry in Northern Kentucky. It might not be too big of a stretch.

        Roger Griggs, the drug-industry veteran leading the local charge for a new company that would buy and hold high-tech health-care companies, says he has support approaching $20 million for Kentucky First.

        Kentucky First was dreamed up by local high-tech advocates last year as part of a proposal for state funding. With half a million state dollars that could get formal approval in Frankfort this month, Mr. Griggs wants to hire three staff people and then hit the road looking for promising technologies.

        Mr. Griggs has the stripes. He nurtured Richwood Pharmaceutical Co. in Florence into the big time before selling to Shire Pharmaceutical and has since gathered a group of pharmaceutical companies under his investment firm, Union Springs LLC.

        He said he'll use the same model for Kentucky First, except that all of the firms will be moved to Northern Kentucky.

        “I think it's exciting,” Mr. Griggs said. “Our health-care nucleus here is relatively small. But if we can do it here, there's no reason Kentucky First can't do it.”

        P&G gets pain relief: We knew Procter & Gamble Co. had muscle in the marketplace. Last year, the company proved it.

        P&G has persuaded 24 of its top 25 retail customers to stock its ThermaCare heat wrap in the aisle with aspirin and Tylenol instead of the aisle with ankle braces or heat rubs, said Craig Cappozzo, marketing director for P&G's pain-care businesses.

        In fact, P&G wants retailers — including Cincinnati's Kroger Co. — to reorganize and dedicate an entire shelf section to “pain management.”

        “Consumers with pain actually buy more than one product when it's made easy for them,” Mr. Cappozzo said.

        From bankruptcy to bonuses: Chiquita Brands International Inc. will emerge from bankruptcy this spring with new owners, but some things about the banana-maker look familiar.

        One is this: bonuses paid to top executives to keep them in the fold.

        With permission from federal Bankruptcy Court Judge J. Vincent Aug, Chiquita has accelerated bonus payments to 62 top executives. It will spend about $1.5 million to pay those executives half of their annual bonus 90 days after Chiquita emerges from bankruptcy.

        Instead of the normal bonus criteria, the advance payment is purely a “retention incentive.”

        “By advancing a portion of the annual bonus, the debtor will confirm its commitment to these employees, which will bolster confidence and loyalty,” Chiquita said in a motion asking Judge Aug to approve the program.

        There were no objections to the request. Chiquita officials have consistently said that rewarding top executives for sticking it out through an eight-year trade war and a devastating stock drop is crucial to keeping them at the company.

        E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com or call 768-8573.

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