Inter-Cal: Building On ‘Ester-C’ Success

With a history dating back into the 1970’s, the Inter-Cal Corporation, Prescott, AZ, a Zila company, was founded when a Prescott physician named Dr. Edwin Goertz invented “Ester-C” for his wife who suffered from severe arthritis. In 1981 a group of Prescott investors bought the company and then in 1997 sold it to Zila Inc., a Phoenix, AZ-based provider of health care products for dental and medical professionals and consumers.

Inter-Cal is the exclusive manufacturer of Ester-C vitamin C, which is a patented mineral ascorbate whose properties include a unique metabolite technology that influences the body’s absorption and uptake of vitamin C. So what differentiates Ester-C from ascorbic acid? Sid Hulse, vice president of strategic development, explained, “Patented Ester-C is a complex of vitamin C, essential minerals and vitamin C metabolites that is readily absorbed and non acidic.” He added, “This is important because there are people who have a reaction to vitamin C because of the acidity of the ascorbic acid.”

Ester-C mineral ascorbates are recognized under U.S. Patent #4,822,816 and are manufactured by an exclusive, water-based process that promotes oxidative changes in the vitamin similar to those occurring during the body’s normal metabolism of this essential nutrient.

Moving beyond Ester-C, the newest addition to Inter-Cal’s product portfolio is the company’s “Palmettx” product, which is a solvent-free, standardized extract of hand-harvested saw palmetto fruit domestically grown and extracted using Inter-Cal’s proprietary “PureXtrax” method. “PureXtrax” is a super-critical CO2 extraction method, which processes botanicals naturally, without chemicals, toxic solvents or excessive heat.

At present Inter-Cal is the only company in the world that has capabilities for drying, extracting and making saw palmetto powder in the U.S. “Our intention in becoming involved with saw palmetto was to be THE only totally vertically integrated company in the U.S.,” Mr. Hulse said.

Another concern in the saw palmetto market is quality, said Mr. Hulse. “One of the problems with saw palmetto products is that there are a number of companies selling varying grades of the raw material and finished products,” he commented. “One initiative we have taken is to educate the consumer on what it is they should be taking. Super-critical technology can help eliminate concerns about the quality of a product.”

So is Inter-Cal going to take Palmettx in the direction that it took Ester-C? Mr. Hulse answered, “It is our intention to promote the brand Palmettx in the same way we have Ester-C. We are not going to be just another raw material supplier.”

Most recently the company completely restructured its management team. Among the executives that have been reassigned are Mr. Hulse, Gaye Morgan, who is now vice president of operations; Debra Spooner, human resources manager; Barbara Long, vice president of finance and Dr. Jack Hegenauer, research manager. All of the new department heads report to Michelle Michels, vice president/general manager. The motivation behind the restructuring was to bring Inter-Cal to a new level, said Ms. Michels. “We are taking Inter-Cal from being just a one product company to being a diverse supplier of products and maintaining the same focus on the level of quality that we have achieved with Ester-C.”

—R.M.

Inter-Cal Corporation
533 Madison Avenue
Prescott, AZ 86301
Phone: 520-445-8063 ext. 134
Fax: 520-778-7986
E-mail: strategy@esterc.com

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