Ferring features this diagram on its Web site.

Sprint Force America, a New York-based masters track club, has found the Holy Grail — a corporate sponsor to underwrite two years of competition at major meets for at least 24 athletes, some in their 70s. The sponsor is the Swiss-based drugmaker Ferring Pharmaceuticals, whose U.S. arm is pushing an injectable treatment for knee arthritis called Euflexxa. SFA President and co-founder Ed Gonera, a world-champion masters sprinter, provided details of the sponsorship in a phone call last week. If Ferring delivers, this could be the biggest money deal in the history of masters track.

With the help of Bob Gray, Frank Schiro and Saladin Allah, Ed wrangled a sponsorship whose final value could reach $100,000.
Under a deal that Ferring hasn’t made public yet, Sprint Force America would get expenses for six sprinters in each of four age groups: 40-49, 50-59, 60-69 and 70-79. The money would send these sprinters, mainly relay teams, to the Penn Relays, the National Senior Olympics (and qualifying meets), the USATF masters nationals and perhaps to Lahti, Finland, for the WMA world outdoor championships in 2009.
Currently committed to SFA are some of the best masters sprinters in America — from as far away as California, Oregon and Texas.
Ed Gonera, Sal Allah and Frank Schiro are among the sponsored athletes. Others on board so far are Bob Bowen, Neil Steinberg, Greg Pizza, Marty Krulee, Ray Blackwell, Anthony Searles, Archie Glaspy, Rich Rizzo, Larry Colbert, Bob Lida, Wayne Bennett, Gary Sims, Mack Stewart, Dick Camp, Corey Moody, Steve Nearman and Rod Jett.
For its part, Ferring would film these sprinters in competition (wearing uniforms with the Euflexxa logo) and use their images in ads marketing the pain medicine. In fact, a film crew already is set to tape the SFA teams at Penn this month.
Although USATF frowns on “national clubs” in masters track, they exist under a loophole in which athletes from any association can join a club in any other association if they get permission from their “home” association.
Ed vigorously rejects the notion that SFA is “poaching” America’s top sprinters from other clubs, saying: “I just want to showcase good athletes. . . . I’m not going after anybody — (especially if) they’re already attached to another team. I don’t care if it’s Michael Johnson.”
Ed, who turns 56 in mid-May, is particularly proud of the fact M70 sprinters will be sponsored. These include Lida of Kansas, Camp of Maine, Sims of Oregon, Stewart and Bennett of Texas, Rizzo of New York and Colbert of Maryland. These gents already have teamed for several world records. And they expect more to come.
At the moment, women aren’t in the mix. But Ed hopes that Ferring will eventually underwrite champion female sprinters as well.
Ed has been running masters since 1994, when he was 42. He’s won 10 medals at worlds, including five golds, and taken 17 national championships. He claims eight world records, two American records and considers a highlight a 48.8 in the 400 at 43 in 1995 “before I cracked my pubic bone two weeks later ouch!”
Ed says he’s on the road back from three herniated discs, an arthritic back and foot , stenosis and “fatness.”
“I still have goals,” says Ed, who competed in the 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2005 world masters meets. “Got to keep working and deal with the setbacks.”
Ferring, which in 2005 had “turnover” of 688 million Euros, telegraphed its intent to be a big-time player in American masters sports by becoming the title sponsor of Euflexxa Geezerjock of the Year awards through Masters Athlete magazine.
What the heck is Euflexxa?
Here’s what the company says about this product, released in 2005:

EUFLEXXA is an ultra-high purity hyaluronan, also called hyaluronic acid (HA) or sodium hyaluronate. HA is the natural substance found in the fluid that surrounds a healthy knee joint and helps cushion, lubricate, and protect the knee as you move throughout the day.
EUFLEXXA is similar to the human HA found in healthy knee joints. When EUFLEXXA is injected into the knee joint, it works by replenishing the HA in the knee and restoring the synovial fluid’s ability to cushion, lubricate, and protect the knee joint.
Made through advanced technology, EUFLEXXA has unprecedented purity. Unlike all other HA products currently on the market for OA of the knee, EUFLEXXA is not made from processed chicken or rooster combs.
In fact, EUFLEXXA is FREE of any animal proteins, so the chance of an allergic response occurring in people sensitive to poultry products (including eggs and feathers) is eliminated.
This means if you are allergic to eggs or poultry products, EUFLEXXA is the option for you. EUFLEXXA is also different because it requires only 3 injections–1 injection a week for 3 weeks–instead of 5 injections necessary with some other HA products.
EUFLEXXA is injected into the knee joint space. Treatment consists of 3 injections — 1 injection a week for 3 weeks.

Not much independent info is available on Ferring, since it’s a privately owned company “with the entire share capital ultimately owned by the Dr. Frederik Paulsen Foundation.”
Dr. Paulsen, who died in 1997, founded Ferring.
My impression from talking to Ed Gonera is that FerringUSA is looking for new folks to be the face of Euflexxa, since its current spokesman, Olympic deca champion Bruce Jenner, has gotten involved in a reality TV show with his stepdaughters (called “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”) that doesn’t quite mesh with Ferring’s target audience.
Ferring doesn’t have much of a rap sheet, but I found this antitrust case against the company.
The guts of the case:

Plaintiffs-appellants Meijer, Inc., and others in this putative class action purchased tablets of the anti-diuretic desmopressin acetate under the brand name DDAVP directly from the defendants, Ferring B.V., Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Aventis Pharmaceuticals.1 Consol. Am. Class Action Compl. ¶¶ 2, 9-11, 15 (Am. Compl.) (JA 1-4).2 The plaintiffs charge that the defendants maintained a monopoly in the United States market for desmopressin acetate tablets in violation of section 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2, and that, as a result, purchasers paid supracompetitive prices for the drug. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 1, 4 (JA 1-2).
Specifically, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants enforced a “fraudulently obtained” patent3 on desmopressin tablets to prevent and delay lower-priced generic equivalents of DDAVP from entering the market. Am. Compl. ¶ 3 (JA 2). The enforcement, plaintiffs allege, consisted of improperly listing the patent in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Orange Book and filing and prosecuting patent infringement suits against generic drug makers that applied to market a generic equivalent of DDAVP. Id.
Under the Hatch-Waxman Act, once the patent was listed in the Orange Book, the filing of infringement suits against the generic drug makers seeking FDA approval to market the drug triggered an automatic 30-month stay of that approval.4 Am. Compl. ¶¶ 21-35, 88, 98 (JA 6-11, 23, 26).

No biggie.
This may just be a typical nuisance suit against what’s thought to be a deep-pocketed pharma. So I don’t look at this as a deal-killer as far as Sprint Force America is concerned.
Ed tells me that over the years he’s approached dozens of potential corporate sponsors. But Ferring is the first to promise big bucks. Although Ed has budgets in mind for each event SFA attends, he doesn’t have a grand total to tout. But apparently Ferring didn’t flinch at an overall amount of $100,000 — which would be spent through the end of the 2009 season.
This is big.
All credit goes to Ed and his teammates who made this happen.
USA Track & Field apparently have nothing to do with this deal. And it won’t reap a single dime either — except for the promotional buzz afforded its member SFA sprinters.
“This is the thing I always wanted to get going,” Ed told me last week. “I want to celebrate masters track.”
Congratulations to Ed and Sprint Force America for this pioneering effort.