ORAHEALTH in the News Press Releases

December 1, 2004

'Melt' canker sores away - Scientist, lawyer and Islander invents new remedy for pesky problem

DeAnn Rossetti
Staff Writer

Jeff Haley was tired of getting painful canker sores that seemed to take forever to heal.

An inveterate inventor with a chemistry and engineering degree, problem-solving was Haley's specialty and he knew that this particular problem was right up his alley.

''I was annoyed with my own persistent canker sores, and I thought that with all the medical technology at hand these days, we ought to be able to cure canker sores,'' the 15-year Island resident said.

Through his research on canker sores at the University of Washington Health Services Library, Haley learned about several medicines that could work, but found that the method of dispensing them was ineffective.

''The things that were shown to be effective in the treatment of canker sores had been in a mouthwash that you had to use a minimum of four times a day, and more often if possible,'' he said. ``That's when I decided to invent an oral patch, called Cankermelts, that would hold the medication in place on or near the canker sore for several hours.''

Though it was hard to find something that sticks in the mouth because of its constant moisture, Haley found a combination of several kinds of gums that melts slowly and sticks to wet surfaces. He added licorice root extract and potassium to create the final product in his garage laboratory on Mercer Island.

''I tested more than 250 formulations in two years,'' said Haley. ''I tried them all out on myself, and found that I was glad that I had persistent canker sores to test them on, otherwise my research would have been impossible.''

Canker sores aren't caused by a virus, according to Haley. They're actually a kind of allergy with a trigger that scientists haven't yet discovered.

''There are 400 species of bacteria in the mouth,'' adds Haley. ''More than half of them don't exist anyplace else on earth but in human mouths, and we need them, but we don't know if it's one of them that triggers the allergy and canker sores.''

Haley is from a long line of inventors. His grandfather invented Brown and Haley Almond Roca, a Northwest candy classic. Haley has been on the board of the candy company for the past 20 years.

He has invented a variety of products, mostly for his own use, from an automobile with two engines when he was 13 to a foot pump for kayaks and a safety airbag that rests under the seat of a paraglider.

''I've always invented on the side,'' he said. ''As I invented things that solved my own needs, I realized they were for small markets. But 50 million Americans get canker sores recurrently or several times a year, so there's definitely a market. I think we should be able to sell about 50 million (packages) a month, eventually. One for each person in America who gets canker sores.''

After graduating from Amherst College with a degree in chemistry and the University of Washington with a degree in mechanical engineering, Haley worked for an attorney who got him interested in law. Haley got his JD degree, then clerked for the Washington State Supreme Court, got married, traveled around the world and started a solo practice in 1981 doing business law for high tech companies. He later helped form the firm of Simburg, Ketter, Haley, Shepard and Purdy, but left to create a patent attorney firm: Graybeal Jackson Haley LLP.

John Graybeal died several years ago, and Larry Jackson retired in 1998, leaving Haley as the firm's senior partner.

''I'm on sabbatical now to get Orahealth (the company that he founded to make Cankermelts) going,'' Haley said.

''... Some people who have recurrent canker sores put two Cankermelts in their mouth at night before they go to sleep, and then they don't get canker sores,'' said Haley. ``So it's a preventative as well.''

Haley said he's going to focus on marketing and distributing Cankermelts for now, when he's not in the laboratory trying to improve the product.

''There’s one drawback: The product is brown. Ideally, it would be clear or pink,'' he said. ''But from my perspective, I'm having a lot of fun. It's gratifying to take to market something people love buying that solves their problem and takes away their pain.''

— DeAnn Rossetti