BE HONEST AND DEPENDABLE Stick To Your Principles.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)

Byline: Steve Watkins

10 What happens when integrity is your watchword, but nobody seems to care?

Up until the last few months, that was the problem FFF Enterprises had.

Patrick Schmidt founded FFF, a Temecula, Calif.-based biomedical firm, in 1988 on a foundation of integrity. The company, a privately held distributor of vaccines and drugs and the nation's largest supplier of human plasma products, has trademarked its Guaranteed Channel Integrity process.

That means it buys only from manufacturers and sells only to health care providers.

The distribution network for drugs and vaccines has many gaps that can pave the way for abuse, says Chris Ground, FFF's senior vice president of national accounts. Fraud and the use of counterfeit ingredients have been a problem in the industry. But FFF uses no middlemen, so it can make sure its products are pure.

"The lineage and pedigree of our products is absolutely clean," Ground said in an interview. "Integrity is the highest guideline we use with any decision," he said.