Local inventors bask in the glow of media spotlight; thigh-reduction cream inventors see growing demand.

Dr. Frank Greenway is getting more than his share of media attention these days, and it has little to do with his medical practice. Greenway, a Los Angeles endocrinologist, is becoming known as the virtual guardian angel of women suffering from "thunder thighs."

It was Greenway and a colleague, Dr. George Bray, director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who developed a unique ointment to help break down fat. A variant of that product is now best known as the solution for cellulite, that cottage cheese-type fat women dread.

What made their product different from so many similar ones was an added ingredient, aminophylline. Until Greenway and Bray developed their product, aminophylline had mostly been used to treat asthma.

It took a decade of research and testing at Harbor UCLA Medical Center for Greenway and Bray to refine their discovery. Along the way they discovered that aminophylline could speed up the body's use of fat by blocking an inhibiting enzyme that tends to be more concentrated in women's thighs and men's love handles than in other parts of the body.

Once this inhibiting enzyme was tamed, the body's other enzymes could more easily proceed with the chain reactions needed to break down fat. In turn, thigh size could be reduced.

But Greenway and Bray were unable at first to interest any potential financial backers in their discovery. In 1991 Greenway mentioned his frustration to Harbor UCLA Medical Center colleague Dr. Bruce Frome.

An anesthesiologist and pain management specialist by trade, Frome explained, "I was already affiliated with venture capitalists that were associated with some of the major drug companies."

Frome bought the U.S. and foreign licensing rights to Greenway and Bray's brainchild in 1992. But despite his best efforts, Frome also came up empty.

"I passed it by several people," he said, "and they all -- especially the major drug companies -- felt that it was too frivolous for them."

Realizing that the product's selling point was really cosmetic, the three physicians decided to shift gears -- focusing on cellulite elimination instead of girth reduction. Greenway and Bray then began working on developing a product to smooth out dimpled thighs, which requires less aminophylline than their earlier girth-reduction product.

In smaller doses, explained Frome, aminophylline seems to shift the fluid in the skin, evening out the "hills and valleys" or cottage-cheese appearance -- so long as the user continues to apply the ointment.

In early 1993, Frome licensed multilevel marketing distribution rights to the new creamy cosmetic to Orange-based D&F Industries.

But the big breakthrough for the thigh cream and its proponents came last October at a conference sponsored by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. It was there that Greenway and Bray presented a paper on their fat-reduction studies.

What made the difference was the presence of an Associated Press reporter. Soon after the session, news of the "miracle thigh cream" hit USA Today. Even better, retail interest was piqued.

Cashing in on the benefits of publicity, Frome licensed the formula's domestic and foreign retail distribution rights to Lisle, Ill.-based Heico Cosmetics Inc. last December.

Heico Chief Executive Michael Heisley is also one of the new owners of the Nutri/System weight loss center chain, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as NSI Acquisition Limited Partnership in December 1993.

Early in January, NSI put together some commercials announcing the availability of "smoothcontours Thigh Cream."

"The ads ran on network TV for at least two weeks," said company spokesman Dr. Joseph Di Bartolomeo, who estimated that about 30,000 users have already bought the cream through Nutri/System and are coming back for more.

The downside of all the publicity about the cream is that its success has spawned copycats.

Michael Lehmann, an attorney with Century City law firm McDermott Will & Emery, which represents the inventors, says he wouldn't be surprised if a dozen firms fall into the copycat category. "We've sent out a cease-and-desist letter or two, and we plan to send out some more," he said.

The surge in thigh cream popularity has also prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to look into the safety of all products with aminophylline-like compounds, according to FDA spokesman Mike Schaeffer.

He noted that because these products are marketed as cosmetics, they do not have to be approved by the FDA, though the agency must ensure that they are safe.

But despite all the hoopla, Frome said the royalty payments he receives are so small that he still hasn't recovered his investment in research and development.