Emile Champion is the creator of "Dissa-peer," a product he says cuts down on the pain and shortens the healing time of cold sores and fever blisters.

His son, 52-year-old Emile Champion Jr. of Northhampton, wants to take his father's part-time business to another level.

Dissa-peer consists of 325 mg of L-lysine, 25 mg of vitamin B1 and 25 mg of zinc gluconate, and was developed by the elder Champion in Alice, Texas.

"I am a pharmacist," said Champion, 82, who is now retired and living in Corpus Christi. "A while back, more than 10 years ago, I started working on a product that would help me personally. I was prone to getting fever blisters. I wanted something that would give me some relief."

At The Prescription Center pharmacy, Champion sold over-the-counter remedies for cold sores and fever blisters.

But most of his customers said nothing really helped cut down on the pain and shorten the healing time, he said.

"Going back about 15 years, I had read a small article in one of the medical journals," said Champion. "It caught my eye, and I knew I wanted to try this. I fooled around with various formulas for about a year. It was sort of a hit-and-miss deal.

"I didn't know how much ingredients to use (in the formula). Then, all of the sudden, I started getting results. It started helping me a lot."

Champion let others try his new formula, and got a lot of positive feedback.

Champion's next step was to get approval from the FDA.

"It took a while," said Champion, "but we finally got it. I have been selling it for over 10 years now. I know how it works. I am real proud of it."

Champion has been selling the product through word of mouth.

Now his son, Emile, 52, wants to ramp up the marketing.

"It has always been my dream to have a full-time business of my own," he said.

Dissa-peer is now manufactured, bottled and labeled out of Portland, Ore.

"We have consumers all around the country buy from us," said Emile. "Some of them buy regularly and some haven't bought in a while. So far, up until April 1, it has all been done over the phone. But now, we have a Web site and accept credit cards."

Julie Stevenson, who also lives in Northampton, swears by the product.

"I have been taking it for a little over one year," Stevenson said. "I don't need it very often, but if I feel a cold sore coming on, I take a couple tablets and it works. It is amazing."

Stevenson was so impressed with the results that she told co-worker Dawn Pando about the product.

"I have fought fever blisters since I was 9 or 10," Pando said. "It is one of the few things that has helped. If you catch it early enough, the outbreak is smaller and you can almost nip it in the bud. It is a nice, nice thing when you can do that."

Emile knows the product can help others, too.

"Right now, we are in a grass-roots marketing mode," he said. "We are using the Internet, email, fliers and people who have bought from us in the past. We also have a referral program. It is a great product."