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Back biosciences, lawmakers urged at Grand Rapids hearing
February 26, 2010:   By Mark Sanchez for Business Review West Michigan Biosciences leaders in West Michigan this morning urged lawmakers to commit to the industry in order to diversify the state’s economy. Of highest importance is work force development, MichBio CEO .... Read more
 
 
Science-minded engineering firm to relocate in downtown Kalamazoo from Portage
February 25, 2010:   By Alex Nixon for the Kalamazoo Gazette KALAMAZOO — A small Portage engineering company plans a move to downtown Kalamazoo to capitalize on the growing life-sciences industry here, an official said this week. Arc Engineering LLC, which formed in .... Read more
 
 
A better bug killer? Vestaron Corp.'s spider-venom pesticides could be on market by 2012
February 21, 2010:   By John Perney special to the Kalamazoo Gazette KALAMAZOO — Research lab. Scientists. Spiders. Cue Peter Parker, right? Well, not quite. Actually, it’s not even close to a comic book storyline. While the work of startup company Vestaron Co .... Read more
 
 
Michigan biotech firm NephRx raises $6.2M for kidney, gastro disease therapies
February 12, 2010:   By Brandon Glenn KALAMAZOO, Michigan — Biotechnology company NephRx Corp. has raised $6.2 million in equity for its kidney and gastrointestinal disease therapeutics, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The preclinical stage c .... Read more
 
 
Southwest Michigan First Life Science Fund portfolio company, RealBio Technology, receives BRCC funding
February 12, 2010:   KALAMAZOO, Michigan – The Biosciences Research and Commercialization Center (BRCC) has completed a $250,000 investment in RealBio Technology, Inc. The BRCC, located in Western Michigan University’s Research and Technology Park, is charged with .... Read more
 
 
Metabolic Solutions CEO: New 'trees' growing in Michigan life sciences
February 08, 2010:   By Mark Sanchez for Business Review West Michigan February 4, 2010 Robert Beardsley likens it to the redwood forests of California. New trees grow when the larger, older trees die and fall, generating “a circle of new trees growing up .... Read more
 
 
Opinion: One man's dream for life sciences
February 05, 2010:   By Rob DeWit for Business Review West Michigan In a recent phone call with various parties about the upcoming Business Review life sciences forum at Western Michigan University, I stated that one potential topic for the future would be collaboration in t .... Read more
 
 
Getting down to your business in life sciences
February 03, 2010:   By Linda Chamerlain for Business Review West Michigan As local leaders continue to discuss West Michigan’s economy, we inevitably hear about the promise of life science as a wellspring capable of revitalizing the region. While this recognition is a .... Read more
 
 
Vestaron scaling up ahead of regulatory evaluation
February 01, 2010:   By Nathan Peck | LabWork npeck@mibiz.com KALAMAZOO — Timing is everything. The timing for growth could not be better, say officials with Vestaron Corporation, formerly Venomix Inc., as the company scales up for large scale production ahead of .... Read more
 
 
Column: Kalamazoo economy may benefit from international partnerships
January 31, 2010:   By Al Jones KALAMAZOO In October, eight Israelis gave Kalamazoo the once-over. They wanted to see if Kalamazoo was good enough for them. They met with law firms and scientific contract-research firms here. They talked to area people. They talked hard .... Read more
 
 
Michigan's future is on the line
January 31, 2010:   By Chris Knape The Great Lakes State, its economy built on high-paying blue-collar jobs in the 20th century, is transforming. Not quickly. Not easily. Not without pain. So how can Michigan, with the nation’s highest jobless rate, get its peop .... Read more
 
 
State funding will help Kalamazoo firm retain ex-Pfizer workers
January 29, 2010:   By Kalamazoo Gazette Staff LANSING — A Kalamazoo-area life-sciences company will receive a $150,000 loan under a state program meant to retain former Pfizer Inc. employees. Vestaron Corp., which is housed in the Southwest Michigan Innovation Cen .... Read more
 
 
Success stories need to be told: Economic development chief urges business people to trumpet region's pluses
January 12, 2010:   By Al Jones KALAMAZOO — Southwest Michigan has a good story to tell and needs optimists to tell it, says Ron Kitchens, chief executive officer of Southwest Michigan First. The business people who live here, work here and know the community best .... Read more
 
 
Catching up with... Jerry R. Colca
January 10, 2010:   By Kalamazoo Gazette staff “We are developing novel therapeutics to treat diabetes and metabolic disease,” says Jerry R. Colca, co-founder, president and chief scientific officer of Metabolic Solutions Development Co. The business is focus .... Read more
 
 
Michigan: The right mix for hungry startups?
January 06, 2010:   BY DEBORAH L. COHEN For decades the Big Three have cast a large shadow over the Michigan economic landscape, but with the automotive industry in turmoil, a new breed of startups is emerging from the darkness. Ironically, some of the best talen .... Read more
 
 
Kalamazoo celebrates growth
December 22, 2009:   By Candace Beeke Business leaders gathered in downtown Kalamazoo last week to celebrate job growth in the Kalamazoo area over the past year. Some 150 people joined Southwest Michigan First at its Catalyst Awards presentation to honor companies that ha .... Read more
 
 
Education Will Drive Life Science Success
December 21, 2009:   BY ROB DeWIT, PhD President & CEO Southwest Michigan Innovation Center SPECIAL TO MIBIZ CRYSTAL BALL 2010 The life sciences play a key role in West Michigan's economy —past, present and future. Rob DeWit knows all about that. DeWit, presiden .... Read more
 
 
A bright future: Job leaders celebrate success
December 18, 2009:   By Alex Nixon KALAMAZOO — Double-digit unemployment. Long-time businesses closing their doors. A lack of credit. Higher costs. Seems there’s been little to celebrate this year when it comes to the region’s business community and econ .... Read more
 
 
Kalamazoo companies land investments from capital fund
December 15, 2009:   By Mark Sanchez The $250,000 two Kalamazoo biotech startups each received from a state capital fund that supports technology companies will help both move farther down the road to bringing their first products to market. The funding that RealBio Techn .... Read more
 
 
Vestaron Named 'TiE Midwest 20' Winner
December 08, 2009:   KALAMAZOO, Mich., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Vestaron Corporation has been named a "TiE Midwest 20" winner in the life sciences category, the company announced today. The award was presented at the TiECon Midwest annual conference in Dearborn, Mich. .... Read more
 
 
State wants to groom the next generation of venture capitalists
December 07, 2009:   LANSING -- Seeking to create a new generation of home-grown venture capitalists in Michigan, a state economic development panel is looking to start a pre-seed capital fund to mentor and support young investors. Citing the pressing need for more early-sta .... Read more
 
 
Four Michigan Companies Receive Support From Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund
December 07, 2009:   Contact: Elizabeth Parkinson 734.761.9317   ANN ARBOR - Four more Michigan companies recently received investments from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund. To date, 38 Michigan companies have received seed funding from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capi .... Read more
 
 
Speakers at Future of Michigan event see opportunities in economic crisis
November 20, 2009:   By Tom Henderson, thenderson@crain.com The mood was considerably upbeat Thursday afternoon at the annual Crain’s Future of Michigan event at the Somerset Inn in Troy. A year ago, with the economy in free fall and credit markets frozen tighter t .... Read more
 
 
Connecting People, Ideas and Opportunities
November 09, 2009:   By Stephen Rapundalo President and CEO, MichBio Michigan's biosciences industry represents a significant and growing component of the state's economy. With well over 550 companies and almost 100,000 persons employed directly and indirectly, the ind .... Read more
 
 
Rewriting the drug development model
November 09, 2009:   By Nathan Peck | LabWork npeck@mibiz.com KALAMAZOO - Inside laboratory space in the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, Metabolic Solutions Development Co. may be changing the way future drugs will be brought to market. The startup, founded by sc .... Read more
 
 
Tolera Therapeutics Files IND Application for TOL101, Appoints O'Toole to Lead Clinical Operations
November 03, 2009:   KALAMAZOO, Mich., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Tolera Therapeutics, Inc., announced it has filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its lead candidate, TOL101, for prophylaxis of acute rej .... Read more
 
 
Biotech firms in Kalamazoo, Saline receive loans to hire seven former Pfizer scientists
October 28, 2009:   By Bridget Beckman, MEDC LANSING - Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced two more Michigan companies have been selected to receive loans in the sixth round of funding under the state’s Company Formation and Growth (CFG) fund, an initiative .... Read more
 
 
Kalamazoo, Portage said to be recovering faster than rest of state
October 17, 2009:   By Al Jones | Kalamazoo Gazette October 17, 2009, 8:04AM KALAMAZOO — Regional economic development organization Southwest Michigan First is trumpeting the listing of the Kalamazoo-Portage area as the only metropolitan area in Michigan considered t .... Read more
 
 
Metabolic Solutions Development Company To Test Potential Treatment for Alzheimer's
October 12, 2009:   Metabolic Solutions Development Company (MSDC) announced today that it has received a $100,000 grant from the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) to support the evaluation of PPAR-sparing insulin sensitizers as a potential treatment for Alzheimer .... Read more
 
 
Vestaron Corporation hopes funding from the state will create 12-15 jobs
July 15, 2009:   KALAMAZOO -- A Kalamazoo company says some $1.8 million it received from the state Tuesday will help create jobs and develop the next generation of insecticides. John L. McIntyre, president and chief executive officer of  Vestaron Corporation, said t .... Read more
 
 
State to invest $1.8M in Kalamazoo bio-tech firm, Venomix
July 14, 2009:   KALAMAZOO -- A Kalamazoo company working to develop a new generation of insecticides based on the venom of spiders was expected to receive an investment of $1.8 million from the state this morning. The directors of the Michigan Strategic Fund were expect .... Read more
 
 
Kalamazoo company developing diabetes treatment secures $10 million
May 04, 2009:   KALAMAZOO -- Metabolic Solutions Development Co. raised $10 million in its most recent fundraising effort. The Kalamazoo-based drug-development startup is running clinical trials on a new treatment for Type 2 diabetes.  Founded in 2006 by former Upjo .... Read more
 
 
Southwest Michigan Innovation Center to celebrate: incubator has hatched more than two dozen businesses in five years
March 04, 2009:   The anniversary of the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center is to be marked Thursday afternoon with a ceremonial dedication of an 11,000-square-foot expansion of the facility. Located at 4717 Campus Drive, in Western Michigan University's Business Techno .... Read more
 
 
Southwest Michigan Innovation Center announces leadership change
January 26, 2009:   The Southwest Michigan Innovation Center's Board of Managing Directors has announced Robert De Wit, Ph. D., as its President and Chief Executive Officer. As the leader of the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, De Wit will be responsible for day-to-day .... Read more
 
 
Newcomers Find Michigan Has Much to Offer
November 24, 2008:   Once a mainstay in the biosciences hotbed of northern California, Emiliem, Inc. is now headquartered in the west Michigan community of Kalamazoo. Created by Grand Rapids native and highly respected scientist Dale Johnson, Emiliem is a developmental stage .... Read more
 
 
The perfect place for Midwest collaborations
October 22, 2008:   In this week's Business First segment, Dale Johnson, chief executive officer of Emiliem, Inc., talks about the ventures that his company is currently working on. Emiliem an oncology research and development firm, designs drugs from a computer technolog .... Read more
 
 
$4.4M for drug research comes to two local firms
October 22, 2008:   Kalamazoo - Two Kalamazoo drug-development firms have been awarded a combined $4.4 million by the state to support their research efforts. Metabolic Solutions Development Co. and Tolera Therapeutics Inc. received the low-interest loans through Michigan's .... Read more
 
 
Emilien Partners With NHLB
October 20, 2008:   Kalamazoo BioTuesday presents "Understanding the Other Side of the Table: Legal implications of Partnering." The free program is sponsored by Miller Canfield, the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, and MichBio.
 
 
ADMETRx & Roche Collaborate on Multicriteria Decision-Making Application
October 17, 2008:   KALAMAZOO, October 15, 2008:  ADMETRx, a Contract Research group committed to providing the best in vitro ADME discovery support possible, has initiated a collaboration with Roche to advance the development of ADMETRx proprietary multi-criteria dec .... Read more
 
 
Life Sciences Fund Seeks $50 Million
October 16, 2008:   As work progresses to expand the area's biotech business incubator, the Southwest Michigan Life Science Venture Fund is seeking to raise another $50 million. The second-round fund-raising effort by the venture fund began within the past month and reflect .... Read more
 
 
Emiliem, Inc. Acquires World-Wide Rights to Develop and Commercialize a Novel Treatment for Cancer and Other Proliferative and Inflammatory Diseases
October 15, 2008:   SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Emiliem, Inc. a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel molecular targeted therapeutics announced today that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agree .... Read more
 
 
Emiliem and NIH Sign CRADA for Clinical Development of Novel mTOR Inhibitors
October 15, 2008:   SAN FRANCISCO-August 4, 2008 Emiliem, Inc. a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel molecular targeted therapeutics announced today that it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CR .... Read more
 
 
ADMETRx & Roche Collaborate on Multicriteria Decision-Making Application
October 15, 2008:   KALAMAZOO, October 15, 2008: ADMETRx, a Contract Research group committed to providing the best in vitro ADME discovery support possible, has initiated a collaboration with Roche to advance the development of ADMETRx proprietary multi-criteria decisi .... Read more
 
 
California Company Joins SMIC
October 10, 2008:   Emiliem, Inc., an oncology drug development company, has relocated its R&D Center from Emeryville, California to the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center.
 
 
BioTuesday
October 10, 2008:   Kalamazoo BioTuesday presents "Understanding the Other Side of the Table: Legal implications of Partnering." The free program is sponsored by Miller Canfield, the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, and MichBio.