Armune BioScience takes $500,000 prize in innovation competition

A Kalamazoo-based life science start-up company took top prize — $500,000 — in the recent Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition.

Armune BioScience, a molecular diagnostic company, with laboratories in Ann Arbor, took the top company award for developing a technology that uses autoantibodies created by the body’s own immune system to detect cancer at an early stage.

The company’s techonology is based on research done at the University of Michigan by Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan. The company’s CEO is Eli Thomssen, partner in the Apjohn Group, which provides advice for businesses focused on life sciences, including drugs, therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and more.

Prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer affecting men in the U.S. and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men in the U.S. The PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test, the primary prostate cancer diagnostic test used today, has poor specificity resulting in many false positives and unnecessary biopsies.

Thomssen says the Accelerate Michigan award will support Armune’s research and the implementation of a marketing plan. It also will be a sign to other prospective investors of the potential of the company’s technology.

The Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition awarded more than $1 million in cash and in-kind services today to the winners of the world’s largest business plan competition. There were more than 600 entrants in the annual international competition designed to highlight innovation and business opportunities in Michigan. By uniting Michigan’s largest businesses and universities together, Accelerate Michigan intends to place Michigan among the “Top 10” states for accelerating economic transformation and cultivating entrepreneurs.

The New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan granted Ann Arbor SPARK $750,000 to launch the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition on behalf of the Business Accelerator Network for Southeast Michigan.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Eli Thomssen, Armune BioScience