A cautionary tale about how Ann Arbor is rich in new economy talent, but in need of more resources to develop it here.
Excerpt:
It's got the backing of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture capital firm, has proven that it can reduce heart muscle death in heart attack patients and has filed to go public. So what does California-based TherOx Inc. have to do with Michigan?
The medical device company traces its origins to the state, licenses its key technology from Wayne State University and counts EDF Ventures of Ann Arbor as its first investor.
TherOx's 14-year journey from start-up to a company on the verge of obtaining FDA approval for its cardiac system shows promising technology does exist in Michigan. However, the state often has a hard time capitalizing on it because of a lack of significant venture capital.
Stories of promising start-up companies that stay in Michigan and eventually hit it big -- like HealthMedia Inc. in Ann Arbor, just acquired by Johnson & Johnson just acquired -- are still too rare.
"In some sense, we start the deal here and eventually it gravitates to other places," said David Brophy, director of the University of Michigan's Center for Venture Capital & Private Equity Finance. "We're not exactly flooded with money in this state."
TherOx got its start in Michigan in the early 1990s, using technology invented by Dr. James Richard Spears, a cardiologist and until recently a professor of internal medicine at Wayne State's School of Medicine.
Read the rest of the story here and a story about how some Ann Arbor firm's believe local venture capital is on the rise here.
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