A resilient and vital community intricately balances places people want to live, work and play.
When it comes to work,
PharmOptima in Portage is a company that emerged from the life sciences incubator Southwest Michigan Innovation Center to grow into an enterprise that is helping to solidify the region’s reputation as one offering knowledge-based employers that can attract and retain talented professionals.
PharmOptima, located near the corner of Quality Way and Environmental Drive, is one of a cluster of businesses that includes Lancaster Laboratory’s Eurofins down the block and Quality Air Service across the street.
Nearby, is American Hydrology Corp. headquartered in a Homestead style house built in 1892 that was moved to its current location in 1990. The home of the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy can be found in another old farmhouse nearby.
Jill Bland, executive vice president of
Southwest Michigan First, says in PharmOptima's move to a stand-alone company in Portage, it put significant financial resources into turning the building in which it now works into one where it could perform life science research.
“Installing a wet lab in an empty building and all that entails is a very expensive endeavor, and it’s taxable. That tax revenue goes back to the community,” Bland says of one of the economic spin-offs realized by PharmOptima’s emergence into the community.
Leaving the incubator also requires a company to directly deal with vendors and service providers rather than through the incubator, again creating additional financial benefits to the community.
Once outside the incubator companies also must market their individual strengths, Bland says. And one of those strengths is the strong network of scientists in this community. “The life science companies in this area are all very tied to each other and they market one another,” Bland says.
“For scientists, a community that offers live/work/play opportunities is important,” Bland says. “Scientists really are looking for communities with the arts and culture that we have been so very fortunate to have in this area.”
With 17 parks, 900 acres of land set aside for public use and more than 18 miles of bike trails, plus 38.5 miles of bicycle lanes the city of
Portage has the play part of the equation down, too.
Rob DeWitt, president and CEO of the
Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, says the graduation of a company like PharmOptima and its subsequent success brings “recognition to the reputation for life sciences that exists in the Kalamazoo region.”
PharmOptima was founded by 10 former Pfizer Inc. researchers in 2003, when the drug giant closed most of its human health R&D in Kalamazoo County. Cuts and transfers by Pfizer led to a net reduction of 1,100 local positions that year.
Today, PharmOptima, a Contract Research Organization, helps companies deal with challenges associated with drug development programs leading up to the clinical trials that will determine if a drug is safe for humans to take.
Two of its specialties are opthalmic services and work it does for the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation. PharmOptima maintains a mouse colony with specialized genes its researchers can use to test potential new medicines to fight Spinal Muscular Atrophy. It also has large mass spectrometers for much of its research.
Early on the company turned to Christian Schauer for his wide range of business experience to guide them through decisions for which scientists might not be equipped, the kind of move Chief Financial Officer Patrick J. Delehanty says is one he would advise for any similar start-up to keep them from making the kind of big mistakes that can bring down a new company.
Lately, PharmOptima has been experiencing a growth spurt that’s resulted in construction of a 5,000-square-foot building addition, for a 14,500-square-foot facility.
Q&A
A. Christian Schauer President and CEO PharmOptima
Why was PharmOptima named the nation’s Outstanding Incubator Graduate in the nation* in 2008?
We beat the odds. We made it through the first few years. We had a collaboration with Pfizer that allowed us to get our feet under us and build our clientele so that even when Pfizer eliminated 30 to 40 early-stage research programs in 2007, including ours, we were able to keep going.
What sets your business apart from other companies like yours?
When we talk to prospective clients we emphasize that when they work with us they’re dealing with the owners. One of the advantages of dealing with the owners is they can count on fast turnaround. They tell us when they're dealing with big CROs (Contract Research Organizations) the response time is terrible.
You’ve retired from several other businesses and you keep coming back to work. What brings you back?
If you have your health and the mental capacity, if you can make a contribution to the community, you should. We have 20 employees with families that otherwise might not be able to work in this industry. I’ll keep going as long as I can be of help and continue to grow the business.
What kind of growth do you see ahead for PharmOptima?
We have to be vigilant and continue to look for new opportunities. One of the things I like about being a “small” business is we can discuss an idea that can improve the business in the morning and implement it in the afternoon. In a small company we can adjust quickly to changes in the markets. We can stay nimble.
What responsibility does a company like PharmOptima have to the greater community?
I was born and raised in Kalamazoo. ... I'm a Western Michigan University grad. I’ve lived here, worked here, and my wife Phyllis and I have enjoyed every opportunity for a good life here. When I was with Clausing (Inc.) I made 150 round trips from Kalamazoo to London for board meetings. I was always grateful to return to Kalamazoo. I’m dedicated to this community and giving back to it. As a company, we encourage our employees to be involved in the community and as a company we encourage them to develop themselves. Having a job means they can support Little League and the arts. It’s one of our fundamental principles here.
*An annual award given by the National Business Incubation Association
Over the next year, the company expects to add at least four employees and perhaps as many as 10 to its current staff of 20 full-time and five other employees, says Delehanty. Except for a number of maintenance and administrative positions, PharmOptima’s staff is made up of scientists, all with more than 20 years experience.
The company’s impact on the community can be seen in the $3.5 million it contributes to the local economy -- one third of which is salaries. “We spend a lot with local the local vendors we work with,” says Delehanty. “When we built on to our labs a lot of equipment came from companies across Michigan.”
Delehanty expects business for CROs to grow as large pharmaceutical companies, looking for ways to do business as inexpensively as possible, go outside their own companies. That also means there will be more laid off pharmaceutical employees starting their own CROs.
“The future is outsourcing, but there are going to be more CROs out there fighting for the scraps,” Delehanty says. “There’s lot of business but there are going to be a lot of companies.
“I’m glad it happened to us in 2003 and not in 2012. We’re a little bit ahead of the curve on that because have had nine years to refine our plans.”
Today’s growth and stability could not have happened without the time spent in the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, Delehanty says. Basic business information and tax breaks were only the beginning of what made the incubator experience invaluable.
“One of the main things it created was lab space that was affordable. That was critical. I can’t over-emphasize how important that was. You need that kind of assistance as a start-up. You can’t just move into a building like this and instantly remodel and find lab space and just start your business.”
The intellectual stimulation of the incubator was another factor that helped. “It wasn’t just the 10 of us. There were 60 or 70 people who we used to see in the halls at Upjohn everyday. For the four years we were there we could interact with them. If you were having a chemistry issue, Kalexsyn was just down the hall. You could talk to one of their people.
“It was fun,” Delehanty says.
These days the company, which still has five of its original owners, is making a different kind of fun as it explores new directions for the business. “We want want to constantly reinvent ourselves,” Delehanty says. “If don’t grow you just start shrinking.”
The company has a good base business that keeps it going and now Delehanty says it is willing to slowly move into areas that have potential even if they are not profitable for it right away.
”Scientists love the challenge and you do see a lot of enthusiasm,” Delehanty says. "We had a meeting the other day and one of our scientists was talking about four or five different things he’s really interested in and they could really be good opportunities for us to go into.
“We have a lot of seasoned people but in a lot of way they’re still kids -- they have the enthusiasm of kids.”
Kathy Jennings is the managing editor of Southwest Michigan's Second Wave. She is a freelance writer and editor.
Photos by Erik Holladay.
PharmOptima Milestones
•
2003 – Ten scientists among the 1,200 Pfizer employees whose positions were eliminated in Kalamazoo County in 2003 come together to form ParmOptima.
• August, 2003 – PharmOptima moves into Southwest Michigan Innovation Center (SMIC).
•
May, 2004 – PharmOptima’s laboratories at SMIC completed and company begins operations.
• June 2007 – PharmOptima moves from SMIC to 10,000-square-foot new location in Portage, Mich.
• December, 2011 – PharmOptima opens transgenic mouse colony for Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation Alliance.
• March, 2012 – Ground Breaking for a 4,500-square-foot building addition giving PharmOptima a 14,500-square-foot facility.
• July, 2012 – Company first offers clients biomarker services on Meso Scale Discovery platform.