RetroSense Therapeutics hit a significant milestone when the U.S. Food & Drug Administration granted the Ann Arbor-based startup an orphan designation for its lead technology. Orphan status for a biopharmaceutical company is actually much better than it sounds. It gives the company bureaucratic cover to continue keep pushing forward its commercialization efforts by helping protect its rights to its research. "It's a form of intellectual property identification," says Sean Ainsworth, CEO of RetroSense Therapeutics. "That's a key part of it." The 4-year-old startup is developing a novel gene therapy to restore vision in retinal degenerative diseases, using technology licensed from Wayne State University. RetroSense Therapeutics' platform extracts a new gene from blue-green algae that helps make cells more photo sensitive. The company plans to apply this gene to human cells to regenerate photo receptors in the retina. The FDA Orphan designation is intended to support the development of medicines and technologies that diagnose, treat or prevent rare diseases and conditions that impact 200,000 people or fewer in the U.S. It serves as an incentive for their development by designating a seven-year period of market exclusivity following FDA approval, along with certain tax credits for clinical testing expenses. "It gives us the chance to demonstrate efficacy," Ainsworth says. "We expect to see that in our stage one clinical study." RetroSense Therapeutics employs four people. It is in the process of wrapping up some of its pre-clinical testing and plans to launch clinical tests in 2015. Source: Sean Ainsworth, CEO of RetroSense Therapeutics Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

The Clean Energy Coalition wrapped up a number of sustainability projects over the last year, and got started on a few more. All of them added up to a broader reach for the Ann Arbor-based non-profit. The Clean Energy Coalition got its start in 2005 with the idea of helping spreading green practices across Michigan. Those have ranged from improving fuel-efficiency to making homes more energy efficient to promoting alternative methods of transportation. For instance, it teamed up with the city of Ann Arbor and Zingerman's on a pilot program to help make the employees of those organizations implement more energy efficient practices. That program wrapped up earlier this year but was not renewed by DTE Energy. The Clean Energy Coalition also wrapped up its Michigan Greenfleets program. The four-year, $42 million initiative worked to bring better fuel efficiencies to local government vehicles, such as introducing vehicles that run on natural gas or hybrid technology or installing electric charging stations. "We saw about 1.5 million gallon reduction of petroleum usage each year since we implemented the program," says Sean Reed, executive director of the Clean Energy Coalition. The Clean Energy Coalition also launched ArborBike this year. The bike-share program has locations across downtown Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan’s campus. ArborBike will have 14 stations with 125 bikes when it's fully deployed next spring. "Right now the system is at about half capacity," Reed says. All of these wins have led to a demand for the Clean Energy Coalition’s consulting services. It's working with the EPA's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, and targeting other similar opportunities across the U.S. this year and in 2015. The Clean Energy Coalition currently employs 15 employees and a handful of interns. It has made a couple of replacement hires over the last year. Source: Sean Reed, executive director of the Clean Energy Coalition Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Bruce Katz of the Brooking's Institute has some advice for metro regions… and points to San Diego as a city that 'gets it.' Excerpt: "We have 100 metropolitan areas that really power our economy forward. They all have really distinct economic profiles — what they make, the services they provide, what they trade, who they trade with. Buffalo is not like Boston. San Diego is not like Syracuse. In the great words of Dolly Parton: “find out who you are and do it on purpose.” Cities should invest in those things that will really power their distinct economy forward — in some places that might be an investment in a port or an airport.  Everywhere it will require an investment in skills but it needs to be really customized to the kind of economy you have. Read the rest here.

Check out these two philanthropic groups that are making Ann Arbor and Detroit (and points  in between) more awesome $1000 at a time. Excerpt: "The Awesome model is a simplified, smaller-scale version of traditional philanthropic foundations. Detroit and Ann Arbor’s trustees meet monthly to sort through anywhere from 10-30 proposals, funding whatever project best spreads “awesomeness” in their respective communities. “We don’t follow any rules,” said Ann Arbor Awesome Foundation dean Mark Maynard. “We don’t answer to a board. People make a choice as to where they give their personal money, and then they do it.” Read the rest here.

After opening the Saline Pharmacy three years ago, Ziad Ghamraoui started hearing that his brand of customer-focused pharmacy services were in demand elsewhere as well.  "A lot of doctors and patients were very happy with us, and a lot of Milan residents told us if we moved closer to Milan they'd give us more business," Ghamraoui says, "because we help bridge the gap in healthcare." Ghamraoui met that demand, opening Little Pharmacy in Milan about two weeks ago. Like the Saline Pharmacy, he plans to serve customers in a variety of ways, including carrying over-the-counter medications as cheaply as possible, helping those who struggle to meet their copays, allowing people to pay with store accounts when their cash flow is short and more.  "Brand names can be expensive," Ghamraoui he says. "We get them coupons so we can save them on their copays. We want to make sure people get their prescriptions and make sure they're on the road to health with no restrictions whatsoever." Little Pharmacy currently occupies about 1,600 square feet of a 2,500 square foot space on Dexter Rd. in Milan. Ghamraoui has hired two employees to manage the new business.  Source: Ziad Ghamraoui, Little Pharmacy Writer: Natalie Burg

Just when it seemed Michigan entrepreneurs had found every way to be involved in the regional craft brew movement, Louis Breskman found another: hops farming. The University of Michigan MBA already runs real estate and manufacturing businesses and was looking for a way to expand into agriculture that would be unique to Michigan. The answer was Groovy Hopster Farm. "Michigan has one of the most exciting craft brew industries in the nation, and I wanted to find a way to enter this growing market segment in a way that I could support the industry and not just be another competitor," Breskman says. "Ann Arbor itself has a successful micro brewing scene and it made sense for there to be a local source of hops so that the Ann Arbor breweries could produce a product that was truly unique to the area."   Breskman found that small local brewers have a need for new sources of hops, something his boutique hop farm, slated to produce its first harvest in the summer of 2015, could provide. He plans to grow varieties that are in demand in the local market, and remain flexible to continue to meet local brewers' needs.  "Our long term plans are to establish ourselves as an integral part of the supply chain to the local brewing industry," he says. "As a local farm we plan to be able to deliver hops to our local customers with a minimal carbon footprint." Groovy Hopster Farm will soon launch a Indigogo campaign to help with the business' startup costs. Breskman plans to hire two full-time employees to manage the farm and additional employees during their harvest. Source: Louis Breskman, Groovy Hopster Farm Writer: Natalie Burg

Human Element has grown in a number of ways over the last year. It has watched its revenue spike by double-digits, its staff is on the rise, and its office expand by a few thousand square feet. The downtown Ann Arbor-based e-commerce company (it specializes in the Magento e-commerce platform) has watched its revenue jump by 40 percent since 2011. That has allowed it to hire three people, a software engineer and project manager over the last year, and it's looking to add a software developer now to its team of 13 employees and six independent contractors. "Growing that quickly has its challenges," says Ben Lorenz, managing partner of Human Element. "We're targeting 30 percent growth right now. We feel that is a manageable way to grow the team." Which has prompted the 9-year-old company to expand its office. The company added 2,000 square feet earlier this year. Another addition of a few thousand square feet of office space seems like its in the card considering the company’s current growth curve. "If we can stay on track of our growth plan we will need more space next year," Lorenz says. He adds that a rebound in demand for e-commerce work, specifically the Magento platform, has driven the growth. Lorenz is quick to add that his company is controlling the growth because it takes a long timeline (typically closer to a year than just a few months) to get new hires up to speed with the rest of the team. Another factor is Ann Arbor SPARK giving a Phase 4 grant to Human Element last year. The $12,000 grant helped the company form some strategic planning for its growth so it can lessen the learning the curve to getting bigger. "SPARK has been helping us quite a bit," Lorenz says. Source: Ben Lorenz, managing partner of Human Element Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

A couple of tech entrepreneurs in Ann Arbor are working to bridge the gap between living a sustainable lifestyle and improving the public health with their new startup, Vivergy. Kevin Kononenko and Dom Parise's are releasing the digital platform this week. Vivergy enables individuals to score their impact on local health due to their energy consumption and air pollution. That way they can see if the tweak their everyday behavior they can see how it can have a real-world impact on lessening things, like childhood asthma. "Children in Ann Arbor inhale on average seven cigarettes each year," Kononenko says. "That is the equivalent of living with a smoker for three months." Kononenko and Parise were inspired by the frustrating conventional wisdom that comes with sustainability -ie. the problems seem too enormous, things are slow to change, and that the positive actions of one person are often negligible. "It always feels very negative, overwhelming, and sad," Kononenko says. "I wanted to do something about it that encourages people to think about it in a different way." Vivergy is launching this week and the two partners are planning to focus on generating local usership at first. However, the platform can be used anywhere in the world. Source: Kevin Kononenko and Dom Parise, co-founders of Vivergy Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.