Velesco Pharma Services is getting ready to roll, adding nine jobs over the next year, thanks to a $450,000 loan from the state's Company Formation and Growth Fund.
Founder Gerry Cox says the company is poised to take advantage of the increased demand for pharmaceutical service companies that's evolved in recent years.
"We're actually targeting smaller pharmaceutical companies, providing lab services, formulation work and providing companies with clinical supplies going into early stage clinical trials," he says. "We're also providing consulting services."
The state dollars are geared toward keeping employees and equipment from Ann Arbor's soon-to-close Pfizer Inc. facility in Michigan.
"With these folks we can get off to a strong start," Cox. "This is a great program... life science service companies are really popping up through Michigan. I think the (Pfizer) site closure is an opportunity for a number of companies to pop up in Michigan and get a life sciences industry going."
Source: Gerry Cox, Velesco
Writer: Nancy Kaffer
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