KALAMAZOO ? A panel of C-level executives whose companies are tenants at the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center all agreed that the life sciences incubator has made the difference so far between success and failure.

The panel discussion was part of the August Kalamazoo Venture Tuesday program, which also examined the success of Southwest Michigan First?s Stick Around campaign. Stick Around was a community-wide effort to launch start-up companies and retain scientific talent that would be transferred or eliminated with the announcement by Pfizer Inc., in 2003 that it would be moving the bulk of its research and development efforts from the Kalamazoo area.

Helping these ex-Pfizer employees Stick Around is the $14 million, 58,000 square-foot wet lab incubator and accelerator where 16 companies are resident. Representatives from five of these companies participated on the panel.

They included Robert Gadwood, President and COO of Kalexsyn;

Jay Goodwin, PhD – Co-founder, President and CEO ADMETRx

Robert Forgey is Chief Science Officer of ProNAi;

James McKim, Ph.D., is the CEO of CeeTox;

Dean Shinabarger, Ph.D., is CEO of Micromyx

Shinabarger, who worked at Pharmacia until it was purchased by Pfizer, said the toughest problem for him when he started Micromyx, a contract research organization pursuing the discovery and development of antibacterial agents, was getting out of the big business mind frame. Working closely with Doug Morton, CEO of the Innovation Center, taught him to think like an entrepreneur.

?The other advice I?d offer is do your market research,?? Shinabarger said.

Gadwood of Kalexsyn, a contract research company that provides medicinal chemistry support to drug discovery programs, said another key to entrepreneurial success is ?being realistic, and taking advantage of the resources available.? That?s one of the reasons Kalexsyn is at the Innovation Center.

Forgey of ProNAi, a pre-clinical development stage biopharmaceutical company, urged his fellow entrepreneurs to ?seek out advice of business people. Let others help you nourish the baby. Seek out other entrepreneurs.?

While McKim, founder of CeeTox, a Contract Research Organization focused on in vitro toxicity screening of potential drug candidates, said he learned its hard to ?stand alone. You need help, like that found at the Innovation Center from which McKim said he hoped CeeTox would graduate within three years.

To learn more about the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, click on KazooSMIC.Com