LANSING ? At a forum in Lansing Tuesday, leading experts pounded home this point - Michigan needs to create an environment that fosters economic growth for the state's biotech and life science industry that helps all companies, regardless of size, succeed. The forum brought together biotechnology executives, venture capitalists, academicians, policymakers and business leaders from
NEW YORK - Pfizer Inc. unveiled plans Tuesday to reduce its U.S. sales organization by about 20 percent, an acknowledgement that its current model for marketing drugs to doctors has become too expensive. The company said that despite the cuts, it would maintain "strong support" for big sellers Lipitor and Celebrex, as well as for
ANN ARBOR ? Higher expenses due to ongoing clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe, plus added costs for building a new manufacturing facility and paying a severance package to the former CEO, added to the quarterly losses at Aastrom Biosciences. The pharma company, which is developing cells to regenerate growth, lost $4 million for
LANSING ? Neogen Corp. and Niowave will get housing assistance incentives from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority to offer special mortgages and other financial incentives to recruit new employees. The Employer Assisted Housing program at MSHDA helps employers create their own housing benefit program and brings a zero-interest down payment loan of up to
TROY- Healthcare IT company CareTech Solutions has signed a five-year outsourcing agreement with Yampa Valley Medical Center of Colorado to continue to maintain YVMC's data center operations, applications and communications with physicians. No dollar value was provided. The new outsourcing agreement, effective Oct. 1, continues CareTech Solutions' longstanding relationship with YVMC, which began in January
GRAND RAPIDS ? BestNet has cut a deal with the Institut fur Umwelttechnologien GmbH of Berlin to demonstrate the commercial feasibility of its treatment for liver cancer. IUT will provide development and testing services in connection with the accomplishment of the Development Feasibility Phase of its Oncosphere program. Oncosphere is the Best Net?s radioactive microsphere
DETROIT - Compuware Covisint has created a strategic partnership with Initiate Systems to provide healthcare professionals with secure access to complete patient identification and medical records, despite where they are located. Covisint's healthcare offering will use Initiate?s Identity Hub software, providing a scalable solution that regional health information organizations, integrated delivery networks and other healthcare
DETROIT ? Human tissue bank company Asterand said it is making available new research materials that can be used to study rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, cancer and other diseases. The company is offering researchers cells that have been isolated from various parts of the body, including synovium from the joints of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis
GRAND RAPIDS ? Rapid BioSense of Dexter has won the $15,000 MichBio 2006 Life Sciences Launchpad Competition held last week during the MichBio Expo in Grand Rapids. Rapid BioSense designs and markets a highly sensitive, specific, affordable and rapid biosensor able to detect bacteria and viruses. Uses for the sensor include microbiology tests in veterinary,
LANSING - Missouri is the only state with an embryonic stem-cell proposal on its ballot this November, but the Show Me state may do just that if citizens approve the measure, and organizations in other states, like Michigan, move to put the issue on ballot in 2008. Embryonic stem-cell research certainly has already become the