Medical Device Daily
When Pfizer (New York) pulled out of the Michigan area back in 2007, Kenneth Massey was one of the 6,000 specialists left behind. The former Pfizer director of clinical cardiovascular research, was offered a chance to stay on with the pharma giant, but it would require that he and his family move. After uprooting the family several times in the past nine years, Massey, who lived in the Farmington Hills area, decided to stay in Michigan.
“After being through several of these, I asked myself if I really wanted to do this again,“ Massey told Medical Device Daily. “Our family had so many ties here, that we decided to stay.“ Pfizer's loss is shaping up to be med-tech companies' gain, as Massey has spent the last few years working on developing a vehicle that would not only boost Michigan's economy, but at the same time help foster innovation in the area. What Massey, along with two investment firms, ETC Capital and Lifeline Venture were able to establish is the Device and Diagnostic Accelerator (all; Farmington Hills Michigan).
The accelerator will cater to startups, second stage companies, and those ready for the marketing stage. Client companies will be provided free rent, guidance in regulatory compliance, legal services and business consulting in exchange for equity.
The firm offers client companies a spot on a campus that has 10 buildings with 325,000 square feet of office and flex space. All services, including clinical, legal and business consulting are located within the campus.
“We have in-house legal council, we can bring to bear all of the successful components a client needs, no matter what level the company is on,“ said Massey, who will serve as the managing director of the accelerator. “We're not going to be selective geographically either. This is open to companies globally.“
There will be office space available for companies to settle on, as well as funding to the tune of $50 million.
“The intent is that the [$50 million] will be split up amongst the companies,“ he said. “We do expect some company's will come in with funding, and securing funding might not be the help that they need. It could be something entirely different, that we could help them with.“
He said forming the accelerator just seemed natural.
“We had this huge puzzle of resources,“ he said. “It was sort of like stepping back and saying how we can make all these puzzle pieces work?“
These resources will also include several regulatory strategists and consulting firms. This could prove useful to clients, as the FDA now has what some call a more stringent regulatory approval process.
“While the challenges are there [in the regulatory path] we see the FDA as our partners,“ he said. “We can help companies who are seeking approval and get their products to market.“
To date, the firm has not set a limit on the number of companies it hopes to attract, but at the same time, Massey said that he was unsure of just how many companies the firm would initially take on. All of that depends on how much office space the client companies would require from the accelerator.
“Right now I have to give a gray answer, because it's going to depend on how much space our clients are going need – so it could be five companies or 30 companies,“ he said. “ To give you a clearer picture of how the spacing requirements could vary, we had contact from a CEO, who has an approved device but he needs help in the marketing sector. Now that's not going to be as demanding on us in terms of space. But we have another company – a diagnostics company- that would need 5,000 square feet of lab space.“
Massey said that local government has been extremely supportive of the idea. He should know since he serves as Mayor Pro-Tem for Farmington Hills.
But even if he wasn't in the position, he said that he thinks local government would still be open to the idea - since the area's economy took a huge beating when the automobile industry pulled out.
“In Detroit, the official estimates for unemployment are at 30%,“ he said. “Unofficial estimates show that those numbers are almost approaching 50%. What we want to see is this accelerator play a role in the development of Michigan's economy and help bring more jobs to the area.“
The accelerator is welcoming applications from medical device developers around the world. Potential applicants should contact Massey by e-mailing him at ken@lifeline-ventures.com, or by telephone at 248-536-0813.
Omar Ford, 404 262-5546