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(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071022/CLM120 )
The Michigan Virtual BioPharma Company, LLC and the Michigan VirtualMedical Device Company, LLC launched on October 16th at an exhibit during theMichBio Expo convention in Lansing, Michigan.
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"In just the first two days since the companies launched we haveidentified 313 Michigan businesses and individuals seeking to offer 194distinct business management and product development services to combinetogether in the new virtual companies. We will tour the state to find evenmore businesses that want to participate. This process will organize theminto full service virtual companies for the first time and provide a newoffering to market across the nation and the world," said Michael Debiak,president of Michigan Life Science Network.
The exhibit begins touring the state November 2 in TechTown Detroit. Thetour will continue through November to any city, organization or universitythat wants to participate. In the exhibit, a ten foot graphical organizationchart represents each of the two companies. The chart is intended to bevisual and tactile to contribute to the overall understanding of andparticipation in the project. The goal will be to see how quickly all thestate's life science companies and individuals can fill in who has each kindof expertise in the blank boxes. Each box is the size of a business card.Participants are invited to add their cards under the function they canprovide in making up the whole company. Anyone interested in participating orhosting a location for the exhibit should contact Michigan Life ScienceNetwork.
"This is the first time I have seen an innovative approach to develop avirtual company. There has been a lot of talk about it and developing drugpipelines and connecting various companies within the chain. But here, thiscompany has really figured out how to get people involved. You know thesimple process of putting your business card in the particular place you arealong the continuum of drug discovery and development. And then capturingthat information and linking it up with all the other players with thedifferent steps is just fantastic," said Randal Charlton during the launch.
"We are in a flat world. We are not just competing with our neighboringstates. Forget that. We are competing with India, with China and a lot oflow cost countries. We are going to have to form alliances. I can foresee atime in the future where Michigan companies are going to be collaboratingaround the world in this virtual company," said Charlton, founder of Asterand,plc, former Chairman of MichBio, and currently Interim Director of TechTownDetroit.
"I was formerly the CEO of a large medical device company and we had allof the in-house resources and the funds to hire the resources we needed todevelop and commercialize a product. But if you are one of these smallercompanies you don't have the resources to know who to hire to help you and youdon't have the resources to let the possible customers know who you are orwhere you are. This is a novel idea to make the connections and combine theresources," said Ruben Derderian, medical device consultant and CEO ofDerderian Associates, Inc.
"The Virtual Companies will be a real asset in developing the startup andservice community in Michigan. I have already referred businesses toparticipate in this project and they have. I think this will mature quicklyinto a resource for all of these Michigan life science businesses," Derderiansaid.
"A virtual company has no limit to its size or reach. This is a conceptthat makes a business location irrelevant to the customer, except in that thework is done by employees that wa
