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Michigan's next wave of biopharmaceutical entrepreneurship

Nature Biotechnology volume 21, pages 1109–1111 (2003)Cite this article

Faced with widespread job losses resulting from the merger of Pfizer and Pharmacia, Michigan wasted no time in preparing for the future.

In 1885, during the first wave of technology-driven industry formation in the United States, Kalamazoo, Michigan, got its start in the industry that would develop cures to transform medicine worldwide and result in tremendous wealth creation for investors as well as for the local community. It was in this year that William E. Upjohn, frustrated by liquid medications whose glass containers often broke during shipping, and hard pills that tended not to dissolve once ingested, patented a breakthrough friable pill that was easily dissolvable, yet still stable enough not to break apart during shipping.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, 300 North Washington Square, Lansing, 48913, Michigan, USA

    Raili Kerppola & Michèle van de Walle

  2. Southwest Michigan First, 346 West Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, 49007, Michigan, USA

    Steve Surine

Authors
  1. Raili Kerppola
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  2. Michèle van de Walle
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  3. Steve Surine
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Correspondence to Raili Kerppola.

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Kerppola, R., van de Walle, M. & Surine, S. Michigan's next wave of biopharmaceutical entrepreneurship. Nat Biotechnol 21, 1109–1111 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0903-1109

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0903-1109

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