What started out as a joint venture between the Van Andel Research Institute and Grand Valley State University has emerged as one of the newest additions to the medical mile after raising $5 million dollars in a series B fundraising effort.
Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM), located in a 12,000-square-foot facility on Front St. NW, will manufacture clinical trial drugs in small-run batches -- a task larger pharmaceutical companies are not able to do as efficiently.
The primary products being manufactured are sterile and freeze-dried compounds which, according to a press release from the company, is a $4 billion segment of the $9.2 billion total market for pharmaceutical contract manufacturing organizations.
This type of "21st century manufacturing" is a real coup for Grand Rapids, according to GRAM CEO Jerry Arthur. "Over the past several years, every nation, every state (and) every locale all have civic goals to attract the life science industry. This is a dent. Hopefully, this company will grow."
Arthur indicates they officially began in January and have added 12 jobs with a goal of 16.
Source: Jerry Arthur, CEO, GRAM
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs Editor
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