By Andy Domino | MSS
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KALAMAZOO — Innovative Analytics Inc. is playing a key part in West Michigan’s expanding life sciences industry, and it’s working to make sure other small businesses have the same success that it has had.

“At smaller pharmaceutical companies, the only thing they do is strategy,” said James Dancy, co-founder and COO of Innovative Analytics (IA). “They get lost working with big companies – but we’re smaller, too.”

Only the largest life sciences businesses have the staff, facilities and equipment to take a project all the way from the initial idea for a drug, to development of prototypes, to FDA testing, and finally to release and marketing. Most companies have just a handful of employees and need to rely on others to help them complete one or more of the steps in the development process.

Dancy said the test phase is where IA plays a part, designing the trials and studies a drug must go through to pass the FDA gauntlet. IA also collects data on potential side effects and offers grant and other writing services, making sure a client’s drug studies are described to government specifications.

“A lot of them come to us looking for technical writing,” Dancy said.

That’s ideal for the Jasper Clinic, a research study firm affiliated with Bronson Methodist Hospital in downtown Kalamazoo. Dean Knuth, president and CEO of the Jasper Clinic, said his company turns to IA not only to design drug studies, but also to collect and analyze data after the studies are completed. He said IA’s team is capable of offering several different options for each part of a study, and can keep seeking results no matter where the research leads. In addition, both companies are in downtown Kalamazoo, which still means a faster response time than even turning to the Internet.

“If we need to really jump on something, they can come right in,” Knuth said. “Because of their experience, they’re good at adaptive design.”

The Edward Lowe Foundation selected Innovative Analytics as one of its Michigan 50 Companies To Watch in 2011.

Innovative Analytics was founded in 2003 with a grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and the firm hired former employees of Pharmacia who left the company after it was absorbed by Pfizer. Currently, it has 20 full-time employees and six contract workers.

“Early in the process, the toughest sales were getting people to stay (in Kalamazoo),” Dancy said. “Now, smaller companies have more stability. We have control over our decisions, not someone in an office 1,000 miles away.”

The extensive experience of those former Pharmacia workers meant that IA and its partner companies could avoid a long “getting to know you” period, where employees of each business had to learn one another’s quirks, as well as double-check work to make sure it wasn’t repeated.

“We had those relationships (when we started),” said the Jasper Clinic’s Knuth. “They know what the hidden questions might be.”

Ron Kitchens, CEO of Southwest Michigan First, said IA isn’t alone in the area in attracting attention for having a staff with years of experience before even its first day in operation.

“Big pharma continues to go outside their own companies for services,” Kitchens said. “The costs are much lower here. They have respect for the knowledge that comes out of the region.”

Dancy said a major part of IA’s success is those years of experience its employees brought to the company when they were hired. Now, Innovative Analytics staff has five specialties across the spectrum of biomedical data analysis: statistical consultation, medical writing, clinical data management, SAS programming (using data management software) and business operations. Much of IA’s work has been in oncology, muscular dystrophy and similar conditions, though the company can develop studies and collect data for any kind of medical research. All drugs require testing by the FDA, and IA members specialize in preparing for regulatory submissions.

“We have people with high-level statistical expertise,” Dancy said. Before joining IA, “they were doing defense of compounds with the FDA,” essentially making the final presentation of the data they are now collecting and examining for clients.

Though IA is located in Kalamazoo thanks to its strong life sciences industry, 90 percent of the company’s clients are on the east and west coasts, and in Texas, Dancy said. Just a few weeks ago, IA added to the team a marketing expert based in San Diego, the better to make connections in California, still the heart of the industry.

“In order to grow, we needed someone to represent us (on the West Coast),” Dancy said. “We’re hoping to find companies in San Diego and L.A.”

At the same time, expanding the firm’s reach means keeping an eye on businesses that already have a relationship with IA.

“Connections retire or go into consulting,” he said. “You have to refresh regularly – it’s pretty easy to lose track.” MSS