Velesco Pharmaceutical Services hires 6, opens plant in Kalamazoo

Six is an important number for Velesco Pharmaceutical Services these days in regard to its growth. The Ann Arbor-based firm has added six employees to its existing staff of six people over the last year. It also plans to hire six more within the next year.The 3-year-old startup began when Pfizer pulled up stakes from Ann Arbor, leaving the co-founders to pursue their own entrepreneurial ambitions. It now offers pharmaceutical consulting and laboratory services and just opened a plant in Kalamazoo that makes dosage forms for clinical trials. The company hopes to continue its revenue growth pace of 30-40 percent.”It really depends on how the business goes and whether the economy cuts us a break,” says Gerry Cox, COO of Velesco Pharmaceutical Services. “We’re a small business that is working hard on growing.”The company also recently moved to the Michigan Life Science Innovation Center in Plymouth. Ann Arbor SPARK manages the former Pfizer wet lab as a place to help get Washtenaw County startups going and growing.Source: Gerry Cox, COO of Velesco Pharmaceutical ServicesWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.