SoloHill expands to develop vaccine technology, hires ex-Pfizer workers
SoloHill has been around Ann Arbor for a while and likes it. So much so that the bio-tech company has hired a few Pfizer refugees and plans to hire another 4-5 people this year.
Ann Arbor-based SoloHill Engineering didn’t see Pfizer closing its Ann Arbor campus as necessarily bad news. In fact, it was viewed as an opportunity as bio-technology company ended up hiring three of the drug-maker’s top people.
“We had a choice of probably 60 resumes,” says David Solomon, chairman and CEO of SoloHill. “We grabbed it.”
Those three people were part of the eight new employees the company added over the last year, bringing its staff-count to 20 people. That expansion is thanks to 40 percent revenue growth in 2007. The firm expects to grow another 20 percent this year and add yet another 4-5 people this year.
SoloHill specializes is micro-carrier technology, which means it makes the tools used to produce animal vaccines. Among the veterinary medicines it has a hand in bringing to market is the vaccine for Parbao Virus, feline leukemia treatments and thyroid cancer therapy.
The firm started out as a spin-off of Laser Fusion 24 years ago. It has stayed in Ann Arbor ever since. Solomon credits the area’s high quality-of-life characteristics, such a strong arts, music and athletics cultures.
Source: David Solomon, chairman and CEO of SoloHill
Writer: Jon Zemke
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