Armune BioScience of Kalamazoo Names Esposito New CEO And Completes First Close on New Investment Series A

Armune BioScience of Kalamazoo said David Esposito was named the new President and Chief Executive Officer to succeed the founding President and CEO, Eli L. Thomssen.   The Company has completed the first close on a $2.5 million Series A financing round designed to underwrite the launch of Apifiny™, the company's novel, non-PSA blood test to aid in the detection of prostate cancer.

"As Armune BioScience prepares to commercialize its unique, non-PSA blood test, Apifiny, to aid in the detection of prostate cancer it is pleased with the financial support it has attracted and the growing interest from the Urology community in the utility of its diagnostic assay," said Thomssen, outgoing President and CEO. Board Chairman Donald R. Parfet stated "how grateful the Company is for the years of service provided by Eli Thomssen in overseeing the development of our technology and capabilities."

As part of the transition, Thomssen was named Chief Business Officer. "We are excited to have David assume the CEO role at the Company. His experience in the industry will serve our commercialization efforts very well," said Parfet.  

Esposito joined the company in early 2014 as Chief Operating Officer. He brings a tremendous amount of commercial experience as a senior executive in both the pharmaceutical and medical diagnostic markets. Over a 15-year career with Merck & Co., David played key roles in sales, marketing and commercial strategy. As the former President and General Manager of Phadia US Inc., a leading specialty diagnostics company, he helped drive significant growth in the US market and was a key member of the Phadia Leadership Team that successfully sold the business to Thermo Fisher Scientific for $3.5 Billion USD in 2011.

Prior to his work in the healthcare marketplace, David graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a BS in Civil Engineering. David is a combat veteran having served as an infantry platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal during the Persian Gulf War. David also holds a Master of Business Administration from Syracuse University.

"I want to thank Eli Thomssen for his leadership in preparing for the company's launch of Apifiny, our first diagnostic assay, " said Esposito. "We are all grateful for his continued support in his new role during this exciting time for the company. The proprietary technologies of Armune BioScience have significant potential to meet areas of large unmet need in prostate, lung and breast cancer diagnostic and prognostic testing. Our team is ready to execute on the commercial opportunities before us."

In addition, Sue Crookston, has been appointed to the role of Chief Financial Officer. Sue has 20 plus years of experience in various financial and human resource roles within the life sciences arena, including senior and management team experience at two start-up companies; Afmedica and most recently with CeeTox, Inc. Sue also worked for Apjohn Ventures as the Finance Director responsible for managing the subscriber database, produced financials for the LPs and managed the financials for the general partners. Prior to working for start-ups, Sue held various financial leadership and analyst roles within The Upjohn Company, Pharmacia & Upjohn and Pfizer.

Armune BioScience is focused on commercial execution in support of the launch of Apifiny and raising additional funds to complete the $2.5M Series A round. The Series A Round was led by insiders.

About Armune BioScience

Armune BioScience, Inc. is a medical diagnostics company formed to develop and commercialize unique proprietary technology exclusively licensed from the University of Michigan for diagnostic and prognostic tests for prostate, lung and breast cancers. The Company was founded by the Apjohn Group, LLC, a business accelerator founded by experienced health care executives that brings together valuable resources of management talent and angel/seed financing, and a group of experienced life science professionals.

   Michigan Improves for Third Straight Year

 In Economic Outlook Health Survey by Baker Strategy

Business executives increasingly recommend Michigan as a great place to grow a business, according to the third annual 2015 Economic Outlook Health Check survey conducted in late 2014 by the Baker Strategy Group and partner associations across the state and Midwest.

On a scale from 0-100, business leaders gave a 73 on a range of 100 tops for recommending Michigan for 2014. The score was 71 for 2013 and 68 for 2012.

Businesses are also planning on hiring in 2015. 71% of the respondents say that their company has plans to hire more people in 2015, compared to 51% of all other respondents outside of Michigan.

"We've all known that Michigan's economic health has been improving steadily for several years now," said Dr. Margaret J. Baker of the Baker Strategy Group. "It's great to see this improvement born out with hard economic figures as well as the business sentiment results. The likelihood to recommend measure is especially helpful because it can be a leading indicator for future business growth."

The 2015 Economic Outlook Health Check is an independent effort to support business-friendly communities in the US and Canada. Program Partners and Participating Associations offer their time and effort to make this happen. Supporters of the program in Michigan include: Beth Chappell and Steve Grigorian of the Detroit Economic Club, Sandy Buruah of the Detroit Regional Chamber, Rick Baker of the Grand Rapids Area Chamber, Diane Keller of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber, Ron Kitchens of Southwest Michigan First, Rob Fowler of the Small Business Association of Michigan, Tim Daman of the Lansing Regional Chamber, Amy DeShon of the Greater Albion Chamber, Colleen Lynema of the River Country Chamber, Amy Clickner of the Lake Superior Community Partnership, Michael J. D. Brown of the Downtown Ironwood Development Authority, Larry Eiler of Eiler Communications, Sheri Petras of CFI Group, and Don Hart of MOVE Communications.

Conducted in November and December across the state as well as associations across the US and Canada, the Baker Strategy Group health check survey captures the economic outlook for organizations across the state. The goal of the survey is to help make our communities great places to grow a business.

"Much of the data confirms what we all generally hear in conversations, such as the priority of fixing Michigan's roads and bridges or the somewhat dim view of Michigan's overall educational situation," said Baker. "Some of the data, however, is going to spur discussion, such as the comparatively low priority of lower taxes or ensuring clean water. It's not that these aren't important; we just have considerable broad agreement across the board on the three big priorities for 2015: fixing roads & bridges, attracting and retaining top talent, and improving education."

Additional feedback from Michigan business leaders:

The top priories for Michigan in 2015 should be fixing roads and bridges (97%), attracting and retaining top talent (96%), and improving education (96%). Less of a priority-relatively speaking-is lower taxes (71%), better access to capital (71%), or improving parks and recreation (65%)

Many executives say that Michigan is a great state for raising a family (92%), but fewer say that Michigan has a strong, vibrant economy (62%).

Business respondents generally agree that economic regions in Michigan are welcoming to business (81%), but few say there is a large pool of educated talent (54%) or that the region has an educational system that is second to none (39%)

Respondents indicate that their company has leaders with integrity (99%), but not as many say that their company involves all staff in decision-making (67%)

Re:NEW Michigan

Be sure and listen 1290 AM, WLBY 8:40 am

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Larry Eiler interviews

Rob Fowler, president and CEO of Small Business Association of Michigan

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Michael Finney, Senior Economic Advisor to Governor Snyder