Helping Make Research Possible in Michigan and Beyond BY DR. KIRK MAXEY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CAYMAN CHEMICAL COMPANY
Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Cayman Chemical Company supplies scientists worldwide with the resources necessary for advancing human and animal health.
Cayman was founded in 1980 by the current CEO, Dr. Kirk Maxey, during his first year of medical school at the University of Michigan. Beyond the immediate need to help pay for tuition and living expenses, Dr. Maxey sought to demonstrate the value of naturally growing gorgonian coral as a renewable, economically viable source of prostaglandins—the potent lipids that act on almost all cells and tissues to control diverse biological functions. His vision was to provide affordable, high-quality prostaglandins to the research community. Within a matter of months, the new company, named for the Caribbean island where the coral was harvested, offered five prostaglandin standards. Over the next decade, Cayman hired skilled organic chemists who developed methods for synthetic
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production of prostaglandins and their medically important analogs. Financial progress of the operation afforded Cayman the opportunity to acquire a small Colorado-based biochemical company, AIA Reagents, in 1988. With this acquisition, Cayman could respond to a market demand for a method of quantification of bioactive materials. Cayman’s biochemical division developed antibodies and immunoassays to detect steroids, lipids, and neuropeptides in various sample types. By the mid-1990s, catalog sales surpassed $10 million, employees totaled 100, and Cayman was able to purchase the first facility in its now four-building campus. Cayman recognized the need to move beyond the bioactive lipid brand to sustain company growth. In the early 2000s,
