Jim Millar attended graduate school in Chicago, which is where he met his wife. When they first started dating, she kept talking about this beautiful place her family went in the summertime. “I didn’t believe there was anything pretty in the Midwest,” Jim laughs. But the COVID-19 pandemic changed things; for the first summer, he worked remotely from their cottage Up North. “I was more productive that summer than previously, when I was so busy commuting back and forth.”
As they began to seriously consider making the jump to living in Traverse City, Jim kept hearing about all the neat things happening in the city. He walked into 20Fathoms for the first time straight off the street, back when the office was downtown. “I learned all about this neat community, the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and it began planting a seed. “Maybe I could figure out a way to be here full time,” he reflects. It wasn’t an overnight decision, but ultimately things aligned; Jim relocated the headquarters of Atterx, where he is CEO, from Madison, WI to Traverse City.
Jim connected with 20Fathoms to share more about his experience leading a startup within this entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
20Fathoms: Tell us a little about your journey with Atterx.
Jim Millar: I got involved in the company first as a consultant; I was on the board. As the company was getting close to getting one of the main products into clinical trials, they needed to raise some capital. They changed some things around, and the board asked if I would consider taking over as CEO.
Then through Northern Michigan Angels, I got a crazy idea. I had joined the organization and was surprised at the meetings I attended that biotech companies were pitching up here in Traverse City. I spoke to Lowell [Gruman] at Boomerang Catapult, asking him if there were people who would be interested in investing in this biotech life science company.
I figured if there was enough interest in Michigan, I could make the case to the board and shareholders to relocate the headquarters to Traverse City. We began the process of presenting to Northern Michigan Angels and downstate angel groups. There was so much support; of course for any type of early stage, pre-revenue company, you need good capital and investor partners. That allowed us to make the move to Traverse City.
There’s so much entrepreneurial energy in this area; we wanted to start looking at establishing more of a biotech “hub,” something similar to what’s happening in Ann Arbor and Lansing. We now have two other biotech companies calling Traverse City home, creating a foothold that will hopefully start attracting even more biotech companies to the area.
20Fathoms: What problem does Atterx solve? How?
Jim: The World Health Organization has said the #1 public health issue is antibiotic resistance. Pathogenic bacteria and infections are more and more resistant to antibiotic use, and now there are “superbugs,” which very few antibiotics are effective against.
We are developing clinical innovations to prevent or treat some of the most virulent infections. We have two products in development: one prevents catheter-associated UTIs and the other is a topical treatment for “gram negative” bacteria that can be used with burn infections or wound infections.
20Fathoms: Tell us about a recent milestone for Atterx.
Jim: Our product that prevents catheter-associated UTIs is gearing up to hopefully enroll patients in our first clinical trial by the beginning of the third quarter this year.
Catheter-associated UTIs have become a big problem; people are getting sick and then getting infections in the hospital while they are being treated. We use bacterial interference to prevent this from happening in the first place in catheterized patients, solving a big, costly problem in hospitals that can cost up to $37,000 per patient to treat.
The big milestone for 2024 was getting our clinical IND (Investigational New Drug) application approved. This allows us to begin the site selection and patient enrollment process for the Phase 1b clinical trial.
Our other product that treats “gram negative” bacteria is a little further behind in development. It’s important because bacterial infections are becoming resistant to most antibiotics; the big difference is that because of our mechanism of delivery, bacteria won’t develop resistance to our product.
20Fathoms: What piece of advice would you offer people who are looking to launch or move a business here?
Jim: Plug into organizations like 20Fathoms! It’s been fantastic for Atterx just to be able to be in that environment. There is such a wonderful entrepreneurial vibe – it’s got this great energy.
We have three full time employees and a lot of contract employees but we’re remote, so it’s been great to be a part of the 20Fathoms environment; it’s not just the energy and entrepreneurs that are there but the support. Being able to be involved in mentoring for TCNewTech and things like that has been a great asset.
People who say, Why did you move to Traverse City – they just don’t understand that Traverse City has this “entrepreneurial ecosystem” with active support from lots of different organizations– it’s home to Northern Michigan Angels, Boomerang Catapult, and a unique mix of organizations.
My advice is to get plugged in because there’s so many resources that can help you that are quite sophisticated. There are quite experienced people that are helping some of the newer startups and people looking to get things going. 20Fathoms has been an unbelievable resource and has been invaluable to me. Even if you don’t get a desk or an office, just to be a member, to get plugged in, and attending activities/events is a really important aspect if you are looking to relocate to Traverse City. There’s so much mentorship and support. You don’t have to look too far to find it.
Personally, I’ve also found that there’s really an opportunity here for work-life balance.
The thing that attracted me from the day I drove up the west side of Michigan was the outdoors, the natural beauty. I’m a big boater, fisherman, outdoorsman, and to have so close at hand all these things makes it possible to really have more of a work-life balance because things are so accessible.
You can come out of 20Fathoms and hop on TART. You can run over quickly and put a kayak in on the Boardman. That to me is a real key aspect of this, and what I enjoy about working here and being able to call it home for Atterx. Hopefully as we look to grow and hire more people, that will be the attraction for them too.
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