MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — The University of Minnesota plans to spin off three medical technology firms this year, including two diagnostic device start-ups and a company developing a safer, more effective way to treat vascular diseases and tumors.
The Office for Technology Commercialization (OTC) will present the three unnamed start-ups to potential investors at its inaugural Life Sciences Showcase on March 4 at the University Enterprise Laboratories in St. Paul.
Tim Johnson, who joined OTC as its newest CEO-in-Residence, will lead a company developing “a giant magneto resistive sensor technology” that can detect antibodies in the blood by employing nanoparticles (tiny particles less than 100 nanometers) to draw antibodies to a semiconductor chip.
Johnson recently moved to Minnesota from California where he was CEO of Natus Medical Inc, a maker of screening and treatment technologies for babies with hearing problems. Fortune named Natus to its list of fastest-growing companies in 2008. Johnson, who oversaw Natus’ initial public offering in 1999, left the company in 2004.
Mike Selzer, another CEO-in-Residence, will run a company creating a way to use thermochemical energy to kill tumors without harming healthy tissue. Selzer is a former CEO of ConcepTx Medical Inc., a medical device accelerator he founded in 2007 with veteran entrepreneurs Dale Spencer and Mike Berman. The company was backed by a $4 million investment from venture capital firms Versant Ventures and Advanced Technology Ventures. Selzer is also a former CEO of Urologix and previously ran Medtronic Inc.’s neuromodulation business.
The third start-up will focus on a diagnostic device that detects biomarkers in the blood, genetic information that can predict the onset of specific diseases.
Doug Johnson, who heads the university’s Venture Center, said the Life Sciences Showcase, the first of three such events this year, will give investors and potential corporate partners a chance to review the university’s intellectual property and speak with start-up officials and inventors.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
The showcase will also publicize the university’s commercialization programs to the broader community. Although the university has greatly improved its ability to translate technologies into markets, OTC officials say the university still does not receive enough credit for its progress.
“We have been too reactive,” said Johnson, a former venture capitalist and investment banker. “We need more time with people, with outsiders, for them to get to know who we are.”
Miromatrix CEO Robert Cohen and founder Dr. Doris Taylor will also speak about their efforts to commercialize Taylor’s regenerative tissue research. OTC will also highlight several technologies available for licensing deals, including a delivery system that uses nanotechnology to control drug release in a patient and an algorithm (complex mathematical equation) programmed into an EEG scanner that helps brain surgeons better locate the source of epilepsy.
The university, along with Minneapolis law firm Fredrikson & Byron, will also host a clean tech showcase in April.
