Perhaps they should rename the school the University of MGI Pharma.
Reggie Bowerman, a former MGI Pharma executive, recently joined the University of Minnesota’s Office for Technology Commercialization (OTC) as head of the newly formed Life Science Business Unit.
He will oversee a group responsible for advising researchers on how to develop market viable diagnostics, biologics, drugs, and medical devices and pitching that technology to outside companies and investors. Last month, the school held its first annual Life Sciences Showcase for potential investors at the University Enterprise Laboratories.
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“We’re taking a holistic approach to life sciences,” Bowerman said. “Our job is to show the love to all of these areas.”
Bowerman is the latest example of the deep connections between MGI Pharma and the university. Business consultant Barbara Nelsen is a former MGI Pharma executive and OTC associate director. She is now co-managing an early stage fund between Affinity Capital and Triathlon Medical Ventures.
The school had also tapped Bill Brown, a former MGI Pharma executive vice president chief financial officer, to run spinoff VitalMedix Inc.
Bowerman was a vice president of commercial operations at MGI Pharma. He was also previously CEO of DlaMedica Inc. and worked at Marion Laboratories, Aventis and Marion Merrell Dow Inc.
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The university’s reliance on MGI Pharma talent is somewhat unusual since the school, and indeed Minnesota, is not particularly known for its drug expertise.
VitalMedix, which was developing a hemorrhagic shock drug that could keep patients temporarily alive even if they suffered catastrophic blood loss, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February. Another university spin off, Orasi Medical, is close to inking a licensing deal with a Big Pharma company. The company is developing software that can speed drug discovery and trials.
Bowerman insists the school has untapped technology in pharmaceuticals. Next week, the school will meet with a top five pharmaceutical firm on the East Coast to discuss several university technologies. Bowerman, who declined to name the company, cautioned the talks are preliminary.
“They know that universities are a hotbed of ideas,” Bowerman said. “The ground is fertile. It’s up to us to seed it.”
