Excelen orthopedic incubator snags Twin Star Medical

Twin Star Medical is moving to the Excelen orthopedic and bone research center in downtown Minneapolis.

The startup, currently based at the University Enterprise Laboratories in St. Paul, will lease a 4,000 square feet of space in the building located next to Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), beginning in November.

Excelen, a nonprofit group, is raising $12 million to renovate its existing facilities, build new offices and wet labs, and establish a seed fund to back startups housed in the building. (MedCity News operates its Minnesota bureau at Excelen.)

“The concept of marrying science, talent, location and capital is resonating with the medical device community,” Excelen CEO and President Tim Mowbray said in a statement. “Companies such a Twin Star are seeing the value of the infrastructure we have built here.”

Built in the 1940s, the facility originally was a dormitory for Swedish nurses before becoming the central business office for Allina Hospitals & Clinics.

Prominent orthopedic surgeons Drs. Richard Kyle and Ramon Gustilo, United Properties, med-tech entrepreneur Harlan Jacobs and Dave Durenberger, an orthopedic administrator and son of former U.S. Senator David Durenberger, donated the $3.8 million building to Excelen.

Twin Star is developing micro-porous catheters that can better deliver drug therapies and wound care, especially to U.S. soldiers.

“Our business is maturing, and we needed a location that can support our growth,” CEO Jim Stice said in a statement. “The proximity to HCMC will make human studies a whole lot easier, our important collaborators are right there, and we have access to laboratory facilities and equipment.”