The University of Minnesota is no Pfizer or Merck. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t act more like Big Pharma.The school has begun an ambitious effort to convert its considerable drug research into actual products. The idea is to better coordinate drug discovery projects among programs like the Masonic Cancer Center, medical school and College [...]

Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-St. Paul) has good reason to feel a fresh spring in his step these days.He helped pass long overdue tax credits for angel investors and research and development spending, a feat that earned him a prime spot (second from the left) behind Gov. Tim Pawlenty when the presumed Republican presidential candidate signed [...]

University of Minnesota tech transfer officials have spoken about the “Big One,” a blockbuster technology that would create or upend an industry while earning the school a hefty return for its efforts.There’s Miromatrix Inc., which hopes to grow organs from stem cells, and VitalMedix Inc., a startup developing a drug to keep alive patients suffering [...]

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, [...]

Quantity or quality?Like most things in life, that’s not always an either/or question. Most people would prefer both. But as the University of Minnesota starts to shop its intellectual property a little more aggressively to investors, as evidenced by its first Life Sciences Showcase event at University Enterprise Laboratories Thursday morning, it’s something to think [...]

Another day, another new local early stage fund.Upwind Medical Partners is launching a $6 million to $8 million early stage fund that will focus on commercializing intellectual property from health care/research institutions like the University of Minnesota, Wisconsin Alumni Research Fund (WARF), Allina Hospitals & Clinics, and John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.Founded by Jim O’Reilly, [...]

VitalMedix Inc., a promising drug company spun out of the University of Minnesota, has shut down and will liquidate its remaining assets, according to sources and documents filed with U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Monday because it could not attract enough investors, said CEO Bill Brown, blaming a weak [...]

Sources say top business and political leaders in Wisconsin, including top Assembly Democrat Peter Barca, are lobbying hard for Miromatrix, which spun out of the University of Minnesota late last year, to establish its headquarters in the Badger State.

Rep. Ann Lenczewski’s opposition to angel credits flies in the face of evidence, experts, and the collective political and business will of Minnesota.

Politicians, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs have long criticized the school for inhibiting innovation rather than creating it. But that criticism is getting old, or at least it should be. Under Jay Schrankler and Doug Johnson, the school’s tech transfer program has made enormous strides.