Kiger's Notebook

Rochester founder says Tenex is growing quickly

When pro basketball player Pau Gasol of the L.A. Lakers needed damaged tendons in his knee removed this week, his doctor opted for a noninvasive treatment developed by Mayo Clinic instead of the traditional surgery option.

Gasol now is one of about 5,000 patients that have been treated with Tenex Health Inc.'s TX1 instrument, since the firm took its specialty needle system to market at the start of 2012.

Dr. Jagi Gill, of Rochester, founded Tenex in 2009, and it received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 2011. Since then it has quickly been gaining traction and is now listing "multi-millions" in sales.

"We moved past the 'Will it work?' and 'Can we make it?' stages. Now we are building a sales team and working a marketing message," Gill said.

Tenex now is selling the system to doctors. The firm has 12 sales representatives, and he hopes to grow that number to 40 by the third quarter of 2013.

Gill began his career in Mayo Clinic's Department of Neurology. He has since worked at Boston Scientific as well as a number of biotechnology start-ups.

Tenex's one-time use, disposable handpiece was developed and commercialized in collaboration with Mayo Clinic. Tenex licenses technology from Mayo Clinic and in turn, Mayo owns equity in Tenex.

"The folks at Mayo have been very helpful," he said.

The TX1 system uses ultrasound technology to treat damaged tendons or soft tissue in elbows, knees, ankles, feet and shoulders. Unlike surgery, patients can walk out after what is often a procedure no longer than 20 minutes.

"It is well-tolerated and safe as an injection," says Gill.

That and the quick recovery are making Tenex very popular with athletes, people with work-related injuries and patients who simply "want to have an active lifestyle."

Gasol is not the only celebrity who has discovered Tenex. TV and radio personality Ryan Seacrest has also has his elbow treated with the TX1 system.

At one point, Tenex looked at Rochester, nearby Elk Run and even Willmar, Minn., as possible locations for a manufacturing facility. In the end, the decision was made to acquire the California company that handled the early manufacturing on a contract basis.

So why not do the manufacturing in Rochester?

"The challenge that any company would have in going here is that there isn't a lot of experience in terms of engineering, manufacturing, production, quality systems," says Gill.

He explained that medical device hotspots, not only have a medical system or university for generating ideas, but also "They have an imbedded group of people that know how to turn on an infrastructure."

Mayo Clinic extends deal with drug research lab

Here's some from a release I spotted this morning about Mayo Clinic signing an updated agreement with Sanford-Burnham, a research lab with locations in California and Florida.

By the way, the Sanford in Sanford-Burnham is T. Denny Sanford, who is also a big financial backer of Mayo Clinic.

Sanford-Burnham and Mayo Clinic signed a new collaborative agreement to build a pipeline of therapeutic drugs aimed at a variety of diseases with serious unmet medical needs.

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The agreement combines Mayo Clinic’s clinically relevant targets with Sanford-Burnham’s discovery platform in a translational initiative aimed at advancing a portfolio of projects through the initial stages of drug discovery. The new agreement builds on a yearlong pilot phase and expands the number and scope of drug discovery projects derived from Mayo Clinic researchers that are being conducted at Sanford-Burnham.

 

“We’re looking forward to further engaging with our Mayo Clinic collaborators as we develop innovative screens to identify chemical compounds that modulate the activity of clinically relevant targets,” said Michael Jackson, vice president of drug discovery and development at Sanford-Burnham. “If successful, these compounds will form the basis of completely novel—‘first in class’—therapies for devastating diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and others.”

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“The Mayo Clinic–Sanford-Burnham collaboration provides an avenue for Mayo scientists to rapidly translate basic science discoveries into screening platforms that will enable new drug discovery, and a new paradigm in drug development,” said Andrew Badley, associate dean of research resources at Mayo Clinic.

Mayo Clinic Biz Accelerator already speeding along

Here's some from my 2nd Mayo Clinic Business Accelerator story of the week. I'll have more in seperate post soon.

The just-opened Mayo Clinic Business Accelerator is already bursting at the seams with companies, including some local start-ups that are ready to aim high.

"We want to be the Amgen (the largest biotechnology company in the world) of Rochester," says Dr. John Burnett Jr., who with Dr. Horng Chen founded Zumbro Discovery just a few weeks ago.

The pair develop peptides to help treat medical conditions and two of their previous creations were licensed by out-of-state companies.

"We really had the desire to set something up here," says Chen. And as the inventors, they believe they will be able to better direct the course of the product as well as do it faster.

Their first patented peptide is designed to treat a condition known as Resistant Hypertension. It is generally defined as high blood pressure that standard treatments can't lower. About 10 to 20 percent of people diagnosed with hypertension are believed to be resistant.
It can lead to heart failure, myocardial infarction, stroke as well as kidney failure.

The Federal Drug Administration has already given the doctors the greenlight to begin testing on patients with Resistant Hypertension and they hope to do that by the end of the year.

"Being in the Accelerator is great for a young, virtual company like us. It gives a chance to interact with venture capitalists and network with other businesses," says Burnett. "And it is just a short walk from our lab."

The Accelerator offices in the Minnesota BioBusiness Center were packed this morning as crowds of Mayo Clinic administrators, city officials and community leaders packed into the just-completed space to christian is open for business.

It's "business" is to speed up local business development and ultimately create new jobs.

“The Accelerator is an example of the strength of a strong partnership between Mayo Clinic and the community to make it easier and more affordable for companies to start and locate in Rochester,” says Mayo Clinic CEO Dr. John Noseworthy.

A collaboration between Mayo Clinic, the City of Rochester and Rochester Area Economic Development Inc., the Accelerator is starting out with a full boat of tenants that include biotech businesses, medical device makers, software start-ups, venture capitalists and health care consultants.

Funded by $100,000 from Mayo Clinic and $100,000 from local sales tax money, the 2,500-square-foot cluster of offices is located on the second floor of the city-owned Minnesota BioBusiness Center. RAEDI is handling the management and leasing of the space.

“We hope to provide a nurturing space for new company formation in Rochester,” says Jim Rogers of Mayo Clinic Ventures.

Mayo Clinic adds DC/NYC PR firm to rachet up 'thought leadership'

Interesting. It looks like Mayo Clinic is contracting a high-powered PR firm, Widmeyer Communications, to promote public appearances on a national stage for CEO Dr. John Noseworthy and other Mayo Clinic leaders.

Actually, Mayo doesn't call it promote. They say 'thought leadership.' I'm not certain exactly what that entails. I don't believe surgery is involved, but I could be wrong. Heh.

I should point out that I'm very impressed by Mayo Clinic's in-house communications team in Rochester. Very sharp, efficient and professional people as well as patient with annoying journalists. I'm not sure what Widemeyer can do that they can't. I guess we'll find out.

Here's some from a PRWeek article by Virgil Dickson that quotes Mayo Clinic's Chris Gade. I remember way back when Chris was merely a spokesman.

“We're an organization with a 150-year history in medicine, medical research, and education. As healthcare continues to change, we want to continue to be a resource for healthcare in the nation and around the world,” said Chris Gade, chair of the division of external relations at Mayo Clinic. “One way to do that is identifying the appropriate forums and places for thought leadership.

Mayo hired Widmeyer based on work it did for other clients. The contract is for one year. Gade declined to disclose the firm's budget.

A window on Mayo Clinic's business accelerator plans

It is getting close to the big reveal of the Mayo Clinic Business Accelerator in the City of Rochester's Minnesota BioBusiness Center.

The plan, as I understand it, is to announce the new tenants - possibly eight - in the 2,500-square-foot center at RAEDI's annual meeting on Thursday. Remember this new twist on a business incubator is designed to house early biotech start-ups as well as venture capitalists. The tenant names have been kept hidden from anyone outside of Mayo Clinic and the usual insider crowd of public figures.

And yet this morning, a couple of venture capitalist firms' names are as clear as glass as being part of this private/public project.

Sanderling Ventures and Versant Ventures are up on the window, along with Mayo Clinic Ventures, the City of Rochester and RAEDI.

The California-based firm has a lot of experience working with Mayo Clinic and Mayo-related companies, like Torax and Naviscan.

I don't know as much as about Versant Ventures, but it is also based in California. However, it also has an office in Minneapolis.

Here's some background on the accelerator:

Mayo Clinic is giving $100,000 to turn the unused space, which is owned by the city, into offices. RAEDI will handle the management and leasing of the space.

HGA, which was the architect firm for the building, handled designs for this space. Lots of glass walls, I hear. Rents are expected to range from $13 to $15 per square foot.

Push to find 'Holy Grail' treatment marks historic milestone

A quest for the medical Holy Grail of regenerating a patient's heart tissue to help millions of sufferers and potentially make billions of dollars recently hit a historic milestone, when a Mayo Clinic-developed treatment was given the green light to move into the final stages of testing.

Belgium-based Cardio3 BioSciences licensed Mayo Clinic's research in this area in 2007. That research was led by Mayo Clinic's Dr. Andre Terzic and Dr. Atta Behfar.

The therapy involves taking stem cells from a patient's  bone marrow and through a proprietary process called Cardiopoiesis, re-programs those cells to become heart cells. The cells are then injected back into the patient's heart to repair damaged tissue.

Cardio3 describes the ongoing ties to Mayo Clinic on its web site, "The company's current relationship with Mayo Clinic is essentially based on the technology license agreement, through which the company acquired at arms’ length rights to the majority of its current intellectual property portfolio and which has created a long-term research relationship with Mayo Clinic."

Cardio3 is a  privately owned company that has raised about $57.6 million in financing since it launched. The breakdown of its investors on its website shows Mayo Clinic controls 25 percent of the company's capitalization. In 2011, Cardio3 deepened the already close relationship by establishing its U.S. headquarters in Rochester on the third floor of the Minnesota Biobusiness Center.

It estimated that about 23 million people worldwide are afflicted with congestive heart failure and 2 million new cases are diagnosed each year worldwide. It is a disorder on the increase in the U.S., in particular. Analysts have estimated a successful treatment for congestive heart failure could bring in about $1 billion a year for whatever company that brings it to market.

Many biotechnology firms have been working on their own approaches, but it appears Cardio3 is ahead of others pursuing treatments involving stem cells.

Cardio3 and Mayo Clinic have marked many positive results during Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, while working on this treatment now called C3BS-CQR-1 over the years. Now Cardio3 has been given the green light to follow up its Phase II trial that was conducted between 2009 and 2010 in Belgium, Serbia and Switzerland.

"Heart failure remains a significant unmet clinical need associated with high morbidity, mortality and escalating healthcare costs. We believe C3BS-CQR-1 has a potential to become an alternative to heart transplantation, which is the only curative treatment for heart failure available today," stated Dr Christian Homsy, CEO of Cardio3 BioSciences, in the company's recent announcement. "Our Phase III trial is the first to begin anywhere in the world for a regenerative therapy for this indication. We look forward to confirming the promising results we have already seen in our Phase II study."

The Phase III trial will take place in Belgium. The trial will recruit a minimum of 240 patients with chronic advanced symptomatic heart failure.

BioBusiness accelerator center plans moving along

Remember the accelerator center that the City of Rochester, RAEDI and Mayo Clinic are putting together in the Minnesota BioBusiness Center?

That's the deal where 2,500 square feet of office space on the BioBusiness Center's second floor is being fitted up to house early biotech start-ups and venture capitalists. That's probably the spot where the MinneDemo event was held last week.

Anyway, an application for the buiding permits for the project were filed with the city on Monday.

The app doesn't have much info on it, like cost. It is interesting that the "Public Owned" box is not checked. I assume that's just an oversight.

Mayo Clinic is giving $100,000 to turn the unused space, which is owned by the city, into offices. RAEDI will handle the management and leasing of the space.

I was told before that it is expected to include about six offices plus a conference room and other public areas. HGA, which was the architect firm for the building, is working on designs for this space. Rents are expected to range from $13 to $15 per square foot.

The bottom line is that the project, which the Rochester City Council gave its blessing to a couple weeks ago, is coming to life.

Illinois couple kick in $10 million for Mayo Clinic proton beam project

Here's a quick blast from Moline, Ill.

A Moline couple, Lawrence W. and Marilyn W. Matteson, are donating $10 million for the Mayo Clinic Proton Beam Therapy Program,

The Quad-City Times reports that:

"Along with the gift, the Mayo Clinic will use matching gift funds to establish the Lawrence W. and Marilyn W. Matteson Fund in Cancer Research."

Mayo Clinic's proton beam center growing

Work continues to hammer along on Mayo Clinic's the Richard O. Jacobson Building and the pencil-beam proton radiation therapy center continues to rise in downtown Rochester. 

This the massive project at Second Street Northwest and First Avenue Northwest. With a few massive projects underway, I thought I should be clear.

At the start of this month, there was a 24-hour-long "Big Pour" of concrete for the $187.5 million building.

With that forest of rebar, it Looks like they still have plenty of concrete to pour.

And remember, this might be just the first phase of a much larger project.

Mayo Clinic also has conceptual plans on the table for the possible second phase to build a 17-story tower on top of the Jacobson  complex.

With 19 stories above ground, the building would fall just two floors short of the Gonda Building's 21.

Cancer test firm Exact Sciences, Mayo Clinic expand deal

A biotech firm developing cancer tests potentially worth billions is deepening its links to Mayo Clinic by expanding its collaborations and licensing deals.

On Thursday, the Madison, Wis.-based Exact Sciences Corp. announced the new milestone in its long relationship with Mayo Clinic. Exact is best known for Cologuard, a stool-based DNA test for colorectal cancer that it developed with Mayo Clinic.

The test is currently in clinical trials. Mayo Clinic and Exact originally signed a research and licensing agreement in 2009 for “the exclusive rights to intellectual property” developed by Mayo Clinic's Dr. David A. Ahlquist and his laboratory.

This is new Exact/Mayo announcement basically an extension of their original deal. It expands it to include all gastrointestinal cancers and diseases as well as new cancer screening applications of stool- and blood-based testing. Exact will continue to have exclusive rights to commercialize anything that comes from this collaboration.

Exact says it will make up-front, milestone and royalty payments to Mayo Clinic, as in the past. It will also continue to fund the collaborative work done in Dr. Ahlquist’s lab.

“Our collaboration with Mayo Clinic and Dr. Ahlquist has been extraordinarily productive, culminating in the Cologuard marker panel that will be used in our DeeP-C clinical trial and commercialized when it’s approved by the FDA,” said Exact's CEO Kevin T. Conroy.

At first Exact was based in Marlborough, Mass. It was decided to move the firm to the Midwest and Rochester was among the locations considered. In 2009, the Wisconsin Department of Commerce gave Exact a $1 million loan to re-locate to Madison, Wis.

The American Cancer Society says colorectal cancer remains the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in both men and women in the United States and accounts for almost 10 percent of all cancer deaths.

Exact estimates that reaching about 30 percent of the U.S. commercial market for colorectal cancer testing would add up to about $1.2 billion in business. Expand that worldwide and the market opportunity grows to $3 billion, according to the company's materials.