MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — It’s a sign of tough times for promising technologies. The biotech startup VitalMedix, which is developing a drug to protect bodies from severe blood loss, is leaving Minnesota for Wisconsin to take advantage of a state tax-credit program.
“Any start up has to look for the most fertile ground for investment,” President Jeffrey Williams said. “Right now Wisconsin has a better opportunity than does Minnesota.
“In this economy, for a start up, surviving is everything,” he said. “This is what we have to do until the economy gets better. This technology is far too important to die from a lack of seed funding.”
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VitalMedix makes Tamiasyn, which in animal tests protected cells, organs and tissue after more than 60-percent blood loss. The company thinks the product is ideal for military medics, paramedics and trauma surgeons, and could cut death rates from auto accidents and gunshot wounds. It hopes to start clinical trials in the next 18 months, Williams said.
The company is also in the midst of raising $1.5 million in convertible debt, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Williams would not discuss the fund-raise.
But is this announcement also the sign of a bit of a border war? VitalMedix is the latest Minnesota company to move across the border to Wisconsin. Rapid Diagnostek, formerly of St. Paul, left for Wisconsin last year and other companies are considering a move, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Williams said Wisconsin was an ideal choice because VitalMedix’s technology was developed at the University of Minnesota, so the company needed to be close to university researchers to continue its operations. Wisconsin is also more aggressive about recruiting and funding like VitalMedix, a four-member businesses Williams described as a “blip on the radar.”
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“An additional curve ball to try to hit (in Minnesota) is that we’re a biotech company,” William said. “The Twin Cities is the birthplace of medical-device technology. There have been some very successful investors in medical device technology. But they look at this … and it’s a different deal to try and understand.”
[Photo courtesy of Flickr users Kadavy]
