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2015-09-01 Eagan Business NewsEAGAN BUSINESS NEWS | THIRD QUARTER 2015 1cityofeagan.com EAGAN JOURNAL OF THE EAGAN BUSINESS COMMUNITY BUSINESS NEWS As recently as the 1930s, marijuana was the second-most-prescribed medicine for pain in the United States. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. Minnesota is number twenty-two. Walk into the new LeafLine Labs care center in Eagan and you might be struck by how familiar it seems. Mostly, it feels like any other clinic — with comfortable couches and chairs, the latest periodicals and a TV. The design is contemporary and the colors are soothing. It’s actually spa-like, especially as you move from the lobby to the waiting area, again thoughtfully furnished with the addition of coffee and tea service plus healthful snacks. Patients check in at the front desk and wait to be called back to the waiting area or one of the consult rooms. Off the waiting room is a hallway that leads to a large space ready for any number of uses: meetings, community gatherings or even yoga classes. What isn’t so obvious is the clinic’s security. The facility has been designed with comprehensive, complex, and high-tech virtual and physical security, including a metal drawer — much like you’d find at a drive-through bank — through which the pharmacy dispenses prescriptions from behind security glass. All in all, it’s not unlike some other hospital pharmacies in that regard. The clinic opened July 1, the day Minnesota’s medicinal marijuana laws took effect. THIRD QUARTER 2015 VOLUME 13 NUMBER 3 Medical marijuana clinic opens in Eagan MARK YOUR CALENDAR SUBSCRIBE ONLINE City of Eagan 3830 Pilot Knob Road Eagan, Minnesota 55122 To subscribe to Eagan Business News or our online publication, E-Biz, please visit us at cityofeagan.com/EBN. Pioneer. Trailblazer. Those names have been applied a few times to Andrew Bachman, M.D., cofounder of LeafLine Labs, one of only two Minnesota medical marijuana manufacturers. “It’s hard to accept those titles when this is something [people have] been doing for thousands of years,” he says, referring to cannibis’ long medicinal history. Today, while Minnesota is among 23 states that have made the medicinal herb legal, it is taking a much more demanding approach and requiring research. In this issue, we talk with Bachman about the law, his patients and the future of the fledgling medical cannabis industry. We also pay a return visit to Twin Cities Premium Outlets on its first birthday. At press time, we learned that the Minnesota Vikings have signed a purchase agreement for 185 acres in Eagan, potentially for a new Winter Park headquarters. Watch for more news in a future issue. SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 Cybersecurity Essentials: Is Your Business Protected? 8:30 a.m. to noon, Hyatt Regency, Minneapolis. Keynote: Michael Daniel, special assistant to the U.S. president and cybersecurity coordinator. Register at mnchamber.com. FROM THE EDITOR BREAKING NEWS LeafLine Labs serves seriously ill patients LeafLine coNtINUEd oN PAGE 2 LeafLine Labs offers a spa-like feeling in its care center’s décor and furnishings. “I’m so proud to get back to my roots, so to speak,” says Andrew Bachman, M.D., who combines his career as an emergency medicine physician and his role as a fifth- generation member of the Bachman family (well-known for their plant nurseries) in his new venture as cofounder of LeafLine Labs, one of only two Minnesota medical marijuana manufacturers. EAGAN BUSINESS NEWS | THIRD QUARTER 20152 cityofeagan.com Minnesota’s stringent laws What sparked Governor Dayton’s backing in 2014 — and eventually legislators’ support — of the laws were the emotional appeals by parents of seriously ill children; they argued that the laws’ passage would grant their kids much-needed treatment and would allow the families to stay in Minnesota rather than move to another state with legalized medical cannabis. By mid August, 340 physicians — or roughly nine percent of the state’s total — and 500 patients have become certified. That’s impressive considering that in two and a half years in Connecticut, just 220 physicians and 4,000 patients have signed up to participate. Minnesota’s laws are the nation’s most demanding: They allow only smokeless prescriptions of liquid and pill extracts. Patients must be certified by their physicians, who are asked, not to write prescriptions, but simply to confirm that their patients suffer from one of eight conditions: cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Tourette Syndrome, Crohn’s disease, ALS, terminal illness or seizures. Once certified, each patient must enroll in a registry with the Minnesota Department of Health and pay a $200 annual fee. Every month the patient is tracked for an observational study. In addition to only two medical marijuana manufacturers, LeafLine Labs and Minnesota Medical Solutions, only eight care centers are permitted — one per congressional district. LeafLine Labs will open another care center in St. Cloud in September and two more clinics, in Hibbing and St. Paul, next year. Despite all of these strict rules, LeafLine Labs cofounder and chief medical officer Andrew Bachman, M.D., says, “this industry is fraught with potential illegitimacy and has a reputation for [the] same. We will bring a patient focus and legitimacy. We will remove the stigma, remove the doubt. It is truly a responsibility that I don’t take lightly.” Patient-centered service Bachman is an emergency-medicine physician and a fifth-generation member of the Bachman family, best known for their florist shops and plant nurseries. “Horticulture means medicine,” he says, when asked about the synchronicity of his family background and his career in medicine — both leading to his decision to apply for one of two medical marijuana manufacturer operations in the state. While LeafLine Lab’s greenhouse is in Cottage Grove, Bachman’s team placed its first care center in Eagan due to its proximity to both Minneapolis and St. Paul. The City, he says, could not have been more welcoming, and he loves the community. As a local ER physician, Bachman, who graduated from Georgetown Medical School, grew increasingly concerned about the myriad drugs that patients are prescribed. He offers Centers for Disease Control statistics: Nearly 44,000 people die annually from accidental drug overdoses; 17,000 of those individuals die from accidental narcotic prescription overdoses. The CDC calls it an epidemic. “In emergency medicine,” he says, “about every other prescription that flies out the door is a narcotic prescription, and you know that many of those will be associated with tolerance or dependence and/or abuse. That potentially becomes life threatening.” Bachman began researching medical cannabis in depth and says he started realizing its historic use (the earliest recorded use dates to 2800 B.C.), its “significant legitimacy” (studies abroad are numerous and positive) and its efficacy for patients suffering from a wide range of diseases. Interestingly, he notes, in a study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the percentage of prescription overdose deaths drops significantly wherever BriefLy PeOPLe: Jeff Boyce, a leadership- development and technology-services expert, has been named vice president of services at Avionté, a staffing software company in Eagan v Jeffrey B. Larson, president of JBL Companies in Eagan, was awarded the first Rotarian of the Year award for his membership- development efforts and for the partnership he developed between Eagan Rotary and the Southwest Area YMCA. BUSiNeSS: Ecolab announced it is spending $40 million to purchase the U.S. operations of Swisher Hygiene Inc., struggling of late, which makes hygiene and sanitizing products for a variety of industries. v Eagan-based and family-owned Gregory’s Foods (gregorysfoods.com) is not just growing its operations and boosting its staff: The nationwide baking supplier is celebrating 35 years of providing customers with made-from-scratch baked goods and products. v Minnesota Business Magazine has released its 2015 100 Best Companies to Work for Awards, which includes two Eagan companies: among medium-sized businesses, Intertech placed second (it’s been named to the magazine’s list 10 other times) and American Cancer Society was listed at eighth. v Among the companies that made Inc. magazine’s fastest-growing companies is Prime Therapeutics, a pharmacy-benefits manager in Eagan. v Ryland Homes is building a new brownstone-inspired townhome development in Cedar Grove; the model home/sales office LeafLine coNtINUEd FRoM covER Briefly coNtINUEd oN NEXt PAGE Jeffrey B. Larson A display of lotions and other products features hemp items. EAGAN BUSINESS NEWS | THIRD QUARTER 2015 3cityofeagan.com medical cannabis is legal. Bachman refers to one of his favorite quotes: “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” That Maya Angelou bit of wisdom, he says, spurs him on to help people by providing medicine that will offer results without the dependency most narcotics create. “The Hippocratic oath suggests first do no harm, and that’s where I found myself,” he says. Patient-centered care Already, results have been dramatic. One of Bachman’s youngest patients — he calls them “kiddos” — typically experienced 90 atonic, or drop, seizures and up to 10 grand mal seizures every day — despite the fact that she had tried nearly two dozen pharmaceuticals. She was wheelchair bound and hadn’t walked on her own in 18 months, sleeping just one to two hours a night. She received her first prescription of medical cannabis from Dr. Bachman in late July. That first night she slept five hours and within 48 hours she was walking again. A week after beginning her prescription, she had only experienced three seizures. The results felt nothing short of life altering — both for the nine-year-old patient and her family. Bachman calls the child’s mother one of his heroes for her relentless advocacy on behalf of her daughter and other Minnesotans who need this medicine. Bachman feels called to this work — for this girl, for his friend and mentor, John, who suffers from ALS, and for others: “I do this for my aunt and godmother who lost her dominant arm to cancer. I do this for my cousin’s child who has intractable seizure disorder. This could not matter to me more — to be done and executed correctly.” Bachman doesn’t expect negative attitudes regarding marijuana to change overnight. After all, he says, most of us have been raised to believe this plant is not just bad but evil. Yet cannabis has been used as medicine forever and its tenacity — Bachman calls it the “cockroach of the plant kingdom” — is what makes it so amazing, with “incredible defense mechanisms.” No wonder, he says, it has antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties. “It’s been easy to stay motivated when you know what you’re doing is so worthwhile and to now be seeing firsthand the results of that effort and the importance of that effort to a patient, their family and community. It’s exactly why LeafLine Labs exists.” At the greenhouse Nearby, in Cottage Grove, is the company’s state-of-the-art, 42,000-square-foot, secure greenhouse. A sign posted there reads, “Hope. Grown here.” Bachman likes reminding the growers that they are just as important as anyone else on the LeafLine Labs team, including the pharmacist. Meanwhile, the high-tech greenhouse controls every variable: lighting, humidity, carbon dioxide and more. The plants are organic, hydroponic and pesticide-free. “I grew up in greenhouses, chasing my brothers and playing hide and seek,” he says. “Plants for me are second nature.” But even Bachman, who understands all too well the importance of medical marijuana, couldn’t shake its malevolent aura when he first entered the LeafLine Labs greenhouse. There, he saw “the baby plants in tidy rows like little bonsai trees” and smelled the “earthy, herbaceous scent, like tomato plants,” yet, he says, the hairs stood up on his neck. It felt like he was doing something wrong. “That made me really sad and angry,” he says. “This is just a plant.” That’s why education is so important going forward. “Education is key,” he says. “When you know what I know, it is inconceivable that a responsible caregiver would not support developing this industry responsibly in Minnesota. I certainly feel that responsibility as one of the state’s registrants to help provide that education, help bridge those knowledge gaps and help inform what this program is...and what this program is not.” is scheduled to open by early November. v Scantron Analytics, based in Eagan, won the Best in Show Award for its promising educational technology at the International Society for Technology in Education conference in July. v Thomson Reuters’ Eagan campus is the temporary home of crop art inspired by Van Gogh’s “Olive Trees.” Artist Stan Herd plans to complete the living, growing image by Sept. 10 in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. v Vivant, a smart-home technology provider, received the Central Station of the Year award by the Central Station Alarm Association for its new 24-hour central monitoring center in Eagan; on its company blog, the business lauds Eagan for its “exceptional quality of life, with abundant opportunities for education, leisure and healthy living.” GOVerNMeNT: Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) reports that ridership for the first half of the year is up 6.1 percent compared to last year. That increase includes local service arriving and departing from the Cedar Grove Transit Station. EBN Briefly coNtINUEd FRoM PREvIoUS PAGE Looking ahead Bachman expects that Minnesota will push the boundaries of science forward on the horticultural, medical and clinical fronts of this industry. “With our restrictive program — thanks to the Governor, legislature and the department of health that oversaw it — we are well positioned to be the program to emulate in this country going forward...from cultivation to caregiving.” Already, he’s got connections at the University of Minnesota and has been fielding calls from other states looking to do something similar. In addition, he notes that the law’s research requirement will provide a huge amount of data, which will quickly “become a bell curve such that Minnesota will write the book on appropriate dosing guidelines and medication formulations for other states going forward.” After completing a care-center tour and morning meeting, Bachman returns to his work: overseeing LeafLine Labs. “It is such a pleasure to care for people who thought they were out of options, watch them walk out the door with a refill and often snap a selfie, knowing they are doing something relatively historic.” EBN “EducaTIon Is kEy... IT Is InconcEIvaBlE ThaT a rEsPonsIBlE carEgIvEr would noT suPPorT dEvEloPIng ThIs IndusTry rEsPonsIBly In MInnEsoTa.” – andrEw BachMan, M.d. EAGAN BUSINESS NEWS | THIRD QUARTER 20154 www.cityofeagan.com STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES, MN PERMIT NO. 4902 3830 Pilot Knob Road Eagan, Minnesota 55122 Medical marijuana clinic opens in Eagan LeafLine Labs serves seriously ill patientsp1 p2 p4 Briefly Eagan businesses make magazines’ “best” lists and more Happy birthday, Twin Cities Premium Outlets Upscale outlet mall pleases customers, retailers IN THIS ISSUE Design & Layout Cory Laux Overdog Art Editor Karin B. Miller Working Words, Inc. Twin Cities Premium Outlets pulled out all the stops in mid-August to celebrate its first birthday with fashion shows, live entertainment, giveaways and “extraordinary deals.” Since opening last summer, the 400,000-square-foot, 106-store upscale center has been busy delighting “our shoppers, our retailers, our own company — everyone has been very, very pleased with the performance of the center,” says Peter Lund, general manager. He notes that Monday through Thursday, shoppers tend to be local, while “tourism traffic really picks up” on weekends. Some surrounding businesses too have seen a sales boost following redevelopment. “All those things that the City was trying to do, they’ve accomplished with this development,” says Kay Butler, McDonald’s owner, who has expanded staffing and appreciates the area’s continued development. And Brent Cory, president and CEO, Eagan Convention & Visitors Bureau, couldn’t be more thrilled with the increased demand for visitor guides and group tour inquiries. This fall, Lund is looking forward to introducing more locals to the center during Streets Alive on Sept. 12, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you have employees new to the area, they can make connections with 100 community and City groups, interact with City departments, and visit the outlet mall — all along Eagan Outlets Parkway. EBN Cedar Grove’s upscale outlet mall celebrates first birthday “all ThosE ThIngs ThaT ThE cIT y was TryIng To do, ThEy’vE accoMPlIshEd wITh ThIs dEvEloPMEnT.” – kay BuTlEr