A startup chemical products company born out of Michigan State University wants more space at the former Pfizer complex now owned by the University of Michigan.

BoroPharm, which last year became the first outside company to lease space at U-M's North Campus Research Complex, is growing and "planning to expand its presence at the U-M complex," tech news site Xconomy reported.

The university is “sitting on a lot of square footage and our expansion needs will require additional space,” BoroPharm CEO Todd Zahn told Xconomy. “It’s a very good resource for us to be able to expand without having to build."

The company, which also rents space from MSU, rents a 4,300-square-foot lab building at the ex-Pfizer site.

David Canter, executive director of the NCRC and the former leader of the 174-acre campus when it was operated by Pfizer, said last year that BoroPharm occupies a "very specialized chemistry facility."

The university has said it wants to continue to strike commercial partnerships to use parts of the ex-Pfizer site, which now has about 600 U-M employees. The university has launched a new business incubator for its own startup employees on the Pfizer campus.

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