News regarding Oslo Cancer Cluster

Health companies gained investors’ attention

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Strong Norwegian oncology presence at DNB Nordic Healthcare Conference 2022.

The DNB Nordic Healthcare Conference was back with in-person attendance last week, connecting some of the best Nordic health companies with eager investors at the DNB main office in Oslo.

“Health is key in Norway’s transition to a green economy. DNB shows great social responsibility by bringing together key players in business, investment, and health. It is encouraging to see the high-quality of the companies at this conference,” commented Ketil Widerberg, general manager at Oslo Cancer Cluster.

The conference included four different sessions with company presentations. A total of 14 members from Oslo Cancer Cluster were there, demonstrating the first-class cancer innovation emerging from Norwegian research environments.

The podcast Radium, produced by the investment fund Radforsk, also recorded an episode with perspectives on where the Nordic healthcare sectors.

 

Up-and-coming companies competed

Eleven health start-ups competed for the Health Prize of NOK 1 million during the Venture Session. Six members of Oslo Cancer Cluster were selected for this competition, and two were fast-tracked for the final. Here are snapshots from their pitches:

Bjørn Klem presented Adjutec Pharma, a company fighting against the global crisis of anti-microbial resistance.

Kerstin Jakobsson presented Kongsberg Beam Technology, a medtech start-up developing the next generation’s proton radiation therapy, by personalising the treatment for each patient.

Katja Vetvik presented Thelper, a Norwegian company that is developing targeted immunotherapies against cancer.

Peter W. Eide presented Oncosyne, a company that will provide game-changing functional diagnostic tools that give cancer patients significantly better and longer lives.

Torbjørn Furuseth presented DoMore Diagnostics, a company that is transforming cancer diagnostics with artificial intelligence.

Adam Robertson presented Hemispherian, a company developing a pipeline of first-in-class epigenetic therapeutics against aggressive cancers.

The companies ArxxTherapeutics, Bulbitech, Clexbio, Helseboka and Nadenod also pitched in this session. After a nerve-racking final, with heated discussions in the investor panel and a packed auditorium voting for their favorite start-up, Clexbio won the prestigious prize.

 

Oncology companies drew a crowd

There were two sessions with listed companies and one session with private companies, including 9 members from Oslo Cancer Cluster in total. The rooms filled up quickly, and the companies received many questions from curious investors. Here are some messages from their presentations.

Dan Schneider, CEO of Photocure, described how the company is improving the lives of bladder cancer patients with unique photodynamic technology for diagnosis and treatment. Visit the Photocure website to learn more.

Jan Alfheim, CEO of Oncoinvent, presented how the company uses alpha-emitting radiotherapeutics to kill all cancer cells in body cavities, including micro-metastatic disease. Visit the Oncoinvent website to learn more.

Martin Olin, CEO of BerGenBio, introduced how the company uses targeting AXL inhibitors to prevent the progression of cancer.

Visit the BerGenBio website to learn more.

 

Namir Hassan, CEO of Zelluna Immunotherapy, talked about how the company wants to save lives through innovative cancer-targeted cell therapies, using the unique TCR-NK technology.

Visit the Zelluna Immunotherapy website to learn more.

 

Per Walday, CEO of Exact Therapeutics, informed about how the company improves drug delivery with an ultrasound technology platform, using specifically designed microbubbles.

Visit the Exact Therapeutics website to learn more.

 

Mikael Engsig, CEO of Nykode Therapeutics, addressed how the company’s unique vaccine technology platform has the potential to be applicable to several disease areas.

Visit the Nykode Therapeutics website to learn more.

 

Carlos de Sousa, CEO of Ultimovacs, focused on the company’s next-generation universal cancer vaccine, that can educate the immune system to recognize telomerase, an enzyme that is expressed in 85% of all cancer types.

Visit the Ultimovacs website to learn more.

 

Erik Wiklund, CEO of Targovax, spoke about how the company wants to make PD1 checkpoint inhibitors work for all patients, with the company’s oncolytic therapy.

Visit the Targovax website to learn more.

 

The conference was organised by DNB with support from Oslo Cancer Cluster and Norway Health Tech. The event also collaborates with the following Norwegian clusters and networks in healthcare: The Life Science Cluster, Norwegian Smart Care Cluster, The Life Science Cluster, Norwegian Inflammation Network, Nansen Neuroscience Network and Aleap.

Unsplash / Kenta Kikuchi

10 highlights from Oslo Cancer Cluster 2022

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Scroll down to see our 10 highlights of the year.

2022 has been a year of post-pandemic growth for us, where we have revitalised the team, made new collaborations across borders and raised our voice on political issues. We have also started new initiatives, created more meeting places and welcomed new members to our community. Find out how you can engage with us in the snippets below.

 

Growing our community

We are nothing without our members. This year, we welcomed 10 new members to our cluster, strengthening our position as one of Norway’s leading health clusters.

The membership base spans different sectors of society, including: academia, drug development, technology, human resources and recruitment, legal firms, clinical service providers, investment funds, and more. The size of our members ranges from one-person companies to multi-national corporations. The one thing all members have in common is the motivation to work together to accelerate the development of cancer treatments and diagnostics.

Make some new connections! Please visit our Member Overview to see who else is part of our cluster.

New members of Oslo Cancer Cluster in 2022.

 

Arranging popular meeting places

Meeting places are the heart and soul of our organisation. This is where people meet to discuss how to accelerate the development of cancer treatments and diagnostics. Whether your interest lies in educational forums, political debate, partnering opportunities, networking with colleagues or meetings with investors, we have a tailored event for you. Here are a few from the year gone-by:

  • Cancer Crosslinks, an annual event with talks from some of the most renowned cancer researchers in the world, accompanied by lively interactions between the participants, took place in January.
  • Fremtidens kreftbehandling was arranged in April and August, offering vibrant political discussions between patients, politicians, clinicians, and industry representatives.
  • The Summer and December Gatherings, two networking events for our members and stakeholders to get to know one another in an informal setting, were organised in June and December.
  • NLSDays brought us to Malmö (Sweden) in the end of September. We promoted Norwegian life science in a joint booth and helped our members achieve the most from their partnering.
  • DNB Nordic Healthcare Conference, a unique place for investors to meet with start-ups in the Norwegian healthcare sector, takes place in December.

Did these teasers spark your interest? Please visit our Event Calendar to register for events.

Our events offer educational forums, networking opportunities and new arenas for cooperation. This photo was taken at a satellite meeting in connection with Onkologisk forum 2022. Photo: Fartein Rudjord / CONNECT

 

Building successful companies

Similar to how an incubator provides a warm, nurturing growth environment for babies, Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator helps early-stage cancer start-ups develop into successful businesses.

This year, five companies from our Incubator (DoMore Diagnostics, Thelper, Adjutec Pharma, Kongsberg Beam Technology and OncoSyne) were selected for the DNB Nordic Healthcare Conference’s Venture Session. Several companies pitched at NLSInvest, at BioStock Life Science Summit and were also featured in the International Cancer Cluster Showcase digital brochure.

As a recognition of the Incubator’s accomplishments, SIVA extended their financing for another year with NOK 3,5 million. This means we can continue to help cancer start-ups grow and develop life-saving treatments.

Interested in the services and facilities at Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator? Visit their website or contact Janne Nestvold, COO of Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator, to schedule a visit.

Janne Nestvold, COO of Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator, takes an active and hands-on approach when developing the cancer start-ups. This photo was taken at the Biostock Life Science Summit 2022. Photo: Elisabeth Kirkeng Andersen

 

Connecting public with private

There is a wave of promising cancer treatments coming in the field of precision medicine. Still, questions remain about how to quickly get these implemented in the Norwegian healthcare system.

The public-private consortium CONNECT was set up in 2021 by 22 founding partners to drive the implementation of precision cancer medicine in Norway, with Oslo Cancer Cluster as project manager.

During 2022, CONNECT has held a long line of educational seminars, grown to include 30 partners, created a positive climate for public-private collaborations in cancer, and put Norway on the map for precision cancer medicine internationally, most notably in a Letter to the Editor in Nature Medicine.

Get engaged in CONNECT! Please visit the CONNECT website or contact Jutta Heix, Project Lead in CONNECT and Head of International Affairs in Oslo Cancer Cluster.

In CONNECT, stakeholders from both the public and private sector work together to drive the implementation of precision cancer medicine. This photo was taken at one of the Steering Committee meetings in 2022. Foto: Fartein Rudjord

 

Making our voice heard

We fight for political change, so cancer innovation in Norway can thrive. One way of doing this is by affecting the framework conditions, such as national policies, governmental strategies and state budgets.

That is why we had an active presence at Arendalsuka 2022, where we held meetings together with our partners, talked to politicians and promoted topics that are important for our members.

We also had a record number of on-site visits by curious politicians that want to learn more about our cancer eco-system.

Help us affect political change! Read all our input or get in touch with Wenche Gerhardsen, Head of Communications at Oslo Cancer Cluster.

Three people outside a building.

Jan Christian Vestre, Minister of Industry, received a tour of Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park, by Ingrid Stenstadvold Ross, general secretary of the Norwegian Cancer Society, and Ketil Widerberg, general manager in Oslo Cancer Cluster, in August 2022. Photo: Oslo Cancer Cluster

 

Inspiring homegrown talent

We want to raise the next generation of cancer researchers. That is why we have a collaboration with Ullern Upper Secondary School, where we take students out of the traditional classroom setting and give them a taste of what life as a researcher or health professional is like.

During 2022, we arranged work placements for the students and a thematic day together with clinicians from the Radium Hospital. We also had good news from several Ullern alumni, including Simone Mester becoming CEO of start-up Authera and Ullern students winning EU Science Competition.

We know these students can become the entrepreneurs, inventors, researchers and talents that the Norwegian life science environment needs. We are proud to help inspire them.

How can you help inspire the young? Read more on the website or get in touch with Bente Prestegård, Project Manager in Oslo Cancer Cluster.

 

Joining the European efforts

The European Union has launched a Cancer Mission with the goal to improve the lives of 3 million people living with cancer by 2030. We want to position Norway to help this ambitious endeavour.

In 2022, we launched a national Cancer Mission Hub together with key players in the Norwegian cancer field. The hub will inform about EU opportunities, mobilise the Norwegian stakeholders and foster collaboration between all participants.

Get engaged with the hub! Read more on the Cancer Mission Hub website or get in touch with Marine Jeanmougin, EU Advisor in Oslo Cancer Cluster.

 

Strengthening the team

We employed two new team members to meet the demands of all ongoing activities.

Marine Jeanmougin, our new EU advisor, brings aboard scientific expertise and has unique perspectives into European affairs. You can contact Marine for help with applications to EU funding and for information on upcoming EU calls.

Marine Jeanmougin, EU Advisor, Oslo Cancer Cluster

Dave Tippett, our new Membership advisor, is an administration wizard that helps the team, our members and everyone in the office become more efficient. Dave splits his time between Oslo Cancer Cluster and the Incubator to ensure that things are running smoothly, so the researchers have time to focus on what they do best.

Dave Tippett, Membership advisor, Oslo Cancer Cluster

For general queries, please visit our Team page to find out who to contact.

 

 

Click here to read selected milestones from our biotech members in 2022

AstraZeneca

Joining forces to help life science start-ups

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AstraZeneca, the SPARK Norway programme at University of Oslo and Oslo Cancer Cluster enter a new mentoring collaboration for life science start-ups.

A new collaboration between the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, the SPARK Programme at Norway’s largest life science university and Norway’s only cancer cluster is set in motion to grow the life science sector in the Nordics. At the core of the collaboration is AstraZeneca’s business and science mentoring programme, called AstraZeneca Exchange Nordics.

How does it work?

Mentors from AstraZeneca support Nordic entrepreneurs and start-ups to speed up innovations that benefit patients. By sharing expertise, the mentors help move start-ups towards sustainable and successful growth.

The mentors cover a wide range of expertise for all phases of drug development but also help to address critical issues such as health economics, payer and market access and business development. Furthermore, the programme offers mentoring opportunities in Data Science, AI and Digital Health.

“Our goal is to focus on where we can help to make a difference. We want to see more successful companies grow and increase the attractiveness of the Nordic region. By contributing with knowledge and expertise from AstraZeneca mentors, we can with simple measurements add value and inspiration for start-ups in the Life Science sector”, said Joachim Reischl, Head of Diagnostic Science AstraZeneca, and AZ mentor.

Air view of modern buildings

Air view of the AstraZeneca site in Gothenburg, Sweden. Photo: AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca has established relationships with several Nordic incubators, connecting entrepreneurs with AstraZeneca mentors. The mentors arrange non-confidential, single advisory sessions on strategic questions in the early start-up journey to help entrepreneurial ideas grow.

Oslo Cancer Cluster and the SPARK Norway programme at University of Oslo will both identify and select projects or companies in their networks that may benefit from mentoring.

Access to industry specialists

The mentoring programme and the public-private collaboration fits right into Oslo Cancer Cluster’s goal to support the development of promising start-ups in the cancer field.

“Via AstraZeneca’s business & science mentoring programme Oslo Cancer Cluster’s start-ups and biotechs get access to industry specialists for discussing strategic questions early in their R&D journey. It will be truly helpful for a variety of start-ups in our cluster”, said Jutta Heix, Head of International Affairs at Oslo Cancer Cluster.

“Mentoring from AstraZeneca’s experts will be highly valuable for the SPARK Norway projects in their endeavour to build new start-ups based on their innovative academic ideas. Getting the industry perspective and feedback will help the projects progress in the right direction and shape their understanding of how they can develop their idea into a new product”, stated Morten Egeberg, Administrative Leader UiO:Life Science and Leader SPARK Norway at the University of Oslo.

A positive contribution

Inven2 is a Tech Transfer Office, owned by the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, that was established to administer the commercial potential of inventions and work from these two institutions and all the health trusts in the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority. They welcome the initiative for projects and start-ups in the SPARK and Oslo Cancer Cluster networks.

“We welcome these new opportunities for academic innovators and start-up companies emerging from the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital. When establishing new start-ups, competence and previous experience is of critical importance. The AstraZeneca mentoring programme will indeed be a positive contribution to support new entrepreneurs for faster onboarding on their innovation journey”, said Jens Halvard Grønlien, Vice President Innovation in Inven2.

Oslo Cancer Cluster and the SPARK Norway programme at University of Oslo both signed a memorandum of understanding with AstraZeneca in October 2022.

             

                                     

 

More information about AstraZeneca’s business & science mentoring program can be found on their website via the following links:

Are you an Oslo Cancer Cluster member, interested in this mentoring programme? Please contact Jutta Heix.

Positioning Norway towards the EU Cancer Mission 

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Artificial intelligence is one of the central themes as Norway responds to the EU Cancer Mission.

The European Union has launched the Mission on Cancer and the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan that aim to jointly improve the lives of 3 million people by 2030. 

Norwegian organisations working in cancer, including Oslo Cancer Cluster, the Norwegian Research Council, the Norwegian Cancer Society and others, have joined forces to make the most of these opportunities. Together, they have formed the Cancer Mission Hub Norway. 

“With a long tradition of patient involvement, a strong national health service and many emerging companies in the health sector, Norway is uniquely positioned to respond to the EU’s Cancer Mission,” said Ole Aleksander Opdalshei, Deputy General Secretary of the Norwegian Cancer Society, as he opened the meeting Artificial Intelligence in Cancer – Implementation and EU opportunities. 

One of the hub’s initiatives is to position Norway in the AI field, by gathering relevant actors and exploring the AI & cancer theme. 

View the meeting here:

The promises of AI 

Vibeke Binz Vallevik, moderator for the meeting held at Kreftforeningens Vitensenter on 13 October 2022 introduced the subject: 

“We have been talking about AI in healthcare for a few years now – its hype and potential. How it can accelerate research, help drug discovery, handle large datasets, improve manual processes and be a tool for clinical decision support.” 

The possible applications of AI in oncology are plentiful. An example of how artificial intelligence can be used to improve cancer prognosis is the DoMore Project, from the Institute of Cancer Genetics and Informatics, Oslo University Hospital. 

“AI and deep learning represent a new era for prognosis and the field is growing exponentially,” said Professor Håvard Danielsen, leader of the DoMore Project and recipient of the King Olav V’s Cancer Research Award, during a keynote speech at the meeting. 

Danielsen presented how they have developed an AI-based prognostic tool for prostate, colorectal and lung cancer. 

Read more about DoMore here: https://oslocancercluster.no/2022/05/09/ai-researcher-gets-cancer-award/ 

A challenging path 

Vallevik mentioned the barriers to clinical implementation, including technological issues, legal access, culture, competence, procurement and economic factors, organizational, infrastructure, data quality, quality assurance and trust. This all begs the question: is AI in health just a hype? 

A scientific panel talked about the opportunities and challenges in artifical intelligence and health. Photo: Sofia Linden / Oslo Cancer Cluster

A scientific panel brought their perspectives on these opportunities and challenges. 

“AI is really key to empower and enable precision medicine, so matching patients to drugs and stratifying patients in a more intelligent way. It is absolutely key to fully personalize the cancer therapies in the future. We are working for instance on developing personalized cancer vaccines, that is completely dependent on AI,” commented Richard Stratford, CEO, NEC OncoImmunity AS. 

Inga Strümke, Researcher at the Dept. of Computer Science, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at NTNU, raised an ethical dilemma: 

“You cannot guarantee that a neural network that has learned to solve a problem will always work and function the way you expect and intended it to. So, what should we do instead? I think medicine is well-equipped to answer this question, because it has a strong tradition for testing systematically.”  

As both Hauke Bartsch, Assoc. Prof. (University of Bergen/Dept. of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital) and Ishita Barua, MD & Manager at Deloitte, also pointed out during the discussions, another challenge is ensuring that AI-based tools are adapted for their users, namely the health personnel and the patients.  

How can Norway contribute? 

The second part of the meeting included a keynote speech from Evangelia Markidou, Head of Sector – Artificial Intelligence Technology, Deployment and Impact at European Commission, and a policy panel. The panel discussed how national multidisciplinary initiatives can pave the way for European collaborations. 

“How can a country like Norway contribute? Our public health system is one of the best in the world and the Cancer Registry has collected data from patients for the last 70 years. This enables us to see what is happening on a population scale that other countries cannot. We can document what works and doesn’t work,” said Ketil Widerberg, general manager of Oslo Cancer Cluster. 

The number of successful Norwegian research applications for EU funding also shows great promise.  

“If you look at applications within cancer and artificial intelligence during the last two years, Norwegian researchers have received 10 million euros in total,” said Ole Johan Borge, Department Director Health, Research Council of Norway. 

Cancer Mission Hub Norway will continue to work towards informing, fostering, and mobilising the Norwegian research environments towards the EU Cancer Mission.  

Stay updated to upcoming news and events via the Cancer Mission Hub website