Arendalsuka 2023

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Møt oss i Arendal! Vi skal sette kreftinnovasjon på den politiske dagsorden!

Våre arrangementer streames direkte via vår YouTube-kanal @OsloCancerCluster. 

 

Fremtidens kreftbehandling

Tirsdag 15. august, kl. 08.00-09.00, Clarion Hotel Tyholmen Sal A

Velkommen til frokostseminar om samfunnsoppdraget kreft.

Hvert år får 3,5 millioner europeere diagnosen kreft. Om utviklingen fortsetter, vil tallet være 4,3 millioner i 2035. Kreft er i dag den vanligste dødsårsaken i Norge og i flere europeiske land. Utfordringen på kreftområdet er med andre ord formidabel – og økende. Nettopp derfor har EU definert kreft som en av fem store samfunnsutfordringer, som har fått sine tilsvarende målrettede samfunnsoppdrag, såkalte missions. Disse oppdragene skal føre til løsningsforslag på vår tids største utfordringer innen miljø, klima og kreft.

Hvordan kan vi best lykkes med et samfunnsoppdrag på kreft i Norge? Hva har helsenæring og eksport med et samfunnsoppdrag på kreft å gjøre? Og er det ønskelig fra politisk hold å bruke missions som metode? Dette er sentrale spørsmål vi vil debattere med politikere og samfunnsaktører under dette frokostseminaret i møteserien Fremtidens kreftbehandling.

Arrangører: Oslo Cancer Cluster, Kreftforeningen, Legemiddelindustrien, Janssen Norge, MSD Norge, AstraZeneca Norge

Medisinsk innovasjon etter Inflation Reduction Act

Tirsdag 15. august, kl. 14.30-15.30, Clarion Hotel Tyholmen Sal A

Hvordan vil USAs enorme støttepakke til egen industri påvirke medisinsk innovasjon i Europa og Norge?  

Amerikanerne har lansert en støttepakke til egen industri, kalt Inflation Reduction Act. Denne vil påvirke investeringer i forskning og innovasjon i USA, og få ringvirkninger for Europa og Norge.

Inflation Reduction Act, som ble vedtatt i amerikansk lov i fjor, skal få fart på det grønne skiftet og redusere inflasjonen i USA. Men kommentatorer peker på at det vel så mye er en gigantisk pakke for å hente industri og arbeidsplasser hjem, blant annet gjennom subsidier. I pakken kommer også en rekke tiltak som påvirker utvikling av legemidler. Blant annet har flere legemiddelselskaper uttrykt bekymring for en betydelig usikkerhet knyttet til investeringer i forskning og utvikling, og at flere fremtidige kliniske studier kan bli satt på pause.

Hvordan skal Europa og Norge svare på dette?

Historisk har Europa vært ledende på medisinsk innovasjon, men de siste tjue årene har vi falt etter USA. I 2002 var forskjellen mellom investeringer i forskning og utvikling i helseteknologi mellom USA og Europa på 2 milliarder euro, og i dag har denne forskjellen blitt 25 milliarder euro. På tross av dette er Europa i en unik situasjon til å ta over lederrollen innen medisinsk innovasjon, med et helsevesen i verdensklasse, og en lang historie innen forskning og utvikling. Når USA nå satser tungt på egen industri, er det en mulighet for Europa til å intensivere sin egen innovasjonskraft innen helse.

Medisinsk innovasjon er avhengig av et levende økosystem mellom private aktører, helsetjenester og akademia. Derfor vil vi invitere aktører fra det norske økosystemet for å diskutere hvordan Europa, inkludert Norge, skal svare på den globale utviklingen som USA nå dytter framover med sin nasjonale støttepakke.

Arrangører: Oslo Cancer Cluster, Abbvie, Photocure

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The Future of Digital Health in Norway: Leading the Way

Onsdag 16. august, kl. 13.30-14.30, Rygerelektra

Digital solutions offer significant potential to enhance healthcare delivery and innovation for Norwegian businesses. Despite a multitude of available apps, global downloads, and opportunities, many healthcare systems struggle with effective utilization due to trust issues and market complexity. This event highlights successful European cases, aiming to inspire Norway to become a pioneer in secure and impactful digital healthcare solutions.

Agenda:

13:30 – Introduction and Moderation Presented by Stephen McAdam from DNV

13:35 – Norges strategi for implementering av digitale helse teknologier Presented by Lucie Aunan, Divisjonsdirektør at Direktoratet for eHelse (Presentation in Norwegian)

13:40 – The Importance of Certification for Norwegian Municipalities Presented by Terje Wistner, Director ehealth at KS

13:45 – Sleepio: Experience from the UK and Other Countries (Video)

13:48 – A European Perspective: What’s Working and What’s Not Presented by Liz Ashall Payne, CEO and Founder of Orcha

14:00 – Challenges of Implementing Digital Solutions in Norway Presented by Solvor Øverlien Magi, CEO of Lifeness

14:07 – Round Table Discussion Participants: KS, Lifeness, Orcha, CEO of Norwegian Smart Care Cluster Arild Kristensen representing Norwegian Health clusters

14:25 – Summarizing Comments Presented by Stephen McAdam

14:30 – Closing Remarks

Arrangører: Oslo Cancer Cluster, Norway Health Tech, Norwegian Smart Care Cluster, The Life Science Cluster, DNV

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Kan persontilpasset medisin bidra til å løse ressurskrisen i helsetjenesten?

Onsdag 16. august, kl. 16.30-17.30, Clarion Hotel Tyholmen Sal A

Konsortiet CONNECT inviterer til diskusjon om persontilpasset medisin i lys av ressurskrisen i helsetjenestene.

Hva er de største ressursutfordringene helsetjenesten står overfor – og hvordan kan persontilpasset medisin bidra til å løse disse?

I løpet av denne timen tar vi på oss fremtidsbrillene. Vi ser på hva den nye strategien for persontilpasset medisin sier om utsiktene for mer presis behandling, og hvordan blant annet data fra norske kreftpasienter kan bidra til en mer effektiv bruk av helsepersonell og ressurser.

Både fagfolk og politikere deler sitt syn på hva som vil skape bedre ressursbruk i helsetjenesten i årene framover, og hvilken plass persontilpasset medisin bør få i helsetjenesten.

Arrangører: CONNECT

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AI for more precise radiation therapy

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Artificial intelligence is changing the way radiation therapy is used to combat cancer.

A Norwegian technology, developed by the company Kongsberg Beam Technology to improve the precision of external beam radiation therapy, is being tested at Oslo University Hospital.

“There are almost half a million Norwegians living with cancer today. Many more cancer patients survive after radiation therapy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the patients get well. What concerns us most today is to create treatment plans with less side effects,” said Karsten Rydén-Eilertsen, Head of Proton Therapy Physics at Oslo University Hospital and responsible for the test project.

Huge developments

Karsten Rydén-Eilertsen has worked with radiation therapy at Oslo University Hospital for 33 years. He remembers when the doctors had to make radiotherapy plans for cancer patients using only 2D X-ray images and palpating the tumour site with their hands. Medical physicists and radiotherapy technicians would calculate the dose using standardised charts.

“I have experienced an explosive development in the field of radiation therapy against cancer. We now only use three- and four-dimensional images that we transfer to a sophisticated treatment planning system, where we can outline the tumour and vital organs in detail. There are advanced algorithms for calculating the exact right doses for the individual patient,” Rydén-Eilertsen explained.

These developments are thanks to major advancements in imaging technology, computer power, programming and data handling.

“The big difference today is that the level of personalisation and precision is much higher. We can deposit a high dose of radiation that can destroy the tumour while sparing healthy tissue,” Rydén-Eilertsen commented.

Still many side-effects

With radiation therapy, doctors aim to eradicate the tumour, while minimizing the damage to healthy tissue and vital organs.

“It is a difficult balancing act, because sometimes the organs are so close to the tumour that you can’t avoid affecting them with radiation. Sometimes, you need to choose between destroying the tumour and keeping a vital organ,” Rydén-Eilertsen said.

This dilemma isn’t unique for radiation therapy, but is also true for other cancer treatments, such as surgery and chemotherapy.

“With radiation therapy, you will never have zero radiation dose to the surrounding tissue. There will always be some side-effects. My hope with proton therapy is that these side effects will be reduced,” added Rydén-Eilertsen.

Photons vs. protons

Traditional radiation therapy involves beaming millions of photons through the patient’s body to the tumour. The photons deposit radiation all along their way through the body before exiting. It is not possible to control the photons to only deposit radiation to cancer cells.

“Proton therapy is different. Protons are heavy particles that loose most of their energy the moment they stop. By adjusting their initial speed, you can direct them to deposit most of the radiation dose at the site of the tumour. This means that you don’t affect tissue ‘behind’ the tumour and there is minimal damage ‘in front’ of it. This opens for the possibility to greatly reduce side-effects,” explained Rydén-Eilertsen.

The challenge with protons however is that they are very sensitive to which type of tissue they pass through. The energy loss will be different in bone versus in fat.

“In proton therapy, changes in the patient’s body during treatment are critical. The anatomy of the patient may change from when we take the first CT scan for treatment planning to the day of treatment. A treatment course may take several weeks and involve 30-40 treatment sessions. The anatomy may change both between and during a session. Ideally, one may think that a new plan should be created for every session, but today we don’t have the resources for this. That is why we introduce margins to ensure that the tumour gets properly irradiated every time. Sometimes these margins need to be so large that the patient may still get side-effects,” said Rydén-Eilertsen.

First of its kind

This is where the MAMA-K technology developed by Kongsberg Beam Technology comes in. It can build a digital twin of the patient representing their anatomy as accurately as possible. The twin is created by using advanced mathematical models that allow for all image data sets to be combined into a longitudinal, virtual representation of the patient’s anatomy.

“With this mathematical modelling, we can visualize and quantify how the patient’s body, tumour and vital organs change over time, as well as, make an accurate scoring of the accumulated doses to the tumour and organs at risk,” said Rydén-Eilertsen.

This system will generate knowledge about how different cancer patients’ bodies, tumours and vital organs change while undergoing radiation therapy and the impact this may have on the delivered dose. This will be valuable when starting up proton therapy centres in Norway.

“The mathematical models may make it possible to even predict anatomical changes and the related consequences for the dosage. Artificial intelligence can tell us how the patient might look in 24 hours, so we can create a treatment plan accordingly. The next day, we can take a new CT image and compare if the AI’s prediction is correct. We can then introduce smaller margins, which will also reduce side-effects,” explained Rydén-Eilertsen.

There are 16 treatment machines that generate 3-dimensional data and 2 000 patient appointments every week at the Radium Hospital, generating a large volume of potential test data, which could map changes in cancer patients receiving radiation therapy.

“These data will be extremely valuable when we enter the era of proton therapy because they will tell us more about how patients’ bodies change. Then we can become better at adapting treatment plans and hitting the tumour directly,” explained Rydén-Eilertsen.

AI to identify organs

The next step will be to adjust the treatment plan while the patient is on the table by using real-time images. To accomplish this, the shape and location of the tumour and organs at risk must be extracted from the images. The use of AI will be crucial to realize the speed needed. AI models to identify different parts of the anatomy must be trained and tested – something Kongsberg Beam Technology hopes to have in place soon.

“One of the biggest workloads in radiation treatment today is that doctors must manually outline the tumour and organs at risk in the CT images. We have already tested AI methods to identify anatomic parts of the body, especially vital organs, and the models are very good at this. To find tumours is a different story. We have tested some models that can find breast tissue, and they work well. I think it is only a matter of technological development. A lot will happen in this area,” said Rydén-Eilertsen.

Norwegian proton therapy centres

There are two proton therapy centres being built in Norway and Rydén-Eilertsen believes the MAMA-K technology will be very useful in these centres.

“The exciting part about the establishment of proton therapy is that the number of patients eligible for treatment is quite small, perhaps between 100-200 patients every year, while the capacity of the centres is around 800 patients a year. About 70-80 per cent of patients will be recruited via clinical studies, which have the goal to document that side effects are less with protons than with photons. In this setting, it is super important to know what the patient looks like, and MAMA-K will be a useful tool to achieve this. I don’t know about anyone else that is developing this kind of technology. It is truly unique,” said Rydén-Eilertsen.

 

Kongsberg Beam Technology is a member of Oslo Cancer Cluster and participating in the Accelerator Programme at Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator. Read more about the company at their website https://www.kongsbergbeamtech.com/

 

Gilead

Gilead joins Oslo Cancer Cluster

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The newest member of Oslo Cancer Cluster is Gilead, a biopharmaceutical company advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases.

Pascal van Peborgh, Senior Director Medical Affairs for Gilead Nordics answered some questions on why Gilead joins Oslo Cancer Cluster, how they are involved in the cancer field and why the Nordics is an important area for the company.

What is Gilead’s motivation to join Oslo Cancer Cluster (OCC)?

“Gilead’s ambition is to build strong partnerships with cancer research centers and oncology-focused organizations to accelerate research and ultimately provide Norwegian patients with novel therapeutic options. We want to work together with other OCC members on basic research topics and in finding ways to provide better access for patients who suffer from cancer. Part of this ambition was why we partnered in the CONNECT public-private partnership.”

Tell us more about Gilead’s investment in cancer and the company’s oncology pipeline.

“Gilead has a long history of bringing innovation to patients in improving patients’ outcomes and at times provided a cure for people facing specific life-threatening infectious diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C. Gilead is now applying the same approach and commitment to cancer. We have purposefully built a deep and broad oncology portfolio with a focus on trying to address critical unmet needs in oncology care.

“This framework defines our portfolio, with assets that have complementary MOAs and strong scientific rationale for treatment combination opportunities. From antibody-drug conjugates and small molecules to cell therapy-based approaches, our research and development programs are providing new hope for people with overlooked, underserved, and difficult-to-treat cancers.

“This includes many of the most exciting and most promising targets in oncology today, with strong potential across tumor types, lines of treatment, and multiple opportunities for unique combination therapies. We have investigational agents in trials across varied solid tumors: breast, lung, GI, GU, including bladder, among many others. And in blood cancers: MDS, AML, LBCL, adult lymphoblastic leukemia and more. We are well positioned to establish Gilead as a leading Oncology company.”

What do you think about opportunities in Norway, and the Nordics, for the development of new cancer treatments? How do you view the milieus here for cancer research and health industry?

“We see Norway as a pioneer in Precision Medicine, e.g., the CONNECT and IMPRESS initiatives. It has also a strong history of registry data utilization, e.g., and building further new additions to cancer registry like INSPIRE BC and LC. Norway is also highly ranked for cancer research in Europe, with a government and policies supporting the development of precision medicines and clinical trials, with Inven2 and NorTrial being established as examples.

“In addition, the systematization of care in Norway and especially around Oslo University Hospital provides a central node with adequate infrastructure, expertise, and innovation in the cancer research eco-system and more specifically for translational research and clinical trials. Finally, the Oslo University Hospital being an accredited Comprehensive Cancer Center with an extensive international network provides us with further confidence to invest in cancer research in Norway.“

Do you have an ambition to launch cancer clinical trials in the Nordics?

“Our ambition is to continue to initiate new clinical trials within oncology in the Nordics in greater scope, and more specifically in Norway. We at Gilead, view the Nordic countries as having high-quality infrastructure that supports clinical research and studies. The countries have national support functions that provides information and services to researchers that are interested in clinical research – both for observational studies and for clinical interventional studies.

“Gilead, with its own R&D portfolio or through opt-in agreements has currently more than 70 ongoing oncology R&D programs focusing on three therapeutic strategies: triggering tumor intrinsic cell death, promoting immune-mediated tumor killing, and remodeling of the tumor microenvironment. To be able to fully deliver on this pipeline we will need close collaboration with clinical and academic research.”

 

Learn more about the members of Oslo Cancer Cluster by visiting our Member Overview page.

Polygenic risk scores: a European cancer priority 

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The EU is looking to polygenic risk scores to improve prevention and early detection of cancer

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) have become one of the focus areas for prevention and early detection of cancer in the European Union’s Mission on Cancer. 

“PRS tests can provide a measure of your personal risk of developing a specific disease due to your genes,” explained Krista Kruuv-Käo, project manager of AnteNOR, a project that investigates how PRS can be implemented for prevention and early detection of breast cancer in Norway. 

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan outlines 10 flagship initiatives and number 7 focuses on how cancers develop: 

“Alongside the ‘Genomic for Public Health’ project, the European Initiative to Understand Cancer (UNCAN.eu), planned to be launched under the foreseen Mission on Cancer to increase the understanding of how cancers develop, will also help identify individuals at high risk from common cancers using the polygenic risk scores technique. This should facilitate personalised approaches to cancer prevention and care, allowing for actions to be taken to decrease risk or to detect cancer as early as possible.”

What about Norway?

There are about 4 200 new cases and almost 600 deaths due to breast cancer in Norway each year, according to reports from the Norwegian Cancer Registry.  

“Early detection of breast cancer can save lives, but approximately 40 per cent of breast cancer cases in Norway are not detected at an early stage. For breast cancer, 31 per cent of all diagnoses are due to genetic predisposition and many women develop cancer before they reach the screening age of 50,” Kruuv-Käo commented. 

There are already genetic tests in the Norwegian specialist healthcare service for monogenic pathogenic variants, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, but not on a population-wide basis. PRS tests have not been implemented yet, although they are both cheaper and can identify more women with a moderate to high risk of developing breast cancer. 

Improving cancer screening

The results of the AnteNOR project were recently presented at a meeting organized by the Norwegian Cancer Mission Hub. 

“The project shows that PRS tests can be used for effective risk stratification for population-wide breast screening. By introducing genetic risk testing with PRS tests and monogenic testing, the women with moderate to high risk of developing breast cancer can be identified before the screening age of 50 years. With a personalised screening programme, some women may need to screen earlier and more often, while others can go to screenings less frequently in the future,” Kruuv-Käo explained. 

Estonia is already preparing for the introduction of a personalized breast cancer screening program, and the plan is to launch it this year. Will Norway follow?