Calling all life science start-ups

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Are you a Norwegian life science start-up in need of mentoring?

The Nordic Mentor Network for Entrepreneurship (NOME) offers free mentoring to promising start-ups in the life science sector. Oslo Cancer Cluster (OCC) Incubator has coordinated NOME activities in Norway since 2016 and is actively seeking both start-ups and mentors to join the programme.

NOME is a not-for-profit mentoring network in the life sciences, managed by Accelerace AS. The goal of NOME is to increase the success rate of Nordic life science start-ups by giving access to experienced mentors. Participation is free of charge and funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

How does it work?

Selected start-ups are matched with 3-4 mentors to address the company’s specific challenges. These are some of the most experienced, best networked, and most influential leaders from the Nordic life science industry. The mentors volunteer their services to help start-up companies in biotech, medtech and healthtech areas to reach their goals.

Peter Birk, Accelerace

Peter Birk, Head of Business Development at Accelerace

“It is not very easy for start-ups to get access to advice from people of the level that we have in NOME. We provide a framework and facilitate help from those who know to those who need,” said Peter Birk, Head of Business Development at Accelerace.

“Several analyses of life science ecosystems confirm that access to advice from those who “have been there and done that” is a critical factor of success,” Birk continued.

 

Accelerating innovation

The NOME mentoring programme is a complement to the OCC Incubator’s other activities, facilities, and services to support start-ups in the cancer innovation field. This includes one-to-one business development advice, state-of-the-art laboratories and offices, and access to a global network of key players in the cancer field.

Ketil Widerberg, CEO, OCC Incubator

Ketil Widerberg, CEO of OCC Incubator

”To accelerate the development of new cancer treatments, we need to build the Norwegian health industry and Nordic collaboration on life science,” said Ketil Widerberg, Chief Executive Officer, Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator.

“NOME is one example of this. The start-ups get connected with the mentors they need to develop their companies and bring new innovations to the market. We hope many new life science start-ups in Norway will take advantage of this opportunity,” Widerberg continued.

 

Nordic collaboration for life science

NOME is active in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, and has an important role in connecting the entire Nordic Life Science system.

“Individually we are all small countries, but together we have critical mass and represent a very significant stronghold for life sciences that gets attention from the rest of the world,” said Peter Birk.

“A good example is that there is a high interest from very experienced non-Nordic individuals from the life science industry to become NOME mentors. This would not have happened if we were just a local Norwegian, Danish or Swedish,” Birk continued.

  • Do you want to receive mentoring for your start-up? Please get in touch with Ketil Widerberg, CEO of Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator.
Picture of work in the lab

Cancer treatment helped corona patients

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Ventilator-free survival is improved for more than 50% of corona patients, by a Norwegian cancer medicine from our member Bergenbio.

A drug produced by the Norwegian biotech company Bergenbio can be effective against serious corona disease. The drug was originally developed to treat cancer and has been in clinical testing since the beginning of the pandemic.

A recent clinical trial showed that fewer hospitalised corona patients needed to go on a ventilator after receiving the medicine. The results were presented in a press release from Bergenbio last week.

During the clinical trial, 58 hospitalised covid-19 patients in India and South Africa received the drug. The patients had a less complicated hospital stay and less need for ventilator treatment.

Ventilator-free survival was increased for more than half of the patients. Ventilator-free survival means surviving to day 29 without admission to intensive care unit and need for ventilator-assisted breathing.

“The potential of bemcentinib to increase the rate of ventilator-free survival in more than 50% of hospitalised COVID-19 patients is very encouraging,” Richard Godfrey, Chief Executive Officer of BerGenBio, commented.

The trial also showed the drug has the same effect on mutations of the coronavirus.

Need for covid-19 treatments

There is still a large unmet need for effective treatments of covid-19. Seriously ill covid-19 patients end up hospitalised in intensive care units (ICU) and may need to be put on ventilators.

“The greatest challenge faced by hospitals worldwide is an unmanageable demand for ICU capacity and ventilator support for COVID-19 patients,” Professor emeritus Stener Kvinnsland MD PhD, Director of BerGenBio and former Chair of Norwegian Korona Commission, commented.

“For the foreseeable future, in spite of recent progress with vaccinations, there remains a substantial global need for effective treatments for COVID-19 patients that offers survival benefit and relief for intensive care demand on hospitals,” Kvinnsland continued.

A Norwegian invention

Bergenbio is a Norwegian biotech company with a research team based in Bergen and a clinical development team based in Oxford.

The company has identified a protein called AXL that exists on the surface of cells. The AXL protein plays an important role when the immune system fails. It keeps cells resistant to treatment and can conceal cells from the body’s immune system.

Bergenbio has developed a drug that turns off the AXL signals, which makes treatment more effective as the immune system can be activated.

The drug was developed as a cancer treatment and was in phase 2 of clinical testing when it was selected for the ACCORD programme, a large clinical study against covid-19.

Picture of Carlos de Sause, CEO of ultimovacs

Cancer vaccine effective for 60% of patients

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60% of melanoma patients responded to universal cancer vaccine, according to new data from our member Ultimovacs.

A clinical trial against advanced melanoma (a serious form of skin cancer) has shown positive effects in 60% of all patients. The Phase I clinical trial is led by our member Ultimovacs, a Norwegian company that develops vaccines against cancer.

“These very strong and exciting data further strengthen the foundation for our broad Phase II clinical program for UV1,” said Jens Bjørheim, Chief Medical Officer at Ultimovacs.

The cancer treatment is a universal cancer vaccine called UV1 in combination with an immunotherapy drug called pembrolizumab. The results of the treatment show a 60% objective response rate in patients with advanced melanoma. This includes 30% complete responses and 30% partial responses.

The potential of immunotherapy

The reason for choosing this treatment is that immunotherapy has good effect on melanoma patients and many new combinations of immunotherapy show great potential.

Immunotherapy mobilises the cancer patient’s own immune system to identify and kill the cancer cells.

The melanoma patients often don’t have the right T cells present in their bodies to experience the full effect of the immunotherapy pembrolizumab.

T cells are part of the immune system, help to protect the body from infection and may help to fight cancer.

The cancer vaccine UV1 increases the number of the right T cells so a stronger and broader immune response can be achieved, in combination with pembrolizumab.

Accepted to ASCO

The data will be presented at a poster session at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 Annual Meeting – the world’s largest cancer conference – on 4-8 June. The poster presentation will also be published on Ultimovacs website.

“These data reinforce our conviction that UV1 can play a transformative role in the treatment of conditions such as malignant melanoma,” said Carlos de Sousa, CEO of Ultimovacs.

“It suggests that UV1 in combination with checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab can mobilize the immune system to fight cancer. This is very encouraging for melanoma patients and for those involved with the roll-out of Ultimovacs’ broader programs in solid cancers,” de Sousa continued.

Read more in the press release from Ultimovacs.

Close-up of brown glass bottle filling at production line.Foto: Menon Economics

Ny rapport: stort potensial for eksport av helseindustri

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Helseindustrien er en av Norges største eksportnæringer, med nesten 26 milliarder kroner i eksportinntekter i 2020. Med riktige rammebetingelser kan helsenæringen bli en betydelig eksportnæring for Norge. ­Det viser en ny rapport.

Rapporten “Strategier for økt produksjon og eksport av norsk helseindustri” er klar i sine anbefalinger: Det er fire nøkkeltiltak som norske myndigheter og helseindustrien sammen må sette i verk for at flere selskaper skal kunne produsere i Norge og øke eksporten. Disse tiltakene er:

  1. Gjøre kliniske studier mer attraktive
  2. Styrke hjemmemarkedet
  3. Bedre tilgang på nødvendig kompetanse
  4. Avlaste risikoen ved å investere i produksjon

Her kan du lese den nye rapporten.

Rapporten ble lansert digitalt 19. mai 2021.

Opptak av lanseringen kan du se her.

Utvikler kunnskapsgrunnlag

Rapporten er et samarbeid mellom flere aktører som jobber for norske bedrifter og oppstartsselskaper.

 

Logosky som viser aktørene bak rapporten: Aleap, Eksportkreditt Norge, Innovasjon Norge, Inven2, Legemiddelindustrien (LMI), LO, NHO, Norway Health Tech, Norwegian Smart Care Cluster, Oslo Cancer Cluster, Siva og The Life Science Cluster.

Bak rapporten står Aleap, Eksportkreditt Norge, Innovasjon Norge, Inven2, Legemiddelindustrien (LMI), LO, NHO, Norway Health Tech, Norwegian Smart Care Cluster, Oslo Cancer Cluster, Siva og The Life Science Cluster.

 

– Sammen ønsker vi å utvikle et kunnskapsgrunnlag for å videreutvikle og skalere norsk helsenæring for økt eksport. Dette grunnlaget har vi samlet i seks år, gjennom rapporter om Helsenæringens verdi av Menon Economics, sier Ketil Widerberg, daglig leder i Oslo Cancer Cluster.

Tidligere artikler om rapporter i denne serien:

Eksportutfordringen

Norsk helseindustri hadde en samlet omsetning på 53,6 milliarder kroner i 2019. De siste ti årene har næringen hatt en vekst på over 90 prosent. Denne veksten er betydelig høyere enn for norsk privat næringsliv i samme periode.

Bransjene i helseindustrien er i rapporten delt inn i digital helse, legemidler og medisinsk utstyr. De møter liknende utfordringer i utlandet.

Bedriftene har svart på hva som begrenser mulighetene for å øke inntektene fra eksportmarkedene.

– Det oppsummerende svaret er markedsapparat – i form av representasjon  og et distribusjons- og salgsapparat i et internasjonalt marked, forklarte Erik Jakobsen fra Menon Economics under lanseringen.

Virkemidler for særegne behov

Rapporten viser at virkemiddelapparatets ordninger ikke er utformet og tilpasset helseindustriens behov.

Få virkemidler er tiltenkt skalering, som for eksempel støtte til investeringer i produksjonskapasitet, kompetanse eller markedsapparat. Rapporten viser også at virkemidlene for eksport er begrenset.

– Det vi vet, er at vi må snu virkemiddelapparatene våre og gjøre dem mer fokusert på ulike næringer som trenger ulikt virkemiddelapparat, sa Trine Skei Grande (V) under lanseringen av rapporten.

Skei Grande har jobbet med næringsspørsmål i Stortinget i en årrekke, og sitter nå i Utenrikskomiteen.

Fordeler og ulemper i Norge

Rapporten viser at norske bedrifter i helseindustrien med produksjon i Norge samlet sett har hatt en høyere omsetningsvekst de siste ti årene enn bedrifter som ikke har hatt produksjon i Norge.

God kvalitet og godt samarbeid med forskningsinstitusjoner er et viktig fortrinn som bedriftene med produksjon i Norge trekker fram. De viser også til klyngene som en fordel med å produsere i Norge.

– Klyngene sitter på kompetansen og nettverkene og bør brukes i større grad for å øke eksport, sa Erik Jakobsen.

Utfordringene ved å legge produksjon av helseindustri til Norge, er høyt kostnadsnivå, et svakt hjemmemarked og fravær av offentlige ordninger for å finansiere risikoavlastning ved utvikling og bygging av produksjonsanlegg.

– Å stimulere hjemmemarkedet styrker konkurransekraft i eksportmarkeder og øker tilgangen på risikokapital, sa Erik Jakobsen.

Rapporten foreslår hvordan flere selskaper skal kunne produsere i Norge og øke eksporten.

Ett av disse forslagene er å øke bevilgninger til Norsk katapult for å sikre nye utlysninger – og få minst ett helserelatert katapultsenter inn i ordningen.

Resten av forslagene i rapporten kan du lese her.

Bildet viser forsiden av rapporten om helseindustrien med medisinglassflasker i produksjon.