CONNECT Summer Meeting 2025: Stronger Together for Smarter Cancer Trials

Organized by CONNECT, the cross-sector partnership dedicated to precision cancer medicine, the meeting highlighted how collaboration is key to making innovative treatments available for patients across the country.

The program featured experts from Norway and abroad, sparking critical dialogue on how national coordination and strategic partnerships can drive real change.

From diagnostics to actionable insights

The first session spotlighted progress and opportunities in cancer diagnostics. Joris van der Haar from the Netherlands Cancer Institute, opened with insights from the Netherlands, showing how whole genome sequencing is transforming patient care. Diana Bordin, head of unit for precision medicine at Akerhus University Hospital, shared early learnings from homologous recombination deficiency testing, while Emma Rewcastle, unit manager at Stavanger university hospital, presented how Helse Vest is moving from research to routine by implementing AI-assisted scoring. Mona Elisabeth Revheim, head of department for the intervention center at Oslo University Hospital, concluded the session by detailing the clinical adoption of nuclear imaging tracking for cancer diagnostics in Norway.

These talks made it clear that diagnostic innovation must be paired with scalable infrastructure and clinical integration to realize its full impact.

Strengthening clinical trials in Norway

Norway’s position in the global clinical trial landscape was the focus of the second session. Terje Ahlquist, nordic medical director of oncology at AstraZeneca, examined international trends and outlined how Norway could take a leading role by improving patient recruitment and speeding up study approvals. Åslaug Helland, research director at Oslo Comprehensive Cancer Center, gave a status update on the IMPRESS Norway platform, which provides access to off-label treatments in a trial setting. Katarina Puco, senior consultant oncologist at Oslo University Hospital, introduced MATRIX-RARE, a new initiative targeting rare cancers, while Christoph Müller, oncologist at Sørlandet Hospital, shared how the academic ProBio prostate cancer study is progressing toward regulatory approval.

Innovative use of health data

The final session turned to health data—how to access it, protect it, and use it to accelerate research. James Peach, COO of OutSee, presented the UK’s strategy for rapid data access in medical research, offering a compelling case for change. Astrid Munk Pedersen, special advisor to the Danish national genmoe center, followed with Denmark’s journey in building a National Genome Center, while Bjørn Henning Grønberg, professor in oncology at NTNU, discussed the clinical use of ctDNA (Circulating tumor DNA are DNA fragments released into the blood by cancer cells) in lung cancer, both for monitoring and research.

Closing the session, a joint presentation from Siri Børø, medical director at Merck, Steinar Thoresen, medical director at NordicRWE, and Eimir Hurley, biostatistician with Ledidi and project manager at Oslo Cancer Cluster, shared findings from CONNECT’s INSPIRE-BIO group. Using lung cancer as a case study, they illustrated how Norway can lead in the generation and secondary use of high-quality health data—if best practices are shared and systems are aligned.