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Nordic Life Science Days 2023

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This year’s Nordic Life Science Days took place in Copenhagen on 29-30 November.

Since 2015, Oslo Cancer Cluster has coordinated the joint booth Norway for Life Science, promoting the Norwegian healthcare and life science industry. This year together with Norway Health Tech, The Life Science Cluster, Norwegian Smart Care Cluster, Centre for Digital Life Norway, NorTrials, Aleap, Legemiddelindustrien (LMI), Inven2, Innovation Norway, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Copenhagen and Curida.

 

The Oslo Cancer Cluster team representing and networking in Copenhagen. From Left: Charlotte Homme, Dave Tippett, Thomas Andersson (Business Development, OCC Incubator), Janne Nestvold (COO, OCC Incubator) and Bente Prestegård.

Our members on stage

Anette Weyergang, CEO at RAB Diagniostics, a new company that works towards making cancer treatment more effective and match the right patient with the right drug. RAB Diagniostics is a part of Oslo Cancer Clusters Incubator accelerator program which provide the project with business development.

RAB diagnostics Anette Weyergang at Nordic Life Science Days 2023 in Copenhagen

RAB diagnostics CEO Anette Weyergang at Nordic Life Science Days 2023 in Copenhagen.

 

Weyergang is a pharmacist by education and has spent her career since 2004 in Professor Kristian Berg’s research group at the Institute for Cancer Research.

It was great fun pitching RAB Diagniostics in this environment at NLS days, I wish I had more than 4 minutes on stage to talk about our ongoing mission, which is to help finding the right patients so that we can spare those who are less likely to respond to unnecessary treatments.

Find more information about RAB Diagnostics here

 

Adam Robertson CEO at Hemispherian, pitching at NLSDays 2023.

Adam Robertson, Chief Scientific Officer at Hemispherian, was thrilled to present at Nordic Life Science days. Hemispherian is an innovative preclinical pharmaceutical company focused on developing a novel class of small molecule drugs.

Presenting at NLS Days was an exciting experience. I am glad that so many participants were able to attend. Being a part of such high calibre pitches is hugely motivating.

Hemispherian is at the forefront of revolutionizing cancer treatment, offering hope and potential solutions for patients facing hard-to-treat cancers, especially glioblastoma. The company will enter clinical development in 2024. Robertson shares that Hemispherian’s drug candidates have shown excellent efficacy including in orthotopic glioblastoma xenograft models, as well as excellent tolerability in several animal models.

Find more information about Hemispherian here

 

 

Torbjørn Furuseth, CEO and Co-founder of DoMore Diagnostics.

Torbjørn Furuseth, CEO and co-founder of DoMore! Diagnostics, presented the latest development and new results from tthis years research and projects.

Find more information about DoMore! Diagnostics here

 

Hanne Lund, Business Development Director at Curida pitching on stage at NLS Days.

Hanne Lund, Business Development Director at Curida, talked about the newest updates from the company in 2023.

Find more information about Curida here

 

 

 

Woman in lab coat behind microscope sourounded by peopleGunnar Kopperud

Radforsk to invest NOK 4.5 million in cancer research

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Radforsk, the Radium Hospital Research Foundation, a partner of Oslo Cancer Cluster, is awarding several million Norwegian kroner to new research that fights cancer with light.

Radforsk is an evergreen investor focusing on companies that develop cancer treatment. Since its inception in 1986, Radforsk has allocated NOK 200 million of its profit back into cancer research at Oslo University Hospital. This year, four researchers will be awarded a total of NOK 4.5 million. One of them is Anette Weyergang, who will receive NOK 3.75 million over a three-year period.

“I’m so happy for this grant. As researchers, we have to find funding for our own projects. I didn’t have any funding for the project I have now applied and been granted funds for,” says Anette Weyergang.

Anette Weyergang is a project group manager and senior researcher in a research group led by Kristian Berg. The group conducts research in the field of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photochemical internalisation (PCI). Radforsk’s portfolio company and Oslo Cancer Cluster member PCI Biotech is based on this group’s research.

What is PDT / PCI? Cancer research in the field of photodynamic therapy and photochemical internalisation studies the use of light in direct cancer treatment in combination with drugs, or to deliver drugs that can treat cancer cells or organs affected by cancer.

 

Weyergang is the first researcher ever to receive several million kroner over the course of several years from Radforsk.

“We have donated a total of NOK 200 million to cancer research at Oslo University Hospital, of which NOK 25 million have gone to research in PDT/PCI. We have previously awarded smaller amounts to several researchers, but we now want to use some of our funds to focus on projects we believe in,” says Jónas Einarsson, CEO of Radforsk.

By the deadline on 15 February 2019, Radforsk received a total of eight applications, which were then assessed by external experts.

 

New use of PCI technology

PCI is a technology for delivering drugs and other molecules into the cancer cells and then releasing them by means of light. This allows for a targeted cancer treatment with fewer side effects for patients.

Weyergang will use the funds from Radforsk to research whether PCI technology can be used to make targeted cancer treatment even more precise.

“The project aims to find a method for delivering antibodies to cancer cells using PCI technology. This has never been done before, and if we succeed, it can open up brand new possibilities for using this technology,” says Weyergang.

Initially, she will focus on glioblastoma, which is the most serious form of brain cancer. Glioblastoma is resistant to both chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and has a very high mortality rate.

“This is translational research, so human trials are still a long way off. We will now use both glioblastoma cell lines and animal experimentation to test our hypothesis. We do this to establish what is called a “proof of concept”, which we need to move on to clinical testing,” says Weyergang.

 

The other researchers who have received funding for PDT/PCI research from Radforsk in 2019 are:

  • Kristian Berg and Henry Hirschberg Beckman: NOK 207,500
  • Qian Peng: NOK 300,000
  • Mpuldy Sioud: NOK 300,000

 

What is Radforsk?

  • Since its formation in 1986, Radforsk has generated NOK 600 million in fund assets and channelled NOK 200 million to cancer research, based on a loan of NOK 1 million in equity back in 1986.
  • During this period, NOK 200 million have found its way back to the researchers whose ideas Radforsk has helped to commercialise.
  • NOK 25 million have gone to research in photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photochemical internalisation (PCI). In total, NOK 40 million will be awarded to this research.

 

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