Why Scandinavia is a Life Sciences Hub to Watch
Scandinavian countries are known for their active innovation in the worldwide market, including pharmaceutical and biotech fields. Numerous research institutes, start-up incubators, and grant opportunities give rise to active drug development, medical device innovation, and implementation of machine learning (ML) and quantum computing into these processes.
Denmark
The Danish diabetes treatment giant Novo Nordisk, one of the worldwide leaders in insulin production, also has active pipelines for cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and rare diseases. In September 2022, they entered a new strategic collaboration with Microsoft, aimed to combine their powers and use computational services, cloud, and artificial intelligence (AI) with Novo Nordisk’s drug discovery, development, and data science capabilities.
Upon the newly established collaboration, Novo Nordisk and Microsoft will work in two main directions. One of the projects will be devoted to automated summarization and analysis of multi-sourced scientific data to gain novel insights. Another project aims to develop models that predict a person’s risk of developing atherosclerosis, a cardiovascular disease caused by the build-up of fats, cholesterol, and other substances in and on the artery walls. The AI will also be used to identify novel targets and establish biomarkers for the disease.
Shortly after the announced collaboration, Novo Nordisk Foundation invested $200M to establish the first full-scale quantum computer for drug development and climate change insights generation. The 12-year Quantum Computing Programme was launched in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen, also involving world-leading researchers in quantum computing from Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, and the USA.
Novo Nordisk also commented that “challenges persist in developing a fully scaled, fault-tolerant, generally applicable quantum computer”, but they are going to take on this challenge since quantum computers have the potential to very rapidly perform complicated calculations, which would require years from regular computers.
The quantum computing applications were also highlighted by Senior Vice President at Novo Nordisk Foundation, Lene Oddershede:
"Within the life sciences, for example, we can accelerate development in personalized medicine by letting quantum computers process the enormous quantity of data available about the human genome and diseases. This will make it easier to tailor optimal treatment”
Another Danish biotech company -- Genmab -- is focused on developing human antibody therapeutics for cancer treatment. In October 2022, they entered an agreement with UK-based Oxford BioTherapeutics, where the last one licensed one of their novel antibodies to Genmab. At the same time, Evaxion Biotech is Copenhagen-based biotech developing vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases, which went public in 2021, closing the $30M IPO in February. They are using the power of AI operating a proprietary AI-immunology core technology, which allows them to develop personalized next-generation immunotherapies.
Sweden
While Denmark has a significant concentration of companies around the capital city area, Sweden has multiple research centers and numerous companies all over the country outside of Stockholm, where it is crucial to mention at least Gothenburg, Lund, and Uppsala. In 2018 GE Healthcare partnered with the Swedish government to open a Testa Center in Uppsala, which would assist with the manufacturing process and the commercialization of new technologies in life sciences. In the investment of a total SEK 145 M (approximately $15.9M), the Swedish government contributed SEK 100 M ($10.9M) through its innovation agency, Vinnova.
A year earlier, in 2017 Swedish government also took part in the establishment of a new Center for Advanced Medical Products (CAMP) as part of a SEK 320 M ($36.6M) Swedish government initiative. The process is expected to continue for four more years now, to position the country as a leading biologics developer. Xintela, a Swedish regenerative medicine company, entered a 6-year partnership to establish CAMP cell and gene therapy research center, with $5.5M funding from Vinnova and Vetenskapsrådet.
One out of four strategic R&D centers of AstraZeneca worldwide is located in Sweden, Gothenburg. It is also the only strategic R&D center of the company in the European Union. Besides being an active and versatile site of manufacturing and drug development, there are several ongoing initiatives, GoCo Health Innovation City is one of them. The project was initiated in 2017 when AstraZeneca signed a deal with Vectura and Next Step -- Swedish real estate agencies. The project was driven by the idea of literally surrounding a Gothenburg site with actively growing start-ups in the sphere of health and life sciences. Fujirebio, a biotech company headquartered in Tokyo, was the first company to get a place in GoCo Health Innovation City. The entire area of the Innovation City of 40,000 square meters is expected to be ready and busy around the year 2028.
Norway
Meanwhile, Norway also tries to keep its position in the world’s drug development marathon. Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator is the research and development ecosystem that aims to create a favorable environment for cancer diagnostics and therapies innovation. They occupy an area of 5 000 square meters, which is used by start-ups, global pharma, consultants, service providers, investors, and research institutions. The Incubator is supported by the Norwegian government with an international goal to establish a healthcare business in Norway, investors also include some pharma giants such as AstraZeneca, Roche, and Bristol Myers Squibb. Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator opened its doors at Montebello in 2015 and is owned by Oslo Cancer Cluster, Siva, Inven2, and Radforsk.
There are quite a few companies at Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator focusing on cancer vaccines and cancer immunotherapy. For example, Hubro Therapeutics established the peptide cancer vaccines loaded with neoantigens (tumor-specific antigens), which were formed in cancer cells due to microsatellite instability and frameshift mutations. Zelluna is another company in the Incubator, developing targeted cell therapies for cancer. They aim to reach solid tumors with the T-cell receptor (TCR) guided natural killer (NK) cell therapy. Overall, there are more than 20 established companies so far, many of which have the products going through clinical trials.
Scandinavia, in general, has a flourishing ecosystem for start-up growth, with multiple incubators providing not only space and equipment but also advice and guidance for newbies. Governmental support accelerates the development with various investments and projects, such as the ones in Uppsala, Oslo, Lund, and more. At the same time, the pace is also set by pharma giants, such as Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca, which are expected to grow even more and expand into new R&D areas, both in research and on physical land.
