OCC member company Hemispherian receives NOK 16 million in funding from Norwegian Research Council. Photo: Hemispherian.

Member companies secure NOK 92 Million

group of four people standing in front of staircase. two women and two men wearing formal bussines clothes

Oslo Cancer Cluster Members secure a staggering NOK 92 Million from the Research Council of Norway.

The Research Council of Norway allocates NOK 494 million to 39 research-based innovation projects in companies across the entire country, marking a significant boost for cancer innovation. Oslo Cancer Cluster celebrates the success of several member companies, who collectively secured a remarkable NOK 92 million of the funds. Our member companies are:

  • Oncosyne
  • DoMore diagnostics
  • Hemispherian
  • AdjuTec Pharma
  • Blue Wave Therapeutics
  • Augere Medical

Kjetil Widerberg, Oslo Cancer Cluster’s General Manager, expresses his excitement, stating

“This fantastic news is a testament to the hard work and risk-taking spirit of individuals in these companies. It validates the quality of our ecosystem, bringing us significant steps closer to improving cancer patients’ lives through the acceleration of new diagnostics and treatments.”

Oslo Cancer Cluster extends recognition to The Research Council of Norway for the acknowledgment of the high quality of these Norwegian cancer companies, some of which are integral to Oslo Cancer Cluster (OCC) Incubator.

This funding injection serves as a powerful catalyst, propelling these innovative projects into new realms of possibility and advancing the frontier of cancer research and treatment.

Thrilled and Grateful

Oncosyne, a biotechnology start-up in the OCC Incubator, received a NOK 16 million grant for “clinical feasibility of in vitro diagnostic drug testing for pancreatic cancer.” Cofounder & CTO, Peter W. Eide, shares his gratitude for the Research Council’s support, emphasizing the opportunity to enhance their drug modeling platform and initiate vital clinical studies for pancreatic cancer patients.

man Withith dark hair and gray jacket presenting slides on stage

Peter W. Eide, Co-founder and CTO of Oncosyne. Photo: OCC.

 

DoMore Diagnostics, also an OCC Incubator company, secures NOK 16 million for clinical validation and implementation of the AI-based digital biomarker Histotype Px, to personalize treatment in colorectal cancer. CEO Torbjørn Furuseth shares the excitement of competing with strong applicants and expresses the motivation to accelerate plans.

man smiling in front of gray background wearing dark blue jacket and white shirt

Thorbjørn Furuseth CEO of DoMore Diagnostics. Photo: DoMore.

 

Hemispherian receives a substantial NOK 16 million grant towards “a one-of-a-kind approach to treat Ovarian Cancer.” Hemispherian CEO, Zeno Albisser, expresses immense gratitude for the support,

“We are immensely grateful for this support from the Research Council of Norway. Our team is excited to advance our second asset, GLIX5, towards clinical use. We are dedicated to developing therapies that will make a tangible difference in the lives of those battling cancer.”

man with dark hair standing in front of dark gray wall wearing a greay suit jacket

Hemispherian CEO, Zeno Albisser. Photo: Hemispherian.

 

AdjuTec Pharma, also part of the OCC Incubator, secures NOK 16 million towards the “development of a novel broad-spectrum antibiotic-resistant inhibitor product.” CEO Bjørn Klem acknowledges the award’s significance, serving as both external validation and a catalyst for private capital raising to propel the project into the clinical phase.

man standing in front of white wall wearing dark jacket and glasses

AdjuTec Pharma CEO Bjørn Klem. Photo: OCC/Stig Jarnes.

 

Blue Wave Therapeutics also receives NOK 16 million towards their project ALPHAGLIO: Development of a novel treatment for glioblastoma.

“It feels incredibly good. This is the third time we’ve applied, so now it will be fantastic to finally get started with this project.” says CEO Jostein Dahle

man smiling wearing dark jacket standing in front of white background

Blue Wave Therapeutics CEO Jostein Dahle. Photo: Blue Wave.

 

Augere Medical is thrilled to announce the acceptance of its application for the IPN grant by the Research Council, securing close to NOK 12 million towards the project “ColoCompare: colonoscopy guidance and AI-assisted procedure comparison.”

Augere CEO and Co-founder, Pia Helén Smedsrud, expresses gratitude for the opportunity

“These funds will enable further research into novel technologies that can improve the detection and prevention of colorectal cancer. We are thankful for the opportunity and look forward to sharing our progress and technology with the public in the next few years.”

woman standing in fron of white wall

Augere CEO and Co-founder, Pia Helén Smedsrud. Photo: Augere.

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Highlights from Oslo Cancer Cluster in 2023

2023 written in front of circles of pearls in variants of red and orange.OCC/ Dark Arkitekter / Hufton Crow

Here are seven highlights from this eventful year.

2023 has seen the crystallization of several significant developments at Oslo Cancer Cluster. We’ve immersed ourselves in the cancer mission, initiated new endeavors both nationally and across Europe, and welcomed new members into our community.

Growing the Community

Throughout the year, we’ve been delighted to witness growth in both our membership and physical space. Discover more about some of our new members through these articles:

For a sneak peek at the ongoing construction between the Innovation Park and the Institute for Cancer Research, you can visit the live building site webcam on the Innovation Park website.

Connecting Efforts

A new cluster collaboration came to life in 2023. A primary task at Oslo Cancer Cluster is to foster connections within the cancer innovation sphere. Facilitating investment opportunities for emerging companies is a vital part of this process. At the start of the year, we reinforced our collaboration with other health and life science clusters in Norway to achieve this, aiming for increased success among Norwegian companies. This initiative is led by The Life Science Cluster and supported by Viken County for two years.

Read more about the collaboration in this article from February.

Two men and two women looking into the camera wearing dressed up clothes

The leaders of the four health and life science clusters, from the left: Ketil Widerberg, Oslo Cancer Cluster, Hanne Mette Dyrlie Kristensen, The Life Science Cluster, Arild Kristensen, Norwegian Smart Care Cluster, Lena Nymo Helli, Norway Health Tech. Foto: Jofrid Åsland, Norwegian Smart Care Cluster.

The non-profit company HealthCatalyst brings together Oslo Cancer Cluster, Norway Health Tech, and the Norwegian Smart Care Cluster to enhance testing facilities for health companies. In June, the company forged a new collaboration agreement with NorTrials Medical Equipment, aiming to elevate Norway as a testing ground for health technologies.

Explore the collaboration’s details in this article on our website.

The CONNECT consortium for precision cancer medicine has had a remarkable year. Discover this year’s milestones for the consortium in a separate article on the CONNECT-website. ADD LINK

And here is the animation explainer that CONNECT made to explain personalised medicine (in Norwegian only).

Big and Small Meeting Places

Cancer Crosslinks 2023 centred around the theme “New dimensions to the hallmarks of cancer: How is the last decade of discoveries advancing our understanding of cancer biology and transforming precision medicine.” It served as a day of inspiration, insights, and interactions for professionals from across the cancer field in Norway and beyond.

Read this article about the 2023 Cancer Crosslinks.

Interested in joining Cancer Crosslinks 2024? The theme for next year is “Bridging innovations to improve clinical outcomes for cancer patients.” Registration is open!

Throughout the year, we’ve organized smaller gatherings for our members and community, such as the Summer gathering and the December gathering. These meetings occur every June and December, and we hope to see you there next year!

Our incubator has also facilitated smaller meetings between start-ups and potential investors. During one such occasion in the summer, US healthcare and life science investors visited. Read about their interaction in this article.

Finally, we were present at the large venues too. One of these was the Nordic Life Science Days in Copenhagen, where Oslo Cancer Cluster coordinated the joint booth Norway for Life Science, promoting the Norwegian healthcare and life science industry.  This is the article and this is part of our team in front of the Norwegian booth:

5 people smiling in front of a poster.

The Oslo Cancer Cluster team representing and networking in Copenhagen. From Left: Charlotte Homme, Dave Tippett, Thomas Andersson, Janne Nestvold and Bente Prestegård.

Our Take on the Cancer Mission

This year, we’ve raised the question, “How can Norway succeed with the EU’s Mission on Cancer?” loudly and clearly. Explore discussions and insights from two seminars in the meeting series “The Future of Cancer Treatments” held during 2023. The seminars are also available on our YouTube channel.

Find more about the meeting series on our project page.

Three men and one woman are in a discussion on a stage, sitting, one of which is Camilla Stoltenberg, who is engaged with her arm in a gesture. The other people are Espen Solberg (NIFU), Leif Rune Skymoen (LMI) and Ole Alexander Opdalshei (Norwegian Cancer Society).

Espen Solberg (NIFU), Camilla Stoltenberg (FHI), Leif Rune Skymoen (LMI) and Ole Alexander Opdalshei (Norwegian Cancer Society) discuss how to perform the Cancer Mission in Norway.

The Cancer Mission Hub Norway is another crucial arena for the same topic. Oslo Cancer Cluster proudly collaborates within this hub. In May 2023, we commenced work with 56 other organizations spanning 28 countries in the EU project called ECHoS. It received a 6-million-euro grant from The European Union. Read about our plans through this consortium in these two articles:

Health Industry Milestones in Norway

Oslo Cancer Cluster continued to act as a Changemaker in 2023. In the cluster strategy for 2023-25, this is one of our three roles, aiming to improve the framework for cancer innovations in the Norwegian health industry. This involves contributing input to relevant national policies and addressing specific challenges. Discover more on our webpage or read our input to the State budget proposal. Additionally, watch our participation in the parliamentary health committee hearing on our YouTube-channel. Note that most of the content is in Norwegian.

In late summer, the government published its roadmap for the health industry, focusing on commercializing research and developing health as a green export success. Read more in this article.

Young Talents

Ullern Upper Secondary School and Oslo Cancer Cluster have a mutually rewarding school collaboration. In 2023, numerous engaging activities took place with students, their mentors, student research projects, and student work placements.

Explore the students’ activities on the school collaboration homepage (all news in Norwegian) and contact us if you have questions about the collaboration. You can find our emails on the team page.

Woman laughing in an office, paper in hand, in front of a black screen.

Bente Prestegård is project manager for the school collaboration with Ullern Upper Secondary. Photo: Fartein Rudjord

Projects Coming Together

Throughout the year, we’ve closely followed the AnteNor-project, learning extensively about polygenic risk scores (PRS) and their significance in future cancer prevention and early detection.

Discover more about the AnteNor-project in these articles:

5 people sitting on stools in fromt of a white screen, being part of apanel for discussion.

The panel discussion about implementing PRS tests included (from left to right): Peeter Padrik, CEO and founder of Antegenes, Solveig Hofvind, Head of the Mammography Programme at the Cancer Registry of Norway, Ole Alexander Opdalshei, Deputy Secretary General at the Norwegian Cancer Society, Lovise Olaug Mæhle, senior consultant at the Department of Medical Genetics at Oslo University Hospital and Ketil Widerberg, general manager at Oslo Cancer Cluster, as moderator.

Exploring the improvement possibilities in manufacturing T-cell therapies was the focal point at a workshop organized by the CellFIT project in Trondheim in October. The seminar convened project partners and experts to address a significant challenge for cell-based cancer therapy – the need for efficient and scalable production. Discover more about their discussions in this article.

The post Highlights from Oslo Cancer Cluster in 2023 first appeared on Oslo Cancer Cluster.

Margit Selsjord is Oslo Cancer Cluster's new communications advisor. Photo: OCC

Our new communications advisor

Portrait picture of a woman with long hair smilingOCC

Meet Oslo Cancer Cluster’s new communications advisor Margit Selsjord.

Margit Selsjord will be assisting OCC in communication tasks, working on the websites, in social media, and ensuring that crucial messages are shared with members and the wider audience.

“I am passionate about using my expertise to contribute to solving one of the most significant societal challenges of our time. The increasing prevalence of cancer, even at a very young age, makes it incredibly meaningful to be working for Oslo Cancer Cluster,” Selsjord said.

She is taking over for Sofia Linden who will be on maternity leave throughout 2024.

Aiming to inspire

Selsjord is a trained photojournalist and comes directly from a similar position at LMI (The Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry) where she had roles in communication and content production. She has many years of experience in communication within the health, pharmaceutical, and research fields, and she is also an artist and teacher.

Even in her free time, Selsjord is dedicated to health and prevention. Through interests such as vegan cooking, yoga, meditation, strength training, and climbing, she hopes to inspire others to take better care of their bodies.

“I believe that with my diverse background, experience, and education, I can contribute in many areas, especially in enhancing visual communication. I look forward to working closely and offer my services to the team and members.”

You can get in touch with Margit Selsjord by email. Please find her details in our team overview.

 

The post Our new communications advisor first appeared on Oslo Cancer Cluster.

The Norwegian delegation at the booth coordinated by OCC at Nordic Life Science Days 2023 in Copenhagen, Denmark

Nordic Life Science Days 2023

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

 

 

 

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