14 new members of Oslo Cancer Cluster in 2015
Oslo Cancer Cluster had a tremendous growth in the number of members in 2015: 14 new ones joined us. In total the cluster now comprise of 75 members. Please find a short description of our new members from 2015 below.
Medivir
Medivir is a Nordic research based pharmaceutical company with focus on infectious diseases and oncology. Medivir has a cutting-edge competence in the design of protease inhibitors and generation of analogues of nucleosides. With world-class in-house capabilities and a network of complementary external expertise, Medivir is a long-term partner to the health care sector and adds value through launching innovative medicines within specialty care areas such as infectious diseases and oncology.
Phoenix Solutions AS
is an innovative start-up Biotech company focused on development of a platform for ultrasound mediated targeted delivery of lipophilic drugs; Acoustic Cluster Therapy – ACT(tm). After intravenous injection ultrasound, imaging is used to image the drug formulation within the body and to trigger the release of the drug payload at the targeted pathology under ultrasound guided imaging control. The concept is based on the controlled manufacture of micron-sized clusters of microbubbles and oil droplets. Phoenix is focused on developing a drug delivery technology and not on drug product development. Phoenix will collaborate with drug companies to provide development of formulation and procedures as well as the rights to use our intellectual property.
http://www.phoenixsolutions.no
Regenics AS
Regenics AS is a private Norwegian biotechnology company based in Oslo. The business concept is to develop and patent technologies and products for cosmetic and therapeutic wound healing applications. Regenics’ innovations include products from bio-marine resources, such as salmon eggs. The product technology is a revolutionary approach to skin rejuvenation and repair, with power to improve skin appearance and wound healing by stimulating the skin’s own cells. The technologies utilize the nature’s own ingredients to induce natural processes of skin by improving cell function, activity, and growth. These are mechanisms highly beneficial for both cosmetic and wound healing applications.
Steenstrup Stordrange
The law firm Steenstrup Stordrange offers a full range of legal services to businesses of different sizes, from start-ups to mature corporations. They are in particular focused and aware of the challenges met by early-stage businesses, and intend to offer personalized attention with an overall focus on securing and adding value to the companies that they serve. As a full-service business law firm, our practice covers areas ranging from regulatory issues, IP, business formation and financing, mergers and acquisitions, taxation, to exit strategies and business succession planning. Steenstrup Stordrange offer cost-effective and creative legal solutions to business and commercial clients. Pharmaceutical and healthcare companies will potentially face a range of challenges, including possible disputes over intellectual property, adherence to evolving regulatory rules and regulations and parallel import challenges, to name just a few. At the same time, the industry offers great opportunities and growth potential. They aim at being your preferred legal partner whenever the need for legal assistance may arise.
Myhere AS
Myhere AS focuses on improving detection, prognosis and life quality for people affected by Prostate Cancer through developing an improved service for early detection and monitoring of Prostate Cancer and Prostate Cancer risk. Myhere combines existing and new diagnostics tools, data analytics and a structured processes across the treatment landscape, in order to provide users with the security of having their Prostate Cancer risk status and development followed and analyzed, as well as further medical follow up recommend or initiated if relevant. Ultimately, Myhere’s ambition is to help turn Prostate Cancer from a life quality reducing and/or potentially deadly disease, into a manageable chronic condition without dramatic side effects. Through Myhere, users will own and control their own health information. The users will also have the option to donate their information anonymously to research purposes. Myhere will seek partnerships with leading researchers in order to improve Prostate Cancer diagnostics and treatment to the benefit of everyone affected by the disease.
SAS Institute AS
SAS Institute AS – Being the leader in business analytics software and services worldwide, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market, SAS has an enduring commitment to employees, environment and communities. Healthcare is an industry that use SAS software to both improve clinical performance, patient safety and secure a more efficient care delivery. In Norway, Northern and South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority and several of their hospitals uses SAS in their daily work. In addition, a high number of universities and research institutes uses our software for analysis and sharing results. SAS software is free of use for education and noncommercial research activities. Students writes bachelor and master thesis with support from SAS advisors as mentors together with our customers. One example is bachelor at The Cancer Registry of Norway May 2015. Becoming a member of Oslo Cancer Cluster, we will explore if Ullern vgs would like to be part of our global academic community and also if students from Universities and High Schools could be of use for the members at Oslo Cancer Cluster. Globally SAS are involved in several initiatives fighting cancer, like Project Data Sphere, an independent initiative of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer’s Life Sciences Consortium. The Consortium builds collaboration that expedites research and development into more effective cancer treatments. We hope a membership at Oslo Cancer Cluster could utilize SAS local and global software expertise and our extended network tied to Health Care and Cancer Research, and exploit the possibilities for innovation thru use of business analytics.
Celgene AS
Celgene Corporation is a global integrated biopharmaceutical company primarily engaged in the discovery, development and commercialisation of innovative therapies designed to treat cancer, immune system disorders and inflammatory diseases where there are limited treatment options for patients. There are hundreds of clinical trials at major medical centres worldwide evaluating compounds from Celgene. Marketed therapies and investigational compounds include those for incurable haematological cancers and solid tumours as well as immune-inflammatory related diseases including; multiple myeloma (MM), myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML), mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, non-small lung cancer, melanoma, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and Crohn’s disease.
HealthCap
HealthCap is a leading European venture capital firm investing exclusively and globally in life sciences. A cornerstone of the strategy is to invest in companies developing therapeutic interventions that have the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes. HealthCap backs companies developing targeted therapies for rare diseases, orphan drugs, cancer and genetic diseases, among others. The HealthCap team of ten partners, five of whom are MD PhDs, has established its reputation as one of Europe’s preeminent life science specialists amongst VCs and entrepreneurs.
Astellas Pharma AS
Astellas Pharma Inc. is a global pharmaceutical company with a simple vision – to produce exceptional medicines that change tomorrow for patients in need. Headquartered in Tokyo, Astellas was founded in 2005 through the merger of Yamanouchi and Fujisawa, marrying nearly two centuries of collective experience in producing pharmaceutical drugs. We combine the deep expertise brought by this long heritage with the forward-thinking outlook of a young company. At the heart of that outlook is the patient. Now, Astellas employs more than 17,500 people globally and is a world leader in the development of innovative new medicines. With our ethos of CHANGING TOMORROWTM, Astellas is committed to exploring therapeutic areas in which there is a vital need for treatments that improve and lengthen patients’ lives. We’re not in the business of making ‘me too’ medicines. We strive to develop therapies that are first-in-class and best-in-class. Treatments that offer patients and their doctors genuinely new options for improving care.
Curida AS
Curida offer hiqh-quality manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, food supplements and related products. Their manufacturing site and our staff have a long and proud tradition to supply a wide range of products to our national and international customers. The site in Norway is specialized on liquid and semi-liquid formulations for many different applications. They are dedicated to create value for our customers by being a flexible, enthusiastic, credible and brave business partner.
Crown Bioscience Inc. (UK)
Crown Bioscience is a global preclinical CRO providing cutting-edge translational platforms and drug discovery solutions for its academic, biotech and pharmaceutical partners in dedicated therapeutic areas: Oncology and Metabolic Disease. Our proprietary platforms enable unique lead optimisation and translational strategies, including patient stratification, to reduce attrition and deliver superior clinical candidates for pre-defined patient populations. Headquartered in Santa Clara California, Crown Bioscience has key research facilities in the UK, China (Beijing and Taicang) and the USA (San Diego and North Carolina).
With the world’s largest and most diverse portfolio of Cell-Derived Xenograft (CDX) and well-characterised Patient-Derived Xenograft models (PDX), from both naïve and pre-treated patients; comprehensive and fully client-searchable online databases of models fit for efficacy (XenoBase, HuBase and MuBase); and the capacity to perform 100s of in vivo studies in parallel (including HuTrials, human surrogate clinical trials), they can help our clients to discover biomarkers of efficacy, genetic signatures of response, and identify the characteristics of patient responders to improve patient selection and focus recruitment in the clinic – in months rather than years, and at a fraction of the cost of a clinical trial. Crown also provides a high quality range of Immunotherapy Research Platforms to support the growing field of Immuno-Oncology drug discovery, including platforms of mouse immunity and human immunity.
Their unique collection of ready-to-run, well-validated in vitro and in vivo models, model development expertise, comprehensive drug discovery platforms and global capacity enable us to deliver the key results our clients rely upon to expedite their research.
Questback AS
QuestBack was founded in Oslo in 2000 and currently has 300 employees in six different countries. We are a Norwegian company that delivers technology, along with the expertise to structure and safeguard communication between individuals, groups and organizations, so that one can make reporting and analysis of collected data. Over 5,000 customers are currently on our customer list, and they use our technology to develop their organizations and projects. QuestBack has customers in many different type of industries and health care, which includes Life Science is a sector that has a large focus and as we grow in.
QuestBack investment in Oncology: Research and health is an important area for us, and we’ve hired people who are dedicated to developing our technology and services in this field. Our focus in healthcare is patient dialogue / involvement, where we help organizations to structure and assist the patient to provide the correct information based on the situation and needs. QuestBack is currently in the process of getting our solution certified by ICHOM (www.ichom.org), a consortium between Karolinska Institute, BCG and Harvard University, which seeks to establish standardized PROM`s (Patient Reported Outcome Measures). Quality and health records, such as cancer registry, need more data on the patient and how they live with, after or during cancer treatment. These data are essential in the further research. Clinical trials are an area we have worked with previously and an area we would like to specialize in.
Larix A/S
Larix A/S is a full service clinical research organization with headquarters in Herlev near Copenhagen, Denmark. Larix has offices in Oslo, Lund, Stockholm and Helsinki enabling us to support full Nordic clinical development programs.
Larix is a family founded, privately owned company that has been working in the clinical research environment for 14 years. They provide expertise and consulting to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies requiring assistance with all aspects of clinical studies, including trial management and monitoring, biostatistics, data management, medical writing and pharmacovigilance. Larix has experience across all therapeutic areas and with clinical development of medicinal products, medical devices and diagnostics. Currently, Larix is responsible for or involved in more than 10 clinical studies including four oncology studies. In addition, their staff is contributing to a large number of clinical studies as insourced Clinical Trial Managers/Clinical Research Associates, Data Managers or Statisticians. Apart from being a full service CRO, Larix is now the largest Scandinavian CRO within biometrics. Larix employs 70 people, of which about half are statisticians, data managers and medical writers.
Oslo Life Science Advisors
Oslo Life Science Advisors focuses on providing its customers with quality insight, based on technology assessment and validation, competition and market positioning analysis, strategy evaluation and assessment and business plan creation based on a thorough, analytical approach and industrial experience. Oslo Life Science Advisors have a special focus in oncology, immunology and personalized medicine. The founding partner has experience from starting and leading several startups within diagnostics and therapeutics, and has a strong commitment to commercial development of innovative projects within biomedicine and health.
