Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg hosted the latest Northern Future Forum 30 October 2018. During the forum, the Prime Ministers of the Nordic and the Baltic countries and the UK came together in Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park to discuss health technologies and the role these crucial technologies can play in the health systems of the future. In this picture, the ministers get a guided tour of Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator and the laboratories with Ketil Widerberg as their guide. Photo: Kilian Munch/Statsministerens kontor

Let us cooperate on precise health technologies

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International cooperation is key to fulfilling our vision of making cancer treatments more precise, and giving the patients new treatments more quickly.

This opinion piece is written by Ketil Widerberg, General Manager at Oslo Cancer Cluster. It was first published in the Norwegian newspaper Today’s Medicine, Dagens Medisin, 30 October 2018. 

The countries in Northern Europe have contributed to developing medical treatments that we today could not imagine living without. From the British discovery of antibiotics to the Danish development of a treatment for diabetes. Once again it is time for Northern European health innovation, this time in the field of health technology. What might the prime ministers from Northern Europe focus on when they meet in Oslo on 30 October to discuss health technology?

They might want to point out concrete and state-of-the-art initiatives from their respective countries. It could be Swedish biobanks, Finnish artificial intelligence, Danish health data, English genomics and Estonian health blockchain. These are exciting initiatives that make medicine more precise. This is particularly important when it comes to cancer because more precise treatments could save lives and limit the late effects resulting from imprecise treatment.

This opinion piece is written by Ketil Widerberg, General Manager at Oslo Cancer Cluster. It was first published in the Norwegian newspaper Today’s Medicine, Dagens Medisin, 30 October 2018.

At the same time, we see the contours of serious challenges arising with more precise medicine, such as each unit becoming more expensive. Smaller patient groups also mean that it is harder to find enough patients to understand the biological processes and the consequences of new medical treatments. As the prime ministers gather in Oslo to discuss health technology and plan the road ahead, it would not be amiss for them to look back in time and find inspiration from another technological development.

Precise through cooperation
In the 1990s, the search engine Yahoo helped us to quality-assure by categorising and being precise when we needed information on the internet. Yahoo thus contributed to the internet changing the world. However, the amount of data soon became enormous and complex, and a never-ending need for resources and experts arose. The traditional categorisation to ensure quality and structure the data became an impossible task.

This is very similar to what is happening in the health field today. We are constantly collecting more data and educating an increasing number of experts. With a few exceptions, every country is now collecting their data in their own registers and using a great deal of resources on assuring the quality of the data. The countries are rightfully proud of their initiatives. In Norway, we are proud of our biobanks and our health registers, such as the Cancer Registry of Norway. At the same time, we need to ask ourselves whether this national strategy really is the smartest way forward.

Let us go back to Yahoo. Towards the end of the 1990s, some engineers in California thought differently about the internet. How about using cooperation as a quality indicator? Instead of categorising, the links between the websites could ensure data quality. This is how Google was born, and we got precision, quality and insight into data that changed the world.

There are different challenges in the health field than on the internet. Data are more sensitive and the consequences for individuals can often be more dire. At the same time, health technology, in many ways, has reached the same point as the internet faced in the 1990s.  We do not have the quantity, the methods for analysis, or the quality to fully exploit the data to gather insight, or for treatment or innovation – yet.

From Yahoo to Google level
One way in which we could tackle the health technology challenges the data present us with is through international cooperation. It is about two things: to gather enough data, and to analyse the data to provide better and more precise treatment. The initiatives so far are promising, but they lack the potential to make the leap from Yahoo to Google.

The Northern European prime ministers can probably acknowledge this. The question is: what can they do? Should they encourage smart young engineers to analyse health data instead of developing the next app? Or should they change the way the hospitals buy technology?

A step in the right direction could be to look at what works best in the other countries. At the same time, we need to avoid new initiatives merely becoming a better horse-drawn carriage. Are there initiatives in existence that are scalable internationally so that we can bring health data up to the next level together? The answer is yes, but it requires visionary initiatives that have not been done anywhere else.

Common clinical studies
An area that the prime ministers will be able to highlight is a Northern European initiative for clinical studies. Together, the countries have a large number of patients, which gives researchers and doctors a better basis in their studies to understand more and provide better treatment. Such an initiative could also use health data from the national health services collected on a daily basis in several countries, known as real world data, instead of eventual clinical studies with patients over several years. This would be both quicker and much cheaper.

The prime ministers might also agree on cooperating on Northern European genetics. For 13 years, we collaborated on mapping our genes in the international  Human Genome Project. Now we need to get together to understand genes and treat the patients. With prioritised funding, genetics will soon be a part of the everyday clinical life in England. We can learn a lot from their experience.

Artificial intelligence
Lastly, the Northern European prime ministers may wish to collaborate on artificial intelligence in the health field. Today, cancer treatment, for instance, often only works on three out of ten patients. Artificial intelligence will change how we understand diseases such as cancer and how we treat the patients. The experiences from Finland of introducing artificial intelligence will help other countries to understand where the barriers are and where help might be needed first.

Oslo Cancer Cluster’s vision is to make cancer treatment more precise and provide new treatments more quickly to the patients. We see that international cooperation is key to obtaining this goal. As a result, we could also discover diseases more quickly and reduce the costs of the national health services. We hope the Northern European prime ministers will delve into these issues when they meet to discuss the health technologies of the future here with us.

By Ketil Widerberg, General Manager at Oslo Cancer Cluster.

Kronikk i Aftenposten: De nordiske landene kan gjøre noe resten av verden drømmer om

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De nordiske landene bør samarbeide mer for å utvikle bedre kreftbehandlinger. Sammen kan Norden bli et globalt forsknings- og testsenter for nye kreftbehandlinger og -medisiner. Det kan gi store gevinster for kreftpasienter i hele verden. Denne kronikken sto på trykk i Aftenposten torsdag 9. mars.

Ketil Widerberg, daglig leder i Oslo Cancer Cluster, skrev kronikken samme uke som The Economist, Forskningsrådet og Oslo Cancer Cluster arrangerte den nordiske konferansen War on Cancer Nordics i Oslo. De nordiske landene ønsker å lede an i kampen mot kreft. Nå er det på tide at infrastrukturer og lovverk legges til rette for det.

Norden kan vise vei i kampen mot kreft. For vi har noe de andre – selv ikke USA – har


Design, TV-serier og nå: kreft
Nordisk design er verdenskjent, og nordisk film har gjennom TV-serier som Broen etablert en ny sjanger i underholdningsindustrien. På 1990-tallet endret Nokia og Ericsson hvordan vi brukte mobiltelefonen. Slike fremskritt setter Norden på det internasjonale kartet og skaper arbeidsplasser. Nå er tiden inne for liknende fremskritt i kampen mot kreft. Vi har gode forutsetninger, men er vi vårt ansvar bevisst?

Vi har fremragende kreftforskning, for eksempel innen immunterapi for kreft, fotodynamisk teknologi og radioaktive legemidler (radiofarmaka). På disse områdene gjør både nordiske forskere og bioteknologifirmaer det godt internasjonalt. Hver for seg er de nordiske landene små, men samlet har de over 26 millioner innbyggere, og er et interessant marked for forskning, bioteknologi- og legemiddelselskaper.


Norden har unike fortrinn
Norden har flere forutsetninger for å lykkes. Først og fremst har alle nordiske borgere et unikt personnummer. Dette mangler faktisk i mange andre land, som USA. Personnummer har gjort det mulig for nordiske myndigheter å samle unike helsedata. I over 60 år har de nordiske landene samlet helse- og kreftdata i biobanker og registre og bygd verdensledende helsesystemer. Den nordiske befolkningen har dessuten et stort digitalt liv, og samfunnet har generell tillit til forskning.

De nordiske landene kan bruke disse felles fortrinnene til å gjøre noe resten av verden drømmer om: bruke offentlige helsedata for å se hvilken lovende medisin som virker på hver enkelt pasient. Slik kan legemiddelet godkjennes og tas i bruk før de tradisjonelle tidkrevende og kostbare delene av klinisk utprøving blir satt i gang. Tiden det tar fra et kreftlegemiddel blir patentert til det blir godkjent til bruk vil bli kortere, og pasienten vil kunne få behandlingen flere år tidligere. Samfunnet vil kunne spare millioner. Norden bør være seg sitt ansvar bevisst og gå i bresjen for raskere utvikling av ny kreftbehandling. Vi har ikke råd til å vente.


Ny viten gir bedre behandling
Kreft er en av vår tids store samfunnsutfordringer. Hvert år dør 8 millioner mennesker av kreft i verden og 14 millioner av oss får en kreftdiagnose. Det er mange, og antallet vil øke. Ifølge Verdens helseorganisasjon vil det øke med hele 70 prosent de neste 20 årene.

Heldigvis øker også forståelsen av hvor komplekse sykdommene som vi kaller kreft er. Vi vet at det finnes over 200 kreftsykdommer, og vi vet at kreft påvirkes blant annet av genetiske faktorer. I tillegg har vi nå forstått at immunsystemet spiller en viktige rolle i utviklingen av ulike kreftsykdommer og at vi kan påvirke immunsystemet til å spille på lag med kroppen mot kreften. Økt kunnskap om hva kreft egentlig er gir oss bedre forutsetninger for å vinne kampen mot kreft. Men med ny viten følger også en ny dynamikk for hvordan behandling skal utvikles, kategoriseres og tilbys pasienter.


Tid for politisk vilje
Digitalisering av kreftforskning gir rask fremgang i mange land. Store globale teknologifirmaer som Microsoft, IBM og Google satser nå på helse, og spesifikt kreft. Med kunstig intelligens kan kreftforskere simulere, teste hypoteser og samle og korrelere data som ikke var mulig for kun få år siden. Norden har unike helsedatabaser, og vi kan bygge opp kompetanse sammen med globale selskaper på samme måte som Norge bygde opp oljeindustrien på 1970-tallet. Da inviterte Norge inn store internasjonale selskaper som utviklet oljeindustrien under statlig styring. Dette krevde samarbeid og tilrettelegging fra det offentlige.

En satsing på et nordisk kreftsamarbeid krever også offentlig tilrettelegging. Myndighetene og offentlige instanser må åpne for at forskere kan få bruke helsedataene vi allerede har. I Norden har vi strukturen som gjør det mulig å nå raskere fram med ny forskning. Vi kan hjelpe pasienter ved å godkjenne og ta i bruk legemidler før de tradisjonelle tidkrevende og dyre siste kliniske studiene settes i gang. Både USA og EU har forsøkt, men med begrenset hell, blant annet fordi de mangler personnummer og har fragmenterte helsesystemer. Der har de politisk vilje, men mangler strukturene.


Et globalt testsenter
Nordiske helsevesen samler inn stadig mer data fra befolkningen. Nå kan slike helsedata brukes til å utvikle medisiner raskere. Det vil stille nye krav til rapportering, sikkerhet og formål med bruk av helsedata. Det vil kreve en åpen og innovativ holdning både fra offentlige og private aktører. Dette er ikke risikofritt, men gevinsten for samfunnet og for den enkelte pasient som overlever takket være raskere og bedre behandling, vil være betydelig.

Norden har en unik mulighet til å være et globalt testsenter for utvikling av nye legemidler som utnytter den offentlige digitale infrastrukturen. Google endret hvordan vi bruker internettet. Vi gikk fra AltaVista til Google, og så oss aldri tilbake. Norden har alle forutsetninger for å lede an i digitaliseringen innen helse. Det kan være med på å endre livet til de 14 millionene nye menneskene som får kreft hvert år.

Ketil Widerberg, daglig leder i Oslo Cancer Cluster

PCI Biotech granted NOK 13.8 million from the Research Council

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Our member PCI Biotech has been granted NOK 13.8 million to the project “Photochemical vaccination – novel immunotherapy concept for treatment of cancer and infectious diseases”.

The main goal of the project is to document in a proof-of-principle clinical study in cancer patients that PCI Biotech’s photochemical internalization (PCI) technology can be used to improve the efficacy of a therapeutic cancer vaccine. Other important aspects of the project is to develop the PCI technology for use in vaccination against certain types of viral and bacterial infections, and to explore the technology for use with mRNA-based vaccination.

‘This grant supports further development of the promising fimaVacc technology, as well as the important vaccination application of the fimaNAc technology. Both of these applications are well suited for the development of new types of immunotherapy against cancer, and also for the prevention and treatment of some types of infectious diseases, including certain types of chronic virus infections. We are very pleased to see that the expert evaluators and the Research Council share our view on the potential of these technologies.’ says CEO in PCI Biotech, Per Walday.

The project will be initiated in Q3 2017 and run for three and a half years. The grant will cover up to 35% of the project costs and the project will be implemented in the company’s current plans. The grant is subject to final contract negotiations.

Established in 2006, the BIA programme is the largest industry-oriented programme at the Research council of Norway (Forskningsrådet). This broad-based programme supports high-quality R&D projects with good business and socio-economic potential.

About PCI Biotech
PCI Biotech is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on development and commercialisation of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer through its innovative photochemical internalisation (PCI) technology platform. PCI is applied to three distinct anticancer paradigms: fimaChem (enhancement of chemotherapeutics for localised treatment of cancer), fimaVacc (T-cell induction technology for therapeutic vaccination), and fimaNAc (nucleic acid therapeutics delivery).

www.pcibiotech.no

Help define gene panel

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The Norwegian Research Council-financed project NCGC are joining forces with Norwegian Cancer Registry to establish a research platform for tumor-profiling in recruiting patients for clinical trials.

The objective is to make Norway an even more attractive location for the industry and to meet the industries specific needs. The first step in this work is to define a gene panel. In this connection the project team wants to get in contact with Oslo Cancer Cluster members who can give feedback on what targets should be included.

For more information, please contact:

More about NCGC here: cancergenomics.no