New member: Kaiku Health

Image of Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park

In this series, we will be introducing one-by-one the new members that have joined our oncology ecosystem in the last six months. Follow us for a new article next week!

One of our newest members is Kaiku Health, a health data science company that will improve the quality of life for cancer patients.

Kaiku Health is a Finnish start-up founded in 2012 by five software developers that care deeply about health care. This exciting new company combines data science, technology and oncology to deliver new medical devices that will help cancer patients, by managing their symptoms digitally.

We talked to Lauri Sippola, CEO and Co-Founder of Kaiku Health, and Ann-Sofie Andersson-Ward, Clinical Partnership Manager Nordics at Kaiku Health, to find out what the company is all about and why they joined our cluster.

Kaiku Health logo

Could you briefly describe Kaiku Health and the role it is taking in cancer?

“Kaiku Health is a health data science company aiming to improve the quality of life of cancer patients. Our digital health intervention platform is based on patient-reported outcomes and classified as a medical device in cancer care. It supports clinical decision making by screening symptoms and notifying care teams. It also provides personalised support for patients. Kaiku Health has modules for over 25 cancer types across different cancer care pathways and is currently in use in over 40 European cancer clinics and hospitals,” said Ann-Sofie Andersson-Ward, Clinical Partnership Manager Nordics.

Why did Kaiku Health join Oslo Cancer Cluster?

“We consider Oslo Cancer Cluster to be a unique node for collaborations focusing on cancer in Norway. As the cluster has members from all parts of the cancer research and care spectrum, we can jointly accelerate the much-needed developments in cancer care. Vital steps forward can be taken due to the ability to secure buy-in, enabling a joint and sustainable focus thus ensuring a better future for cancer patients,” said Ann-Sofie Andersson-Ward, Clinical Partnership Manager Nordics.

“Our vision at Kaiku Health is to provide personalised digital health interventions for every cancer patient. We can only achieve it by working hard together with our partners – of which Oslo Cancer Cluster is a great example”, adds Lauri Sippola, CEO and Co-Founder of Kaiku Health.

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COVID-19 virus affecting clinical trials in Norway

This press release was sent out on NTB on 13 March 2020 by LMI and Oslo Cancer Cluster.

As a precautionary measure, in the continuous efforts to limit the spreading of the COVID-19 virus, and to shelter patients as well as healthcare staff, external personnel are given restricted access to hospitals, which consequently affects monitoring, auditing and inspections of ongoing clinical trials.

The restrictions – which also include a temporary halt in patient recruitment for new clinical trials – are implemented at all large hospitals nation-wide and include a provisional standstill in monitoring of ongoing research, as well, consequently delaying its outcomes.

It is imperative to note, that the precautionary measures taken, are in no way related to which studies that are ongoing, which treatment that is researched, or which company that is responsible for conducting it.

Ongoing Dialogue

LMI have contacted the health authorities, requesting advice as to how their members should relate to health personnel and hospital contact, but are yet to receive any information.

LMI, Oslo Cancer Cluster and their members have introduced their own precautionary restrictions for their employees, aiming to limit the risk of spreading the virus and to allow health personnel to prioritise according to the current, extraordinary needs.

LMI and Oslo Cancer Cluster will continue to monitor the situation closely and encourage both members and non-members to report any restrictions they might receive.

About

Oslo Cancer Cluster is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to accelerating the development of cancer treatments.

LMI is the pharmaceutical industry association in Norway and consists of Norwegian and international companies that develop, produce, sell or market pharmaceuticals in Norway.

Contact persons

Ketil Widerberg, general manager, Oslo Cancer Cluster

kw@oslocancercluster.no

Hege Edvardsen, senior advisor, LMI

Hege.edvardsen@lmi.no

 

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Corona outbreak in Norway

Corona virus

Due to the ongoing corona virus outbreak, we have unfortunately decided to postpone / cancel all our meetings and close our offices for the time being.

On Thursday 12 March 2020, the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg announced several nation-wide measures (information in Norwegian) in order to contain the coronavirus outbreak in Norway.

In adherence to these new recommendations, all our meetings will be cancelled or postponed until further notice. Please follow the event pages in our event calendar for further updates.

In addition, all Oslo Cancer Cluster employees will be working from home effective immediately and until further notice. If you need to schedule a meeting, all employees are available via telephone or e-mail. Please refer to our Team page for contact details.

Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator will have staff on-site according to a duty roster. We ask all tenants of the Incubator to refrain from inviting any visitors to our facilities for the time being. Please contact the Incubator Team or consult this Interim Guidance if you have any questions or special requirements.

For updates and general guidelines about the corona virus outbreak, please consult Folkehelseinstituttet (for information in Norwegian) and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (for information in English). These include washing your hands regularly, avoiding handshakes and not attending large gatherings.

Special advice for cancer patients. Cancer patients are among those at high risk of serious illness from infection. Cancer Research UK has more information (in English) for cancer patients and their caregivers. The Norwegian Cancer Society has written similar advice (in Norwegian).

Stay safe and take extra good care of each other. This is a Norwegian public health “dugnad” and we must all do what we can to contain the outbreak.

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New member: Hubro Therapeutics

Image of Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park

In this series, we will be introducing one-by-one the new members that have joined our ecosystem in the last six months. Follow us for a new article next week!

We are proud to present one of the latest additions to our cluster – Hubro Therapeutics.

Hubro Therapeutics is a Norwegian biotech start-up from 2018 that develops immunotherapies against cancer. These treatments aim to trigger the body’s immune system to fight cancer. The company is currently situated in Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator, where they are using the laboratory facilities to develop their treatments.

We talked with Jon Amund Eriksen, founder and CEO of Hubro Therapeutics, to find out a little bit more about the company, their work in cancer research and the reason why they joined Oslo Cancer Cluster.

Could you briefly describe Hubro Therapeutics and the role you take in cancer?

“Hubro Therapeutics AS is a biotech company based on thirty years of R&D experience in the field of immunotherapy of cancer. The company is specialising in developing peptide vaccines targeting shared cancer specific neo-antigens, focusing on design and development of novel peptides and peptide compositions for targeting frameshift mutations in micro-satellite instable (msi) cancers.  The lead candidate vaccine targeting frameshift mutation in TGFbR2 is currently in development for clinical testing in msi-colorectal cancer and potentially msi-gastric cancer,” said Jon Amund Eriksen, founder and CEO.

Why did you join Oslo Cancer Cluster?

“For us, Oslo Cancer Cluster with its incubator and laboratory facilities provides a perfect opportunity to operate in a highly relevant and focused scientific environment as well as to generate our own experimental results without heavy investments,” said Jon Amund Eriksen, founder and CEO.

 

Hubro Therapeutics logo

 

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