COVID-19 virus affecting clinical trials in Norway

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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

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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

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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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Oslo Cancer Cluster has participated in a state visit to Jordan to explore opportunities for international collaboration on cancer. From left to right: Steinar Aamdal, Senior Medical Advisor in Ultimovacs, Sigbjørn Smeland, Head of Division at Oslo University Hospital, Amal Al Omari, Chief Scientific Officer at KHCC, Abdelghani Tbakhi, Chairman at Department of Cell Therapy and Applied Genomics at KHCC, Hikmat Abdel-Razeq, Deputy Director at KHCC, Iselin Nybø, Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, Ketil Widerberg, General Manager of Oslo Cancer Cluster, Håkon Haugli, CEO of Innovation Norway. Photo: Innovation Norway

State visit to Jordan

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OCC, OUS, Jordan State Visit

Oslo Cancer Cluster visited King Hussein Cancer Centre (KHCC) in Jordan this week to foster international collaboration on cancer.

Oslo Cancer Cluster, Oslo University Hospital and Ultimovacs took part in a state visit to Amman in Jordan this week. The reason behind our involvement was that we want to create more international collaboration on the development of better cancer medicines. We wished to introduce Oslo University Hospital and Ultimovacs to King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF), with regards to a potential collaboration on for example cancer clinical studies and innovative cancer treatments.

Foto: Tom Hansen

Ketil Widerberg, General Manager of Oslo Cancer Cluster, spoke at the industry seminar to discover future partnerships between Norway and Jordan. Photo: Tom Hansen

Ketil Widerberg, General Manager of Oslo Cancer Cluster, spoke at the opening ceremony for the industry seminar, arranged by Innovation Norway. He emphasised that there is reason to hope in the face of cancer as a deadly disease. There are new innovative treatments, which use the immune system to treat cancer, and the use of new technology to analyze health data. If several countries cooperate with each other on data, we can discover new patterns and develop new therapies.

“We believe our countries together should bring the same urgency seen in infectious disease to cancer in the Middle East. Cancer is emerging as a major health issue in the region, and to both develop and give access to innovative treatments for cancer will be crucial in the coming years,” said Ketil Widerberg, General Manager of Oslo Cancer Cluster.

The Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry Iselin Nybø (to the right) participated in the state visit to Jordan to explore opportunities for industry collaboration. Photo: Camilla Bredde Pettersen

The audience included Harald V, King of Norway, Sonja, Queen of Norway, Abdullah II, King of Jordan, Rania, Queen of Jordan, Hussein, Crown Prince of Jordan, Ine Eriksen Søreide, Norwegian Foreign Minister, Iselin Nybø, Norwegian Minister of Trade, and industry representatives from the Norwegian and Jordanian delegations.

“We need global and internationally-oriented cooperation in cancer care in order to improve the lives of cancer patients. During this State Visit to Jordan, I am pleased to take part at the beginning of new and innovative partnerships between two highly innovative health and research institutions from Norway and Jordan. Jordan has the potential to serve as a hub for international partnerships in cancer care in the Middle East, and I look forward to the continuation of this partnership,” said Minister of Trade and Industry, Iselin Nybø.

During the visit, it was also discussed how Jordan can function as a power centre for better cancer treatments in the Middle East. It can potentially become a base for Norwegian relief to non-communicable diseases with an emphasis on cancer, which is an increasing cause of death in developing countries. Jordan is a relatively stable country with good infrastructure and could become a centre for a new type of Norwegian relief to the region.

A special thank you to Innovation Norway, The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry, and all other organising partners involved, for making the visit a success.