Arendalsuka 2023

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Møt oss i Arendal! Vi skal sette kreftinnovasjon på den politiske dagsorden!

Våre arrangementer streames direkte via vår YouTube-kanal @OsloCancerCluster. 

 

Fremtidens kreftbehandling

Tirsdag 15. august, kl. 08.00-09.00, Clarion Hotel Tyholmen Sal A

Velkommen til frokostseminar om samfunnsoppdraget kreft.

Hvert år får 3,5 millioner europeere diagnosen kreft. Om utviklingen fortsetter, vil tallet være 4,3 millioner i 2035. Kreft er i dag den vanligste dødsårsaken i Norge og i flere europeiske land. Utfordringen på kreftområdet er med andre ord formidabel – og økende. Nettopp derfor har EU definert kreft som en av fem store samfunnsutfordringer, som har fått sine tilsvarende målrettede samfunnsoppdrag, såkalte missions. Disse oppdragene skal føre til løsningsforslag på vår tids største utfordringer innen miljø, klima og kreft.

Hvordan kan vi best lykkes med et samfunnsoppdrag på kreft i Norge? Hva har helsenæring og eksport med et samfunnsoppdrag på kreft å gjøre? Og er det ønskelig fra politisk hold å bruke missions som metode? Dette er sentrale spørsmål vi vil debattere med politikere og samfunnsaktører under dette frokostseminaret i møteserien Fremtidens kreftbehandling.

Arrangører: Oslo Cancer Cluster, Kreftforeningen, Legemiddelindustrien, Janssen Norge, MSD Norge, AstraZeneca Norge

Medisinsk innovasjon etter Inflation Reduction Act

Tirsdag 15. august, kl. 14.30-15.30, Clarion Hotel Tyholmen Sal A

Hvordan vil USAs enorme støttepakke til egen industri påvirke medisinsk innovasjon i Europa og Norge?  

Amerikanerne har lansert en støttepakke til egen industri, kalt Inflation Reduction Act. Denne vil påvirke investeringer i forskning og innovasjon i USA, og få ringvirkninger for Europa og Norge.

Inflation Reduction Act, som ble vedtatt i amerikansk lov i fjor, skal få fart på det grønne skiftet og redusere inflasjonen i USA. Men kommentatorer peker på at det vel så mye er en gigantisk pakke for å hente industri og arbeidsplasser hjem, blant annet gjennom subsidier. I pakken kommer også en rekke tiltak som påvirker utvikling av legemidler. Blant annet har flere legemiddelselskaper uttrykt bekymring for en betydelig usikkerhet knyttet til investeringer i forskning og utvikling, og at flere fremtidige kliniske studier kan bli satt på pause.

Hvordan skal Europa og Norge svare på dette?

Historisk har Europa vært ledende på medisinsk innovasjon, men de siste tjue årene har vi falt etter USA. I 2002 var forskjellen mellom investeringer i forskning og utvikling i helseteknologi mellom USA og Europa på 2 milliarder euro, og i dag har denne forskjellen blitt 25 milliarder euro. På tross av dette er Europa i en unik situasjon til å ta over lederrollen innen medisinsk innovasjon, med et helsevesen i verdensklasse, og en lang historie innen forskning og utvikling. Når USA nå satser tungt på egen industri, er det en mulighet for Europa til å intensivere sin egen innovasjonskraft innen helse.

Medisinsk innovasjon er avhengig av et levende økosystem mellom private aktører, helsetjenester og akademia. Derfor vil vi invitere aktører fra det norske økosystemet for å diskutere hvordan Europa, inkludert Norge, skal svare på den globale utviklingen som USA nå dytter framover med sin nasjonale støttepakke.

Arrangører: Oslo Cancer Cluster, Abbvie, Photocure

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The Future of Digital Health in Norway: Leading the Way

Onsdag 16. august, kl. 13.30-14.30, Rygerelektra

Digital solutions offer significant potential to enhance healthcare delivery and innovation for Norwegian businesses. Despite a multitude of available apps, global downloads, and opportunities, many healthcare systems struggle with effective utilization due to trust issues and market complexity. This event highlights successful European cases, aiming to inspire Norway to become a pioneer in secure and impactful digital healthcare solutions.

Agenda:

13:30 – Introduction and Moderation Presented by Stephen McAdam from DNV

13:35 – Norges strategi for implementering av digitale helse teknologier Presented by Lucie Aunan, Divisjonsdirektør at Direktoratet for eHelse (Presentation in Norwegian)

13:40 – The Importance of Certification for Norwegian Municipalities Presented by Terje Wistner, Director ehealth at KS

13:45 – Sleepio: Experience from the UK and Other Countries (Video)

13:48 – A European Perspective: What’s Working and What’s Not Presented by Liz Ashall Payne, CEO and Founder of Orcha

14:00 – Challenges of Implementing Digital Solutions in Norway Presented by Solvor Øverlien Magi, CEO of Lifeness

14:07 – Round Table Discussion Participants: KS, Lifeness, Orcha, CEO of Norwegian Smart Care Cluster Arild Kristensen representing Norwegian Health clusters

14:25 – Summarizing Comments Presented by Stephen McAdam

14:30 – Closing Remarks

Arrangører: Oslo Cancer Cluster, Norway Health Tech, Norwegian Smart Care Cluster, The Life Science Cluster, DNV

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Kan persontilpasset medisin bidra til å løse ressurskrisen i helsetjenesten?

Onsdag 16. august, kl. 16.30-17.30, Clarion Hotel Tyholmen Sal A

Konsortiet CONNECT inviterer til diskusjon om persontilpasset medisin i lys av ressurskrisen i helsetjenestene.

Hva er de største ressursutfordringene helsetjenesten står overfor – og hvordan kan persontilpasset medisin bidra til å løse disse?

I løpet av denne timen tar vi på oss fremtidsbrillene. Vi ser på hva den nye strategien for persontilpasset medisin sier om utsiktene for mer presis behandling, og hvordan blant annet data fra norske kreftpasienter kan bidra til en mer effektiv bruk av helsepersonell og ressurser.

Både fagfolk og politikere deler sitt syn på hva som vil skape bedre ressursbruk i helsetjenesten i årene framover, og hvilken plass persontilpasset medisin bør få i helsetjenesten.

Arrangører: CONNECT

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Du finner mer informasjon om alle arrangementer i Arendal via Arendalsuka.no

The post Arendalsuka 2023 first appeared on Oslo Cancer Cluster.

Pascal van Peborgh, Senior Director Medical Affairs for Gilead Nordics.

Gilead joins Oslo Cancer Cluster

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Gilead

The newest member of Oslo Cancer Cluster is Gilead, a biopharmaceutical company advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases.

Pascal van Peborgh, Senior Director Medical Affairs for Gilead Nordics answered some questions on why Gilead joins Oslo Cancer Cluster, how they are involved in the cancer field and why the Nordics is an important area for the company.

What is Gilead’s motivation to join Oslo Cancer Cluster (OCC)?

“Gilead’s ambition is to build strong partnerships with cancer research centers and oncology-focused organizations to accelerate research and ultimately provide Norwegian patients with novel therapeutic options. We want to work together with other OCC members on basic research topics and in finding ways to provide better access for patients who suffer from cancer. Part of this ambition was why we partnered in the CONNECT public-private partnership.”

Tell us more about Gilead’s investment in cancer and the company’s oncology pipeline.

“Gilead has a long history of bringing innovation to patients in improving patients’ outcomes and at times provided a cure for people facing specific life-threatening infectious diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C. Gilead is now applying the same approach and commitment to cancer. We have purposefully built a deep and broad oncology portfolio with a focus on trying to address critical unmet needs in oncology care.

“This framework defines our portfolio, with assets that have complementary MOAs and strong scientific rationale for treatment combination opportunities. From antibody-drug conjugates and small molecules to cell therapy-based approaches, our research and development programs are providing new hope for people with overlooked, underserved, and difficult-to-treat cancers.

“This includes many of the most exciting and most promising targets in oncology today, with strong potential across tumor types, lines of treatment, and multiple opportunities for unique combination therapies. We have investigational agents in trials across varied solid tumors: breast, lung, GI, GU, including bladder, among many others. And in blood cancers: MDS, AML, LBCL, adult lymphoblastic leukemia and more. We are well positioned to establish Gilead as a leading Oncology company.”

What do you think about opportunities in Norway, and the Nordics, for the development of new cancer treatments? How do you view the milieus here for cancer research and health industry?

“We see Norway as a pioneer in Precision Medicine, e.g., the CONNECT and IMPRESS initiatives. It has also a strong history of registry data utilization, e.g., and building further new additions to cancer registry like INSPIRE BC and LC. Norway is also highly ranked for cancer research in Europe, with a government and policies supporting the development of precision medicines and clinical trials, with Inven2 and NorTrial being established as examples.

“In addition, the systematization of care in Norway and especially around Oslo University Hospital provides a central node with adequate infrastructure, expertise, and innovation in the cancer research eco-system and more specifically for translational research and clinical trials. Finally, the Oslo University Hospital being an accredited Comprehensive Cancer Center with an extensive international network provides us with further confidence to invest in cancer research in Norway.“

Do you have an ambition to launch cancer clinical trials in the Nordics?

“Our ambition is to continue to initiate new clinical trials within oncology in the Nordics in greater scope, and more specifically in Norway. We at Gilead, view the Nordic countries as having high-quality infrastructure that supports clinical research and studies. The countries have national support functions that provides information and services to researchers that are interested in clinical research – both for observational studies and for clinical interventional studies.

“Gilead, with its own R&D portfolio or through opt-in agreements has currently more than 70 ongoing oncology R&D programs focusing on three therapeutic strategies: triggering tumor intrinsic cell death, promoting immune-mediated tumor killing, and remodeling of the tumor microenvironment. To be able to fully deliver on this pipeline we will need close collaboration with clinical and academic research.”

 

Learn more about the members of Oslo Cancer Cluster by visiting our Member Overview page.

The post Gilead joins Oslo Cancer Cluster first appeared on Oslo Cancer Cluster.

Krista Kruuv-Käo, project manager of AnteNOR, presented how polygenic risk scores can be used to prevent breast cancer at a recent meeting organised by the Norwegian Cancer Mission Hub. Photo: Sofia Linden / Oslo Cancer Cluster

Polygenic risk scores: a European cancer priority 

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The EU is looking to polygenic risk scores to improve prevention and early detection of cancer

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) have become one of the focus areas for prevention and early detection of cancer in the European Union’s Mission on Cancer. 

“PRS tests can provide a measure of your personal risk of developing a specific disease due to your genes,” explained Krista Kruuv-Käo, project manager of AnteNOR, a project that investigates how PRS can be implemented for prevention and early detection of breast cancer in Norway. 

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan outlines 10 flagship initiatives and number 7 focuses on how cancers develop: 

“Alongside the ‘Genomic for Public Health’ project, the European Initiative to Understand Cancer (UNCAN.eu), planned to be launched under the foreseen Mission on Cancer to increase the understanding of how cancers develop, will also help identify individuals at high risk from common cancers using the polygenic risk scores technique. This should facilitate personalised approaches to cancer prevention and care, allowing for actions to be taken to decrease risk or to detect cancer as early as possible.”

What about Norway?

There are about 4 200 new cases and almost 600 deaths due to breast cancer in Norway each year, according to reports from the Norwegian Cancer Registry.  

“Early detection of breast cancer can save lives, but approximately 40 per cent of breast cancer cases in Norway are not detected at an early stage. For breast cancer, 31 per cent of all diagnoses are due to genetic predisposition and many women develop cancer before they reach the screening age of 50,” Kruuv-Käo commented. 

There are already genetic tests in the Norwegian specialist healthcare service for monogenic pathogenic variants, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, but not on a population-wide basis. PRS tests have not been implemented yet, although they are both cheaper and can identify more women with a moderate to high risk of developing breast cancer. 

Improving cancer screening

The results of the AnteNOR project were recently presented at a meeting organized by the Norwegian Cancer Mission Hub. 

“The project shows that PRS tests can be used for effective risk stratification for population-wide breast screening. By introducing genetic risk testing with PRS tests and monogenic testing, the women with moderate to high risk of developing breast cancer can be identified before the screening age of 50 years. With a personalised screening programme, some women may need to screen earlier and more often, while others can go to screenings less frequently in the future,” Kruuv-Käo explained. 

Estonia is already preparing for the introduction of a personalized breast cancer screening program, and the plan is to launch it this year. Will Norway follow? 

The post Polygenic risk scores: a European cancer priority  first appeared on Oslo Cancer Cluster.

Annbjørg Falck presented the Norwegian company NaDeNo during the International Cancer Cluster Showcase 2023.

Oncology innovators presented in Boston

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Three Nordic start-ups pitched at the International Cancer Cluster Showcase 2023.

This year’s International Cancer Cluster Showcase (ICCS) featured 20 emerging oncology companies that presented their recent innovations, partnering and investment opportunities on 5 June 2023 in Boston, as a satellite event to BIO International Convention. 

The companies were selected by innovation hubs in the United States (Massachusetts & Philadelphia), Quebec, Norway, the UK Golden Triangle, Switzerland, France, and Taiwan. 

“BIO International Convention is one of the largest gatherings of biotechnology and life sciences professionals from around the world. It provides an excellent platform for companies to network with potential partners, investors, customers, and collaborators. Via being part of the ICCS program emerging oncology companies get special visibility and exposure at the start of BIO. For those searching for collaboration, partnering and investment opportunities ICCS is an efficient format to meet 20 companies from international hubs and learn about their latest science, technologies, and (mostly preclinical) assets,” commented Jutta Heix, Head of International Affairs, Oslo Cancer Cluster and coordinator of the ICCS programme. 

Jutta Heix, Head of International Affairs at Oslo Cancer Cluster, welcomed the audience to the 12th International Cancer Cluster Showcase.

Promising Norwegian companies

NaDeNo, Hemispherian and One-Carbon Therapeutics represented the Nordic region during the event, which included four-minute pitches from each company. 

“Attending the BIO International conference for the first time as a small Norwegian start-up we highly appreciated the opportunity to share our story to a larger audience! Being visible in this way accelerates new relationships and valuable networking, and it really kick-started the conference for us. Many thanks to OCC for giving us this opportunity,” commented Annbjørg Falck, CEO and co-founder of NaDeNo.  

Adam Robertson, CSO of Hemispherian, presented one of the Nordic companies.

“The International Cancer Cluster Showcase presents a tremendous opportunity for Hemispherian to showcase our pharmaceutical development program on a global stage. This international exposure serves to highlight the exceptional nature of our technology and the expertise of our team. We are thrilled to have the privilege of presenting alongside other outstanding companies, which also provides us with a platform to showcase the rapidly growing Norwegian biotechnology sector. The event allows us to further establish Hemispherian’s reputation, attract attention to our innovative approach, and foster collaborations in the fight against cancer,” commented Adam Robertson, CSO of Hemispherian. 

Returning to Boston

This was the 12th edition of the International Cancer Cluster Showcase. Since 2012, the event has presented about 200 oncology start-ups and biotech companies as a satellite event to BIO International Convention and now returned to Boston where this format was started. The event connects emerging oncology companies from different innovation hubs with potential partners from the global oncology community gathering at BIO. 

The International Cancer Cluster Showcase 2023 was organized by Cambridge Innovation Partners, Montréal InVivo, The Wistar Institute, Oslo Cancer Cluster, OBN, Biopôle and Matwin. 

The event was kindly sponsored by Precision for Medicine, BIO and The Wistar Institute. 

 

 

The post Oncology innovators presented in Boston first appeared on Oslo Cancer Cluster.