When carelessness, forgetfulness and coincidence become the researcher’s best friend

Forgetfulness, coincidence and a stroke of luck hardly make up a fruitful method of serious research. Or do they? Actually, a number of important medical advances have come about thanks to completely random incidents and the open-mindedness of scientists who were ready to think outside the box.

Lucy Robertshaw: Are we in the perfect storm?

“Is there a perfect storm on the horizon again as elective surgeries were cancelled due to patients being admitted with Covid-19? We now have a long backlog of people who are presenting with chronic diseases that need to access healthcare again”, writes Lucy Robertshaw in a column.

This is how Anette Steenberg will put Medicon Valley on the world map

Anette Steenberg has been CEO of the Swedish-Danish life science cluster Medicon Valley Alliance since 1 November last year. Life Science Sweden called her to ask about her visions and the challenges of merging the worlds of Swedish and Danish life

Elicera develops CAR-T against solid tumours – may become the first in the world

Today, there are five EU-approved CAR-T therapies, all focused on different types of blood cancer, but no one has yet succeeded in making the method work against solid tumours. At Gothenburg-based Elicera, they are working relentlessly to succeed in that field as well. “It is the largest field, and the potential is enormous,” says the company’s CEO Jamal El-Mosleh.

Österrike slopar vaccintvånget

Under onsdagen beslutade regeringen i Österrike att ta bort det lagstadgade vaccinkravet mot covid-19 som infördes i början av februari.

CAR-T therapies give continued hope: “Almost half of the patients have become disease-free”

When the first CAR-T therapies appeared, hopes were raised for the effective treatment for critically ill cancer patients. After a somewhat sluggish start, about 90 patients in Sweden have now been treated with this method. “Almost half of them have become disease-free, at least of those treated with Yescarta, which are the ones I know best,” says Gunilla Enblad, Chairman of the national working group for CAR-T treatment.

Björn Arvidsson: ”We need to change perspective”

If you say “life science” to a person on the street and ask them to explain what it is, you will probably get no good answer. The same question to your network will generate as many versions as the people you ask. Most likely, we will miss many opportunities with our lack of communication, writes Björn Arvidsson in a column.

CAR-T-terapier inger fortsatt hopp: ”Nästan hälften har blivit sjukdomsfria”

När de första CAR-T-terapierna dök upp väcktes förhoppningar om effektiv behandling för svårt sjuka cancerpatienter. Efter en något trög start har nu omkring 90 patienter i Sverige behandlats med metoden. – Nästan hälften har blivit sjukdomsfria, åtminstone när det gäller behandling med Yescarta som jag känner bäst till, säger Gunilla Enblad, ordförande för den nationella arbetsgruppen för CAR T-behandling, till Life Science Sweden.

Marie Gårdmark: Finally, it’s time for a revision of the EU pharma legislation

A challenge for the EU Commission is to deliver a new framework that will also take care of another “pillar” of the pharmaceutical strategy, namely, to ensure that new medicines will be available for all citizens in Europe, writes Marie Gårdmark in a column.

Realhearts styrelseordförande har avlidit

Realhearts styrelseordförande Göran Hellers avled i helgen till följd av plötslig sjukdom, meddelar företaget.

“Together Stockholm-Uppsala and Medicon Valley can make Scandinavia a leading life science region”

“Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland all have national life science strategies, but the Swedish strategy is the only one explicitly emphasizing the Nordic dimension. But what if the leading life science nations, Denmark and Sweden, joined forces, took the lead and pioneered Nordic life science collaboration? Wouldn´t we then be able to "bake a bigger cake?", writes Anette Steenberg and Ulf G. Andersson in a debate article.

Stockholm aims at becoming one of the world’s top life science regions

Regional Chair for Finance, Irene Svenonius (M), believes that Stockholm can realise the goal of becoming one of the world’s top 5 regions in life science by 2025. One step on the way to achieve this is by hosting a world-leading congress in medtech.

Anna Törner: Success requires bold decisions!

“Doing things right is fine, but doing the right things as soon as possible is even better”, writes Anna Törner in a column.

Giulia Gaudenzi: Innovation for good

"I challenge the innovator landscape to take a mental leap. Relying on innovation-solely to end inequality is not enough, therefore consciously and purposively – we need to engage bravely with the politics of poverty and scarcity. Even in life sciences", writes Giulia Gaudenzi in a column.

Irene Svenonius: ”Vi har urstarka förutsättningar att förverkliga målet inom life science"

Finansregionrådet Irene Svenonius (M) tror att Stockholm kan nå målet att höra till världens topp 5 regioner inom life science till år 2025. Och en del i att nå målet är att bli värdstad för en världsledande kongress inom medtech.

Planen: Så ska Stockholm bli en ledande life science-stad

Stockholm vill bli värdstad för en av de största internationella kongresserna om medicinteknik. Planen är en del i ambitionen att bli en av de mest framstående regionerna inom life science i världen.

SDS rekryterar chef för RWE

Susanne Kihlblom blir ny affärsområdeschef för Real World Evidence, RWE, på SDS Life Science.

The Oresund region aims at becoming Europe’s microbiome Mecca

The Medicon Valley Alliance’s ambition: Skåne and the Copenhagen region will become world leaders in microbiome research.

Link Medical värvar från KI

Det norska kontraktsforskningsföretaget Link Medical har rekryterat Maria Hortlund som RWE Manager.

Sweden and Denmark – this is how they choose their strategies

Scandinavia’s two major powers in pharmaceutical research have developed strategies for growth in life science, and both countries aim to become world leaders.

Karolinska i Europatopp när "smartaste" sjukhusen rankas

Karolinska universitetssjukhuset i Solna är bäst i Europa på att använda ny teknik inom sjukvården, enligt en rankning i tidskriften Newsweek.

Norska Link Medical samarbetar med finskt företag

Det norska CRO-företaget Link Medical och finska Medaffcon ska via ett samarbete erbjuda företag i Norden real world evidence-studier.

Column: "Are we already living in the new normal?"

2020 felt like the year that we were building the house around us whilst moving into it at the same time.

New diagnostic test soon ready for the market