Norway finds its path in life science
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In a column in Life Science Sweden from 2016, SDS Life Science founder Anna Törner writes that Swedes risk being overtaken by Norwegians soon – not just on the ski slopes – and she refers to the progress in life science in the neighbouring country, and everyone that Life Science Sweden talks to agrees. Norway is advancing in this field. The country lacks the big pharmaceutical giants that are present in Denmark, and so far, the number of biotech companies cannot compete with that of Sweden, but the country of the fjords is on the rise in the field of medical research.
“Back in the late 1990s, when I worked in the same research park as we are today, we were only a few biotech companies. Today, there are three incubators here together with around 100 companies,” says Hanne Mette Kristensen, CEO of The Life Science Cluster, which brings together Norwegian companies in the sector.
The growth is also evident from the number of cluster members, which has increased steadily since its founding in 2016. According to Hanne Mette Kristensen, Norway´s exports in life sciences will have doubled before 2030, provided that the increase corresponds to what we have seen in the last ten years.
“And the ambition is for it to triple,” she adds.
At the end of last year, the Norwegian CRO company Link Medical acquired the Swedish competitor IRW Consulting and it is now establishing itself as one of the major players in contract research in the Nordic region.
And Link Medical is far from the only Norwegian company with ambitions of growth.
One of the areas that Norway has a particular focus on is cancer. The German pharmaceutical giant Bayer´s acquisition of the Norwegian company Algeta in 2014 was a major transaction. The two companies had been collaborating since 2009 on the development of the cancer drug Xofigo (radium 223 dichloride).
The Oslo Cancer Cluster brings together companies, academic research groups and clinics that have one thing in common – their work with cancer. At Radiumhospitalet in Oslo, the organisation covers 30,000 square metres. According to CEO Ketil Widerberg, they will soon need to expand to be able to accommodate all the cluster companies that require access to the premises.
Norwegian companies have focused on niches in cancer such as immunotherapy, precision medicine and radiopharmaceuticals.
Examples of Norwegian companies in the field of cancer are Bergenbio, Vaccibody and Lytix Biopharma. The first two companies are also testing a drug candidate and a Covid-19 vaccine.
Ketil Widerberg believes that access to health data is the strength of both Norwegian and all Nordic cancer research.
“Our cancer registers are crucial to our research. The fact that we have social security numbers means that we are able to connect data from several registers, and this is a huge advantage in research towards more targeted cancer treatments,” he says.
As a general strength, Hanne Mette Kristensen emphasises that Norway is a small country with good collaboration.
“We are only a few players in the industry, and we do not have a large hierarchy here, but everyone knows and helps each other,” she says.
It is a well-known fact that Norway has greater financial muscles than its neighbouring countries. According to several Swedes that Life Science Sweden has talked to, money is pouring down on Norwegian life science from investors and the government alike. One possible reason for this interest is the realisation that the oil and the money it generates for Norway will not last forever, and that it is necessary to start looking for other areas and niches.
According to Hanne Mette Kristensen, not much Norwegian capital has been invested in life science in the past, but this has changed in recent years.
“This year, we have seen a surprisingly larger capital inflow and a positive development. We are part of this development and we contribute to creating this change. We are showing what the life science sector can do and we have aroused investors´ interest.”
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