THE OBSERVERS

Bengt Ågerup, CEO and founder of Q-Med AB

Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:10:10 GMT

“Bring them to Stockholm-Arlanda airport and show them the choice available”

From my window, I see the typical skyline of Uppsala with its castle and cathedral. The university, humbly represented by the rooftop of Gustavianum, is also visible. So the three elements of life illustrate themselves no more than 100 meters apart: Power, Faith and Wisdom. This contrasts against the situation in a larger city like Stockholm, where institutions and hospitals are geographically more dispersed. Infrastructure is the key to communication. Yet another contrast is the land surrounding Strängnäs, with its lake and countryside charm.
Imagine life-science entrepreneurs looking to establish their business somewhere in the world. Just bring them to Stockholm-Arlanda airport and they will have all alternatives to choose between at half-an-hour’s distance!

People were important – not money

When I started Q-Med in the mid 90s, it was not obvious to choose Uppsala for its business. My family had already moved to Paris so France was definitely an option. The fast train and the channel tunnel were already working, so UK was another option. The authorities in central Europe are very keen to support new business establishments and have quite some resources to contribute. They work with instruments like loans and tax benefits.
But when analysing what we really would need going forward, it was not money but well-educated people backed up by top-level academic research. At the time, we also had a Swedish Notified Body for our approvals. Pfizer had already started dismantling their prime business, so recruitment was fairly easy. We only needed to reprogram from big pharma to small med. tech. thinking.

Crisis more than just financial

Time passes, new winds will blow. Right now we are adapting to a period of recession that was started by people who did not know that wealth comes from hard work and not pyramid games. But the crisis is certainly not just financial. We tend to continue our thinking in old patterns when all we know is that real changes only come from really new thinking.
Take for instance, a whole era of 100 years of combustion engines in big cars. That crisis is not just financial but conceptual. People protest against wasting non-renewable resources. But the lack of a functioning financial system will certainly hit back at life science as well. Reduction in public spending, reduced profits from companies and lay-offs of employees will not help the necessary support of research for the future.

Magic of the living cell

All major achievements (or disasters for that matter) come from new innovations. If our region wants to maintain a technological advantage, and thereby export high-value products, we need to identify and support initiatives in that direction. Life science carries enormous potential, not only to prevent and cure disease but also to make almost any living process to work to our advantage. We have a piece of magic in our hand when we look at the living cell and how it handles its multitude of processes. That is condensed life science! Then again a word of warning – all that glitters is not gold – we need to be realistic. Early on in my career, my manager always said, “prove that you are wrong”! when I presented my fantastic propositions. I did not really understand that until age hit my enthusiasm and reality grew stronger.
Maybe our time-frame is too narrow? Think about this. We (Homo sapiens) have survived 150,000 years. We now talk about all kinds of disasters that will happen in the next couple of decades that may eradicate us from this planet. Maybe it is time to start a new political party that will set up a competition of beating the longevity of the Dinosaurs! That is a tough one because they managed to stay around for 75 million years!

Celebrating Darwin

Darwin would celebrate his 200th birthday this year. It is interesting to read about his life, which really illustrates the importance of irregular careers in research. I still think we need to add something to the ‘survival of the fittest’ considering that all human beings only have 8000 generations to express their uniqueness. A little bit of Lamarck and mutations may have helped.
2009 will be the year when we see the full nature of our financial collapse. Research reaches beyond that and will continue to add wisdom to the empowered and faithful humans.

Catherine Levine, Masters Programme in Bioentrepreneurship

Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:07:37 GMT

"You must work hard for it and the prize is grand"

METABOLOMICS, CARBON OFFSETTING AND GRI (GLOBAL REPORTING INITIATIVE), TO THE NOBEL PRIZE LECTURE

And it is only the first semester! I am part of the Karolinska Institutet’s Masters Programme in Bioentrepreneurship, and I have found that this is the perfect Masters Program for me!

We have been exposed to several Biotechnology companies in Stockholm, even interviewing various team members at a site visit. We also had the opportunity to interview the former Chief Scientific Officer of one of the top twenty Biotech companies worldwide in revenue, which is conducting a clinical trial on one of their new products right here in Stockholm! These face-to-face interviews and company visits have really been helpful to us as students to get an insider’s view on the growing and changing field of biotechnology.

We have had lectures on current and future research developments in areas such as metabolomics as an up and coming diagnostics tool, and how to maximize our corporate social responsibility while meeting the current and future challenges of climate change. Which companies are following The Global Reporting Initiative guidelines in their sustainability efforts, and which could increase their competitive advantage by doing so.

Additionally, we have also had the opportunity to attend several conferences, such as BIO-ÅNGSTRÖM in Uppsala, which showcased many new diagnostic tools and research projects, Start-Up Day, here in Stockholm, sponsored by the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship, among others, where we heard several real life examples, including panel discussions which were open for questions, from entrepreneurs who had taken their ideas from the “bench to the boardroom.”

Who knew that extra-curricular activities would include a great lecture by this year’s Nobel Prize winners in Medicine or Physiology, earned this year by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, and Harald zur Hausen for their discoveries of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and HPV (human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer) respectively. This was quite interesting to watch, it was well presented and detailed, but yet still clear and comprehensible.

In short, the Stockholm and Uppsala region presents an amazing area to learn about the life sciences, new discoveries, new trends, the pharmaceutical industry, and biotechnology. It is also a wonderful setting for one’s own personal and professional growth, but as with everything, you must work hard for it and the prize is grand!

Jørgen Thorball, Biotech Builders

Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:46:53 GMT

"People need to meet people"

Why can’t we meet for free?

I have often wondered why we all pay 10,000s of kronor to go to congresses with the main purpose of nailing down big pharma or venture capitalist (VC) representatives – just to be told that we should call on another person, who unfortunately was not at that congress, and then hoping that he or she eventually will answer my e-mails, and maybe even meet me – to arrange a meeting with the real decision-makers in the company, that...

In the life-science industry we are, of course, used to high costs – from when we get an idea to selling the final product. But should we really accept the high cost for match-making buyers and sellers, before there even is a product?

Elegant and easy-to-use solution

Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science’s website has now solved this problem elegantly. By using the Expert Profile Search in their Info Bank, you can find our region’s high performers in research. It’s free and I have already used it with ease to find the right advisor for one of my companies.

So if there are solutions for other areas, why do we still have to pay high fees for hunting down big pharma representatives and VCs to make them take a look at early-stage programs or patents. In my eyes, and according to my experiences, all this unproductive friction energy just slows down the development of our industry. I know there is no easy solution. People need to meet people. However, I think we can skip some of the random mating processes. I would like to see a neutral and easy-to-use website that at least gives all of us a quick overview and the possibility to follow-up what is happening with the company or the people.

YouTube style entertainment

Right now I am finalizing such an effort on www.biotechbuilders.com. My plan is to make it do all of the above, and it should even be a bit entertaining – being the first to offer a flexible and easy design, picture searching and YouTube videos. Maybe it will work or at least evolve into what I hope it should be. And why shouldn’t you be able to make your usual ‘2-minute introduction’ via You Tube?

Define your own partnering profile today

I think it is important to make the business development process much faster and more entertaining. Very few business professionals enjoy searching through long lists of text. However, by combining some of the available Internet applications, it can be much more interesting (or even fun) to search for compounds, products and services being offered or requested. Everyone should now be able to search for free, and sign-up to be notified of any relevant changes in product programs of interest. And your free site has no banners or promotion for other companies or products – because I have asked myself and many others what they really want; free partnering and clear free space to promote compounds and oneself. So after spending my Christmas holiday and some weekends developing the site, I do hope that many of you will help yourself by taking a few minutes to define your own profile and get your partnering off to a flying start. In times like these, we need more deals than ever!… and while you’re at it… Why don’t you check up and update your profile in Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science’s Info Bank too?

Good luck with your partnering!

Ylva Williams, Stockholm Science City Foundation

Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:35:22 GMT

"The idea is to pro-vide a meeting point in an attractive location"

This month’s columnist: Ylva Williams, new CEO of Stockholm Science City Foundation

How would you describe the development of the life science cluster in the Karolinska/Norra Station area? The largest infrastructure project in Stockholm since the underground was built? A project equal to building 15 Colosseums in Rome? Or 24 Hötorgshus buildings in Stockholm? Being CEO of Stockholm Science City Foundation, with a mission to attract businesses and researchers to the area, is truly a dream job.

Emerging between the cities of Stockholm and Solna is the modern life science city of the primary life science cluster in Scandinavia, Stockholm - Uppsala. Based on life science research at the three major universities in Stockholm: Karolinska Institutet (KI), KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, and in our neighbouring city Uppsala, Uppsala University, this city section is strategically positioned near central Stockholm – The Capital of Scandinavia. Situated in a region that is home to 500 of Sweden's 800 life science companies and a global pharmaceutical company, the site will house the future New Karolinska Solna University Hospital (NKS), and the national Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab), due to open in January 2010. SciLifeLab, a joint initiative from the three Stockholm universities who are discussing a partnership with Uppsala University, will conduct research in six key areas to achieve rapid progress in biotechnology. This is an important step in the fight against major diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The sheer size of this project, which includes the construction of roads, hotels, office and laboratory spaces, and the development of the Eastern section of the hospital and the KI campus, represents a total investment cost of around EUR 5 billion!

By mixing research, business and clinical care we will create a favourable environment for closer interaction between the players. Closer interaction facilitates knowledge and information exchange and will foster business development and growth, giving the companies a competitive advantage on the global stage. The idea is to provide a meeting point in an attractive location where translational research and development can flourish. What we offer when you establish a business in Karolinska/Norra Station will provide unique means to interact with world leading research and healthcare facilities.

The life science industry not only accounts for a large proportion of Swedish exports, but it also strives to improve human health. It is an industry that affects us all. Regardless of age, background and mission in life.

The challenge for my colleagues and for me is that all the stakeholders have very different perspectives! But the joy we get from seeing the parties coming together and cooperating so well, more than makes up for all the bumps along the way.

Richard L. Hudson, CEO & Editor, Science|Business

Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:52:52 GMT

"Why the interest in clusters? Because they work..."

The recipe for a hot cluster

Clusters are ‘in.’ From Stockholm to Sydney, governments are writing up new cluster-development policies. Companies factor them into their plans to site labs or factories. Universities are desperate to make their clusters the best.

That’s all to the good – but it also means that international competition among clusters is greater than ever. Consider a few headlines:

-Last year, the state of Maryland announced a $1.3 billion plan through 2020 to beef up the life sciences sector, including the cluster around Johns Hopkins University (1).

-The governor of Massachusetts announced a $1 billion, ten-year Life Sciences Initiative around its already-strong Boston hub (2).

In this context, the $7 billion pricetag for expansion of several facilities in the Stockholm-Uppsala Life Sciences region, of which a new university hospital and a city block for life science companies account for a substantial part, is big and bold.

Certainly, it’s a welcome relief from the typical, underweight cluster scene around Europe. The European Union’s Cluster Observatory (3) counts more than 2,000 clusters throughout Europe. They include a few big ones in life sciences like Stockholm-Uppsala, Basel and Paris. But most of the others are tiny, local and under-funded.

Why the interest in clusters? Because they work – for multinationals, small companies, universities, cities and national economies. The EU estimates (4) 38% of all employees work in cluster companies. Economic research shows a clear and strong correlation between economic growth and cluster strength – indeed, one study estimated that a third of the difference in GDP per capita between the US and Europe is attributable to clusters.

Clusters matter because they concentrate resources for critical mass – whether venture capital, scientific talent or state investment. They permit cross-fertilization of people and disciplines – begetting innovations that might otherwise not occur to anyone. They focus attention, at home and abroad, on a region.

They are also a way to humanize technology. Consider this view, from outside the life science sector: Andrew Herbert, Microsoft’s European research boss (and based in the Cambridge, UK, cluster):

“Clusters tend to spring up around new technologies and therefore have early-stage companies - and that’s an environment that’s full of risk. Clusters help manage the risk. For instance, if the message to a prospective worker is, ‘come and join my start-up in some place you never heard of,’ - you’re going to think twice about it. If the message is, ‘come and join my start-up in Cambridge, and if it all goes pear-shaped there are 20 other companies hiring,’ – that’s a less-risky proposition. With clusters, there’s a de-risking. And there’s a mutual support that allows companies to grow faster than they could do on their own.”

Microsoft Futures Magazine, June 2008 (5).

The same logic applies in Stockholm-Uppsala, of course.

It may seem contradictory that, in the age of globalization, geographical location still matters – but it certainly does matter. In a global market, mobile people and capital ‘stick’ faster to the biggest magnets. Successful clusters, in the chaotic world of modern technology markets, are ‘great attractors.’

They are also closely studied by academic economists - and a growing body of literature point up a few clear conclusions. They include:

1) Clusters cannot be willed. Generally speaking, clusters grow gradually over many decades – often around strong universities, in major urban regions. One of the few exceptions is French, Sophia Antipolis, built from 1969 in a place without (at the time) any major university and not much industry – a pure act of political will that has cost the state millions (though it now professes to be self-sustaining.) But this is not the norm: Generally, the research shows, the best clusters have long, natural evolutions – drawing on gradually expanded universities, hospitals, companies and infrastructures.

2) The overall environment of a cluster matters. While infrastructure is important (yes, you need a good airport, healthcare and schools), the overall economic and cultural environment of a cluster is vital. For instance, what’s the legal and administrative culture? An EU survey of cluster companies found their No. 1 request to government is simplified administration. Another example: How easy is it for an academic researcher to move to a company temporarily, without loss of tenure, pension or prestige? How big is the angel community – rich people willing to take a chance on a crazy new idea? How willing are people to take a risk with their own careers or livelihoods? These are all hard to quantify, but readily visible in a successful cluster.

3) Money matters. Public money is often both catalyst and fuel for growth. The life science labs of Boston and San Francisco have thrived on NIH money. The British pharma industry, despite its grumbles, benefits from proximity to one of the world’s biggest employers and procurement agencies: The UK National Health Service. ‘Innovative’ procurement is a proven spur to growth of an emerging technology sector. If just 2% of government procurements include ‘innovative’ in their specifications, the capital unleashed for new technologies and growth can be enormous. A positive spill-over: It endows the cluster.

And finally, image and communications matter. It does no good to spend billions on a new cluster without telling the world about it. The Stockholm-Uppsala cluster is beginning that process now.

There is much more – indeed, our Science|Business Innovation Board, a panel of European innovation leaders that includes a prominent member of the Stockholm-Uppsala cluster (Karlinska Institutet President Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson), last year published in newspapers across Europe a recipe for cluster development. It includes a proposal that governments go beyond simply encouraging clusters, and select a very few of them on which to focus resources and liberalize regulations – for labour, mobility, administration, immigration and other forms of red tape that stop high-tech start-ups from growing. The name for the idea: SIZE, for Special Innovation Zones in Europe.

But whatever the proposal, the aim of the new fascination with clusters is clear: Through focused, well-managed endeavours like the Stockholm-Uppsala Life Sciences initiative, the local economy and global health can benefit alike.

References:

1. http://choosemaryland.com/businessinmd/Biosciences/BIO2020plan.html

2. http://www.masslifesciences.com/bio2007.html

3. http://www.clusterobservatory.eu/

4. http://www.europe-innova.eu/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=26355&name=DLFE-3713.pdf

5. http://eucitizenshipresources.com/downloads/futures_magazine/futures_02/FUTURES_02_solve.pdf

6. http://www.sciencebusiness.net/documents/clusterbooklet.pdf

Agneta Bergvall, CEO, Kemwell AB, Uppsala, Sweden

Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:04:15 GMT

"Is there a future for production in Sweden?"

Is Sweden finished as a producing nation? No, I don't think so. I have a passion for production in Sweden and want to explain why.

Firstly, some brief words about the business for which I am currently responsible.

Kemwell AB is a contract manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in Uppsala, Sweden. Contract manufacturing means that we hold the manufacturing license for a product while our customer holds the marketing license. Kemwell manufactures nearly one billion tablets and suppositories per year and we take charge of the whole process from active ingredient (API) to approved and released product. We also deliver worldwide on behalf of our customers. Kemwell has had an Indian owner since 2006 and the relationship Sweden-India is used frequently to share both skills and services between us.

At election time, we are hearing a lot of talk about unemployment and how many millions will be spent to reduce it. It's easy to say that spending millions will reduce unemployment. But there must be jobs available too! We need to create more jobs in Sweden and production creates many jobs. So I strongly believe that we must not only keep production in Sweden, but develop it as well.

Real life is not quite that simple, however! We also need to be competitive in our production, and by competitive I don't mean just in monetary terms. Other important aspects of competitiveness include the environment, innovation, efficiency, quality, a social stability, infrastructure, etc. The list can certainly be made longer. When factoring in all these aspects, I believe that we can produce in Sweden at a competitive cost.

In the pharmaceutical industry today, we are witnessing a trend to not see production as a core business. As a result, many companies want to outsource their production. And this is precisely why Kemwell exists!

Kemwell's base is a manufacturing plant that Pfizer chose to sell in 2006. India and China are the major beneficiaries of the outsourcing taking place there today. However, we are also seeing a change in attitude in which pharmaceutical companies want their production closer to the markets in Europe, and are therefore searching for European manufacturers like Kemwell.

About 20 years ago, much engineering manufacturing was outsourced to Asia, but even there we can see an obvious trend where these same companies are now evaluating 'back-sourcing' their production to Europe and Sweden, primarily because the price is competitive if all aspects of the production cost are taken into account.

Pharmaceutical production is not easy to move, so when companies decide to outsource they are looking for long-term relationships with their sub-supplier. Since Sweden is such a stable country on many levels, I am convinced that there is a future for production in Sweden, and in the rest of Europe as well. We should probably not focus on products with very low margins, but rather choose production that is more demanding, as in the Life Science industry in general and the highly-regulated pharmaceutical industry in particular.

Let's work together to create a secure future for this most important of business sectors.

More investment and development in Swedish production!

For more information please contact Agneta Bergvall at agneta.bergvall@kemwell.se

Jan Hörling, Head of R&D Protein Analysis at GE Healthcare, Sweden

Stockholm-Uppsala Life Science — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:08:51 GMT

–I can say, ”I took part in developing almost all these drugs!”

The Stockholm-Uppsala region has always been important in protein research. In fact, the term ‘protein’ itself was coined by one of the region’s most renowned scientists, Jöns Jacob Berzelius, in the 1830s! Almost 100 years later, in 1926, Theodor Svedberg from Uppsala University was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his invention of the analytical ultracentrifuge, an instrument that could both separate proteins and determine their size.

One of Svedberg’s students, Arne Tiselius, received the same honour in 1948 for developing the technology of electrophoresis. These two gentlemen’s interest in protein research has inspired many other researchers since, including Jerker Porath and Per Flodin, who both worked in the two Nobel laureates’ laboratory. Porath and Flodin were attempting to separate proteins by using cross-linked dextran for column electrophoresis. To their great surprise, they found that the cross-linked dextran could separate proteins without using electricity, a discovery that led to a well-cited publication in the June 1959 issue of Nature and to the development of the Pharmacia product Sephadex™, the first chromatography medium for gel filtration of biomolecules.

This first product laid the foundation for a range of vital developments. Since these early days, further generations of chromatography media have been developed; Sepharose™, MabSelect™ and Capto™ families, for example, as well as systems and equipment for purifying proteins from the lab bench to the production hall.

This story could tell us many things; that good science attracts good scientists, and vice-versa, and that multi-disciplinary scientists gathered in one lab lead not only to good science, but also potentially good products. It will be very interesting to see what the recently formed Science for Life Laboratory, a multi-disciplinary consortium involving all the region’s universities, will produce in the future!

Moreover, the story teaches us never to underestimate serendipity, i.e. having quite a bit of luck and being smart enough to realise it!

Other classical examples from the region include the development of Protein A for purifying antibodies by The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Pharmacia Biotech (now GE Healthcare), and ELISA (Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay), probably the most widespread and frequently used protein research technology of all, developed by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann at Stockholm University in 1971. Who amongst us has not used this simple yet ingenious method?

This list of seminal work could easily be expanded, and looking at the number of excellent academic groups and entrepreneurial biotech firms in the region, I am absolutely confident that many more examples of this type will emerge in the future.

Looking at the pharmaceutical industry reveals a tremendous growth in the development of new biotherapeutics (e.g. therapeutic proteins, monoclonal antibodies and antibody fragments) as many companies diversify their product position by expanding into this exciting field of therapy. This has led to an increase in protein purification plus the need for very thorough characterisation, a trend that will probably continue for some time. Furthermore, small molecule drugs still dominate the market and will always have a strong place in addressing diseases, and a good understanding of their protein targets is equally important for this discipline.

As Head of Protein Analysis R&D at GE Healthcare in Uppsala, I have the privilege of working not only with well-known products such as Biacore™, MicroCal™, ECL™, Typhoon™, CyDyes™,etc., but also with the research and development of future applications and instrument platforms that will help research scientists around the world achieve better results and ultimately create better health for more people. One of my personal dreams when working with drug discovery was taking my kids to the pharmacy, pointing at some particular canister, and proudly announcing “I took part in developing that drug!” Now, as was remarked to me when I started working at GE Healthcare, I can say, “I took part in developing almost all these drugs!”

So what is in the crystal ball for the future of protein research in this dynamic part of the world? Although protein research has changed significantly over the decades, one particular paradigm still holds true; the importance of good qualitative data for protein research, and the constant pressure on our time; make it faster, better and cheaper!

And never forget, technology can generate data, but only people can make science.