Göran Stiernstedt: “We are the world’s worst at continuity”

Failed investments in primary care, an unreasonable system with online doctors and a public failure at coordinating the healthcare IT system. Göran Stiernstedt does not mind his language when describing the shortcomings of today’s healthcare system. “It makes me extremely frustrated,” he says.

Marie Gårdmark: New incentives for orphan products on its way

"Let’s hope that the learnings from development of new therapies for rare diseases will spill over to more common conditions, orphan products paving the wave for drug development in a broader context", writes Marie Gårdmark in a column.

A growing industry in Denmark: “One new life science company a week”

The life science sector in eastern Denmark continues to grow in the number of employees, as well as the number of companies. An emerging problem is the shortage of labour, a new report reveals.

IVI’s Director General on establishing in Sweden: Will need up to 40 employees

The International Vaccine Institute, IVI, hopes to have its first staff on-site in Stockholm within a couple of months, says the institute’s Director General Jerome Kim in an interview with Life Science Sweden.

The first vaccine derived from cowpox

The British rural doctor could not forget the words of the peasant girl. Could that really be true? A couple of decades later, on 14 May 1796, he performed the world’s first smallpox vaccination, and a medical breakthrough had occurred.

No demand for new Covid vaccine – “It will probably be discarded”

So far, just under 6 000 doses of the Covid vaccine from Novavax have been used in Sweden, leaving over 1.4 million doses in stock. “They will probably be discarded due to lack of demand in Sweden as well as globally,” says Sweden’s National Vaccine Coordinator Richard Bergström to Life Science Sweden.

Start-up developing ”digital twin” received award during the EIT Health Summit

A biotech company, a medtech company and a company in digital health were on the podium when the EIT Health Catapult awarded its winners.

Anna Törner: To kill your darlings

Hopes were high when Anna Törner and her colleague started a study on a dietary supplement that seemed unbelievably good. “Enthusiastically, we dreamed of exciting results and perhaps a publication in a high-impact journal,” she writes in a column.

Hello Angelica Loskog!

Life Science Sweden would like to know more about Angelica Loskog and interviews her about her life as a researcher.

Noxious parasite forms hybrids and deceives the immune system

The small parasite Trypanosoma cruzi has a nasty ability to cause serious illness. Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet have now mapped its ability to deceive the immune system by forming new variants that are mixtures of different strains.

Investments worth 40 billion in the Öresund region – “A huge investment wave”

A new report reveals that medical companies in the Oresund region are investing like never before.

New rules for diagnostic products, but who will certify them? “An extreme shortage area”

In less than two weeks, new and stricter EU rules will enter into force for thousands of products used in important diagnoses of, among other things, cancer and Covid-19. However, not one single institute in the entire Nordic region is able to certify the diagnostics companies’ products according to the new regulations. “In the end, it risks affecting patients,” says Anna Lefèvre Skjöldebrand, CEO of Swedish Medtech.

Anna Törner: To kill your darlings

Förhoppningarna var höga när Anna Törner och hennes kollega startade en studie om ett kosttillskott som verkade vara overkligt bra. "Entusiastiskt drömde vi om spännande resultat och kanske en publikation i en högimpakttidskrift", skriver Anna Törner.

Biogens motgångar stjälper över på svenska alzheimersföretag

Det amerikanska läkemedelsbolaget Biogens högprofilerade behandling mot Alzheimer, Aduhelm, spåddes bli en ny vår för såväl forskningsområdet som bolaget. Succén har dock uteblivit och nu avbryts praktiskt taget satsningen, samtidigt som vd Michael Vounatsos får gå.

Tougher competition as the Novo Nordisk Foundation broadens its programme

Søren Nedergaard has worked with innovation at the Danish Government Offices and the University of Copenhagen. Today, he is COO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which has recently broadened its programme for leading innovators in medical research to apply to the entire Nordic region.

Paolo Macchiarini in court – “The sole intent was to cure”

Paolo Macchiarini’s surgical procedure was illegal, life-threatening and caused severe and prolonged suffering to patients the prosecution claimed when the trial against the Italian surgeon began on Wednesday last week.

We will now publish more news in English – and offer yet another newsletter

Starting next week, Life Science Sweden will begin offering a newsletter entirely in English.

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.

Lif: Så ska vi få fram nya antibiotika

Det måste bli mer lönsamt att utveckla nya antibiotika. Det menar Lif - de forskande läkemedelsföretagen, som har tagit fram en handlingsplan mot ett av de allra största hoten mot folkhälsan: antibiotikaresistensen.

Søren Bregenholt omvald som ordförande i MVA

Under Medicon Valley Alliance årsstämma fick styrelsen förnyat förtroende och valdes om.

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 science.

Kriget i Ukraina angår oss alla – Här läser du hela vår bevakning

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.