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Mikael Kubista back with new venture after turbulent exit
Entrepreneur and researcher Mikael Kubista is starting a new company. Now he is also free to comment on the sequence of events that led to him losing ownership of his life's work – the company Tataa Biocenter. “Not only did they take our company away from us. They followed up by showering us with lawsuits,” he says.
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Health politician Lina Nordquist: ”I find it hard to be idle”
She is the pharmacist and researcher who grew tired of the breakthroughs that never materialised and knowledge that never seemed to reach patients, so she decided to make a change from within. Life Science Sweden meets Lina Nordquist, Member of Parliament for the Liberals and their spokesperson on healthcare policy, to have a conversation about reality, politics, and the need for writing.
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Björn Arvidsson: ”We must raise our gaze to find the answers of the future”
A system approach isn't just about understanding complexity – it's about making better decisions. By seeing ourselves as part of larger systems, we can better anticipate the consequences of our actions, writes Björn Arvidsson in a column.
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In search of Marcel Proust's lost health
A great writer, but also a weak person and a hypochondriac. That has been the usual image of Marcel Proust. But the pediatrician and literary scholar Carl Lindgren paints a partly different picture in a new book about the French master's life, health
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“We should avoid surgery if we can”
Since February this year, she has been Scientific Director Life Science at the Karolinska Institutet. Life Science Sweden met Anna Martling for a talk about role models, surgery and Sweden’s strengths and weaknesses in medical research.
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Anna Törner: Yes, I Am Sick, But Not Weak
”People often say that someone who is ill only has one wish—to get better. But I think that is not true. Someone who is ill also longs to be understood, to be respected, to not have their identity overshadowed by their condition”, writes Anna Törner in a column.
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Carl Borrebaeck – professor and serial entrepreneur with a taste for speed
Award-winning cancer researcher, the founder of many listed companies, and constantly in the academic and commercial spotlight for decades. However, Carl Borrebaeck, Professor of Immunotechnology at Lund, is not yet satisfied. “We have a new, potentially super exciting project in the pipeline,” he says.
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Nocebo – the evil twin that makes you feel worse
The placebo effect is well known in healthcare, but not so its opposite: nocebo. “The effect is small, but it can have major repercussions,” says Uppsala researcher Charlotte Blease, co-author of a book on the phenomenon.
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“Life science is important on a personal level”
From the High Coast to the Government Offices. Jeanette Edblad is a native of Ångermanland, and since September last year, she has been Head and Coordinator of the Government’s Life Science Office.
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From Valneva to the CEO position at NorthX – “I saw it as a great opportunity”
A new cell therapy for leukaemia, a vaccine in tablet form against cholera, and a proprietary mRNA line with the potential capacity to supply the entire Nordic region with vaccines during a future pandemic. These are some of the projects underway at NorthX Biologics – under the direction of new CEO Janet Hoogstraate.
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Founder of Bioarctic, Lars Lannfelt, is honoured: “I want to create something for the future”
It´s like a scientist’s dream: to be the world’s first with a drug that genuinely affects one of our major diseases. Lars Lannfelt and his company Bioarctic have achieved just that, and they are thus making a significant contribution to the history of Swedish medicine. He is now being awarded the Research!Sweden Award 2023.
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The physician at the tech giant: “Observations in the emergency room made my mind up”
When Nasim Farrokhnia was in third grade at school in Tehran, the capital of Iran, her father gave her a book about Marie Curie, which soon became her favourite book. Perhaps her interest in science was born there and then, as science and new technology
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Astra Zeneca’s Sweden CEO: “We have great faith in our portfolio”
It all started with a summer job as an operator at Astra’s chemical factory in Snäckviken, just outside Södertälje. More than three decades and countless different assignments later, Per Alfredsson, born and raised in Södertälje, is CEO of Astra Zeneca Sweden, which employs 7800 people in Södertälje, Stockholm and Gothenburg. “It was a very special feeling to be in charge of the entire organisation,” he says in an interview about his career and potential future blockbusters.
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Heidi Stensmyren is eager for new challenges in the biotech industry
Heidi Stensmyren has served as President of the Swedish Medical Association, held a managerial position at Karolinska University Hospital and is now Medical Director at a biotech company. “I’m curious and like to have influence, so I’ve often chosen management roles,” she says.
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Life Science Sweden heads to the Oresund region! ‒ Hello there Michael Linnell
Life Science Sweden’s The Future of Swedish Danish Life Science and New Updates in Drug Formulation & Bioavailability meetings are coming up soon. We asked Michael Linnell, project manager for Life Science Sweden’s event portfolio, a few short questions.
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Lucy Robertshaw: Artificial intelligence – is this really going to transform a patient’s life?
In a column Lucy Robertshaw reflects on how AI and new regulations will affect healthcare, innovation and the lives of future patients.
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He got inside the head of Sweden’s vaccine hunter
The hunt for the COVID-19 vaccine is the theme of the new book Vaccinjägaren (The Vaccine Hunter). It tells the story of Richard Bergström’s mission as Sweden’s national vaccine coordinator and the scheming that went on behind the scenes in Europe
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“I am driven by the desire to develop a product that can be sold worldwide”
Ranked number one in the world by the WHO in diarrhoea research and soon in phase III studies for its vaccine candidate – Scandinavian Biopharma is rushing forward in the pursuit of the world’s first ETEC vaccine. Meet the company’s CEO Björn Sjöstrand.
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"Are we doing business the wrong way around in the Life Science Sector?"
For the past 50 years we have created solutions for problems that we thought would solve the problems. Pharmaceuticals have created big block buster drugs which were great for that time but now we realise that these drugs were in fact only tested in white men and certainly not for patients who are older who are taking a number of medications.
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Bought a tablet factory – and built his own empire
In 1995, Thomas Eldered was CEO of one of Pharmacia’s factories in the Stockholm area when the Swedish pharmaceutical giant, after a takeover, decided to move its production abroad. 34-year-old Thomas was facing an imminent risk of losing his job. However, instead, it actually turned out to be the starting point for one of the biggest success stories in Swedish life science.
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Redaktionens sommartips – böcker, poddar och tv-serier
Nu stundar sommar, semester och äntligen en chans att läsa den där boken, lyssna på den där podden eller se den där filmen som inte hanns med tidigare. Här tipsar Life Science Swedens redaktion om lämpligt tidsfördriv eller förkovran under årets mest avkopplande dagar.
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Hello Angelica Loskog!
Life Science Sweden would like to know more about Angelica Loskog and interviews her about her life as a researcher.
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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.
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Samuel Lagercrantz: Immunotherapy against cancer is still in its early stages
For more than 100 years, researchers have tried to target the body’s own immune system to fight cancer cells. They have occasionally been laughed at and ridiculed by the medical establishment. However, from our perspective today, we can sum it up with the saying: He who laughs last laughs best, writes Samuel Lagercrantz in an editorial.