State budget: 61,3 million to personalized medicine

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statsbudsjett 2021

Funds for personalized medicine, clinical trials, mature clusters, and digitalisation – these are some of the main points for cancer innovation in the newly released state budget.

In this week’s state budget, the Norwegian government increases the funding for personalized medicine with NOK 30 million to a total of NOK 61,3 million.

NOK 25 million will be used to establish precision diagnostics with advanced molecular profiling in the hospitals, which will give cancer patients a more precise diagnosis. This is also an important requirement for cancer patients to participate in clinical trials.

“The infrastructure for precision diagnostics will improve Norway’s ability to attract clinical studies internationally, it will give more cancer patients the opportunity to participate in clinical trials and it will provide valuable data for further research,” said Ketil Widerberg, general manager of Oslo Cancer Cluster.

The remaining funds for personalized medicine will be used to build competences and begin to establish a national genome centre.

More funding for clinical trials

The Norwegian government announces NOK 75 million to health innovation and clinical studies. The establishment of NorTrials, which will be a partnership between industry and hospitals on clinical studies, will receive NOK 30 million. NorTrials will offer a one-stop-shop for small- and medium-sized enterprises in the health industry and for public institutions that want to conduct clinical trials in Norway.

“Oslo Cancer Cluster has long worked for the establishment of a partnership model for clinical studies between industry and public actors. It is great to see this important aspect addressed in the state budget,” said Widerberg.

More information about NorTrials and the infrastructure for precision diagnostics will be announced in the Action Plan for Clinical Studies, to be presented in December 2020.

As a follow-up to The White Paper on the Health Industry, the Norwegian government also proposes to establish a scheme to improve collaboration between industry and public institutions on health innovation, called Pilot Helse (Pilot Health). This scheme will receive NOK 20 million in funding.

100 million for Norwegian export

A total of NOK 100 million will be used for strategic investments in export opportunities. Most of these funds, NOK 75 million, will go directly to the new unit Business Norway. Another NOK 20 million will strengthen the Norwegian mature clusters through Innovation Norway’s cluster programme. The remaining NOK 5 million will support Norwegian cultural export.

“The mature clusters can assume a central role in creating export opportunities for Norwegian industry abroad. The aim for Oslo Cancer Cluster is to put Norwegian health industry on the agenda internationally, and develop a leading European cancer innovation centre,” said Widerberg.

Greenlight for Horizon Europe

In 2021, an impressive NOK 40,9 billion will be used for research and development, which is 1,1 per cent of Norway’s total BNP.

The government also announced that Norway will participate in the EU programme Horizon Europe. The programme will replace Horizon 2020 and covers the period 2021-2027. It has a total budget of 75,9 billion euro over the entire period.

“It is important for Norwegian industry to participate in Horizon Europe, it brings access to novel knowledge and capital, and encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration, which is essential for cancer innovation,” Widerberg commented.

A new data factory

The budget for digitalisation will be doubled next year: NOK 1,5 billion is set aside. NOK 56,2 million will be used for Norwegian participation in the Digital Europe Programme, which will give Norwegian businesses access to skills and resources in the areas of artificial intelligence, supercomputers, IT security and advanced digital competency.

Another NOK 16 million goes to the creation of a “Data Factory”, which will be set up by The Agency for Digitalisation in cooperation with Digital Norway. The Data Factory will provide services that will help small companies to develop business ideas and create value from data.

At the same time, the newly established Health Analysis Platform, which will make it easier for scientists to conduct research on health data, gains another NOK 35 million.

“There is a massive unleashed potential in Norwegian health data, to create value for both industry and patients. Important hurdles and opportunities are addressed; however, we see the need for even more efforts to understand and treat illnesses like cancer better in the future. With the help of digital tools, we can develop new cancer medicines in 5 instead of 10 years,” Widerberg commented.

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Photo: Vaccibody

Largest biotech agreement ever made in Norway

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The team of Vaccibody celebrating their recent successes.

Our member Vaccibody signs multi-million-dollar agreement one week before the company is expected on the stock exchange.

The Norwegian cancer company Vaccibody has entered a worldwide license and collaboration agreement with Genentech / Roche, to develop personalized cancer vaccines.

The agreement is worth up to 715 million dollars (approximately NOK 6,7 billion) in near term and milestones, in addition to low double-digit tiered royalties on sales of commercialized products. This makes it the largest agreement ever made in the Norwegian biotechnology sector. It is also the eighth largest biotechnology agreement made in Europe this year.

Michael Engsig, CEO of Vaccibody, said:

“We are very excited to have entered into this transformative agreement that marks the start of a new era for Vaccibody.”

“Genentech is widely recognized as one of the foremost leaders in leveraging the immune system to develop therapies for cancer and is a scientific pioneer within the neoantigen cancer vaccine space. They are therefore the partner of choice for the further development and commercialization of our innovative next-generation cancer vaccine platform for generating individualized therapies.”

This news comes about a week before Vaccibody is expected to be listed on Merkur Market, a part of the Oslo Stock Exchange.

A skyrocketing story

Vaccibody is dedicated to developing and discovering novel cancer treatments in the immunotherapy area. This is a type of treatment that boosts the body’s own immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells.

The company was founded 13 years ago by Agnete Fredriksen, together with her mentors Professor Bjarne Bogen and his colleague Professor Inger Sandlie – two leading researchers in the Norwegian cancer innovation environment. Fredriksen is now President and Chief Scientific Officer of Vaccibody.

Over the last year, the company’s value has more than doubled several times and the company was valued at NOK 15,3 billion when markets closed on 1 October 2020.

Anders Tuv, Investment Director, Radforsk, and Chairman of the Board, Vaccibody. Photo: Radforsk

Anders Tuv, Investment Director, Radforsk, and Chairman of the Board, Vaccibody. Photo: Radforsk

Anders Tuv, Investment Director of Radforsk and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Vaccibody, has a solid track record of helping biotech companies develop in the oncology sphere. Tuv said:

“The deal with Genentech is a very significant endorsement of Vaccibody and a validation of the Vaccibody vaccine platform. Genentech, as one of the foremost leaders in leveraging the immune system to develop therapies for cancer, is the partner of choice to develop and commercialize individualized cancer vaccines. The deal will enable Vaccibody to accelerate and broaden the Company’s vaccine pipeline which we believe will unlock Vaccibody’s huge potential for patients and shareholders.

“This is a deal that generates substantial interest globally, and will put eyes on Norway as well.”

New strategy and focus

Vaccibody also presented a new strategy with expanded focus into research and development. The company wants to accelerate the development of existing drug candidates and detect new treatment options, based on the company’s technology.

The company’s technology platform will be extended to the discovery of other therapeutic areas and therapeutic methods, besides the present focus on cancer and infectious disease.

Promising cancer therapies

Vaccibody presently has two promising drug candidates. The first is a cancer vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV), which is currently being tested in a phase II trial on cervical cancer, in collaboration with Roche.

The second is an innovative personalized cancer vaccine, which has just been licenced to Genentech, and is specially designed for each individual cancer patient, independent of their cancer type.

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