Norwegian innovation is pioneering cancer treatment

This sweet spot is clearly attracting international biopharma to Norway. While many Norwegian SMEs collaborate with the big guns, the precision medicine company grabbing the most headlines these days is Nykode Therapeutics, formerly Vaccibody. Nykode discovers and develops novel cancer vaccines and immunotherapies which boost the body’s own immune system to recognise and destroy cancer cells.

Nykode exemplifies the international interest in Norwegian precision cancer medicine (PCM). The innovative company can look back on several important milestones. In April 2023, the final data arrived on a phase-2 trial of its main candidate, the cancer vaccine VB10.16, which has been tested on patients with advanced cervical cancer. The results indicate a near doubling of survival rates for this group of patients compared with those undergoing the current alternative forms of treatment.

In the past years, the company has signed multimillion dollar agreements with biopharma giants Regeneron and Genentech. It's also collaborating in oncology with Nektar Therapeutics and with Adaptive Biotechnologies on infectious diseases.

“Our international partnerships are an endorsement of the strength of the Norwegian biotech community and the quality of research and innovation taking place in Norway in this field. It’s a stamp of approval from global players,” says Michael Engsig, CEO of Nykode Therapeutics.

Nykode shares the spotlight with 10–15 other innovative oncology companies in Norway. The public listings indicate a growing investment interest in Norwegian biopharma companies.

These include BerGenBio, EXACT Therapeutics, Lytix Biopharma, Nordic Nanovector, PCI Biotech, Photocure, Targovax and Ultimovacs, which, like Nykode, have issued IPOs in recent years.

Like most companies, has had its share of highs and lows, but in June 2024, it presented an update on its phase 1 melanoma study. The company calls the survival rate data in its UV1-103 study "encouraging". Among other things, Ultimovacs points out that patients who were still alive three years after the study remained alive after four years, too.

In addition to the private sector, Norway’s oncology companies receive key support from the Oslo Cancer Cluster, a non-profit that aims to accelerate the development of new cancer diagnostics and medicines. With some 90 members, the cluster brings together a broad coalition, including Norwegian and international companies, research and financial institutions, and university hospitals.

“I’m happy that the Oslo Cancer Cluster has been established as a supporting organisation. Through collaborations like this, mature companies can help younger companies and vice versa. The cluster acts as an incubator and facilitates public-private partnerships,” says Jannik Grodt Schmidt, Investment Manager for Health and Life Science at Invest in Norway.

Collaboration on precision cancer medicine has led to the launch of the IMPRESS-Norway clinical trial. A nationwide study, IMPRESS aims to improve public cancer care by implementing precision medicine in Norway. The clinical trial tests anti-cancer drugs for patients with advanced cancer after they have already undergone standard therapy. Both industry collaborators and healthcare partners are involved.

Another recent example of the cluster and its collaborations creating results is that the Section for Cellular Therapy’s Translational Research Unit in Norway recently published two groundbreaking studies demonstrating the potential of cell-based therapies in the fight against cancer. The research group used the Oslo Cancer Cluster Incubator labs to develop pre-clinical treatments.

“Ongoing collaboration is essential to our study. We work with 20 different pharma companies, including Eli Lilly, Incyte, Novartis, and Roche. This allows us to bring new drugs into the pipeline and try out new diagnostic tools. In turn, the companies benefit from high-quality testing of their drugs,” says Åslaug Helland, coordinating principal investigator and co-founder of IMPRESS-Norway.

Coordination takes place within the public sector as well. Organised into a network, all Norwegian hospitals with oncology departments are able to participate in the study and access the new knowledge it generates. A new public-private partnership, NorTrials, also aims at national participation in clinical trials.

In addition, IMPRESS-Norway has joined forces with its Nordic neighbours, establishing the Nordic Precision Medical Trial Network with Denmark, Finland, and Sweden and signing an MoU with the Drug Rediscovery Protocol (DRUP) in the Netherlands.

“This is ‘a triple win’ – a win for both cancer patients, investigators, and industry partners. We will generate and gather evidence more quickly on rare combinations of diagnoses, mutation and treatment to allow for early implementation of new cancer medicines,” says Kjetil Tasken, co-founder of IMPRESS-Norway.

Tasken adds that CONNECT, a public-private partnership on PCM, plays a crucial role, as does InPreD, a national infrastructure of advanced precision diagnostics, and INSIGHT, which conducts research on the regulatory framework for implementing PCM in Norway.

He also points out that public funding of diagnostics to stratify patients into trials and of drugs in stage 3 expansion cohorts in the IMPRESS trial plays a key role in facilitating industry collaboration on documenting drug efficacy.

Perhaps the most important collaborator of all is the Norwegian government, which has been there from the beginning.

“Norway is known for its publicly funded oncology research. The government made the decision years ago to focus on anti-cancer efforts, in part through basic and applied research. This support has only grown stronger over the years,” says Invest in Norway's Schmidt.

Oslo University Hospital, an OECI-accredited Comprehensive Cancer Centre, continues to spearhead research. The Norwegian Radium Hospital site is being developed as a focal point with new premises and a proton therapy centre, as well as the Institute for Cancer Research and Oslo Cancer Cluster on campus. Radforsk, meanwhile, facilitates anti-cancer investments from research through commercialisation.

Such national coordination would not be possible without publicly funded, universal healthcare.

“The backbone of all our efforts is a well-functioning healthcare system. It allows us to devise a national plan and coordinate all the parties involved,” says IMPRESS-Norway's Helland.

She goes on to mention Biobank Norway, which facilitates access to world-class data for basic, clinical and medical research. This includes 69 health registries, notably the Cancer Registry of Norway and eight cancer sub-registries.

“Norway’s precision medicine ecosystem generates significant value for society and represents a significant opportunity for attracting foreign investment as well as generating future exports. This is a promising sector under development. Norway should be known for innovation and disruption in the medical field,” concludes Schmidt.

Interested in exploring investment opportunities in the health and life science industry? Contact Invest in Norway