Nordic Life Science 1
International lessons in building the cell and ge
ne therapy manufacturing workforce, from Seattle and the Nordic countries. T E X T B Y C H A R L OTT E S CHUBE R T T HE NORDIC COUNTRIES have a few things in common with the drippy, green Northwest corner of the United States. Settled partly by Scandinavian fishermen and loggers, Seattle claims to have the largest Norwegian Independence Day celebration outside of Norway, and it is home to the National Nordic Museum. Both regions are also now building infrastructure to support one of the fastest growing areas of biopharma – cell and gene therapy. Finding the workers for these efforts is top of mind for biopharma leaders in both regions. “It’s a global problem,” says Bo Wiinberg, Chief Business Development Officer of Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator, an initiative to support final development and GMP manufacturing of cell therapies for academia and industry. Seattle has faced such workforce challenges for several years. Its academic institutions helped pioneer cell therapies and companies like Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), Sana Biotechnology and Lyell Immunopharma all have cell therapy manufacturing operations in the region. “The biotech industry has been around for decades here, whereas manufacturing is relatively newer, and so we're just in the process of really growing that pipeline,” says Marc Cummings, CEO of Trade Group Life Science Washington. Seattle’s nascent approach to building up the cell and gene therapy workforce could provide lessons for other regions. As the Nordic countries develop the field, they are similarly looking into how to fill the employment pipeline. NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG | 65