Nordic Life Science 1
“We are seeing more and more life science compani
es going digital and digital companies going life science; and there is often a lack of complementary skills and know-how.“ MAGNUS BJÖRSNE, CEO, ASTRAZENECA BIOVENTUREHUB R E S E A RCH ZELLUNA AND KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET COLLABORATE Namir Hassan, CEO, Zelluna BioVentureHub D I G I TAL HE A LT H The two collaborators will develop next generation TCR-NK products for the treatment of patients with solid cancers. AstraZeneca’s BioVentureHub has entered into a new collaboration with IBM Sweden. HE COLLABORATION GIVES small and mid-sized companies connected to IBM Sweden or AstraZeneca’s BioVentureHub access to each of the others’ open platforms for innovation. The collaboration aims to stimulate growth of small and mid-sized companies, to support knowledge exchange between life sciences and digital technology, and to strengthen digital health expertise. “We are seeing more and more life science companies going digital and digital companies going life science; and there is often a lack of complementary skills and know-how. Besides supporting growth strategies for Swedish SMEs, we also hope the collaboration will help attract international digital health companies to Sweden,” says Magnus Björsne, CEO, AstraZeneca BioVentureHub. THE COLLABORATION WILL support a multi-year research PATENT P OR TFO LI O CANTARGIA ACQUIRES CELLERANT IP ON IL1RAP Cantargia has acquired a patent portfolio from Cellerant Therapeutics covering aspects around the interleukin 1 receptor accessory protein (IL1RAP). THE ACQUIRED IP includes a US patent on IL1RAP as a target for antibody therapy in leukemia. Thereby, Cantargia has broadened its IP portfolio and secured ownership of the key patents around IL1RAP as a target for cancer therapy. Cellerant will receive an insignificant upfront purchase payment and will also be entitled to a low single digit royalty on sales covered by claims in the acquired patents, until they expire. ”The clinical data we have generated in patients are encouraging. By acquiring this IP, we have secured all relevant IP on IL1RAP as a target for cancer therapy,” says Göran Forsberg, CEO, Cantargia. program with Evren Alici, Head of the Gene & Cell Therapy group at Karolinska Institutet (KI). It will make use of Zelluna’s TCR-NK technology and is intended to accelerate the development of the company’s TCR-NK platform and off-the-shelf products. Zelluna will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize TCR-NK products resulting from the collaboration through a commercial license with KI. In addition, Zelluna is entered as a collaborative partner in the new Competence Center for Next-Generation NK Cell-based Cancer Immunotherapy (NextGenNK) being established at KI. For Zelluna this provides access to a broad network of competence, infrastructure and potential collaborating partners. The NextGenNK is funded by academic and industrial partners and will receive significant funding from Vinnova, Sweden’s Innovation Agency. PHOTO ASTRAZENECA PHOTO STIG JARNES