Nordic Life Science 1
COLUMN ICELAND “In more recent years a new genera
tion of life science entrepreneurs has increasingly taken advantage of newer social rather than natural resources: the unified and centralized national healthcare system, scientific and engineering talent, and the deep societal embrace of computing and technology.” Prokaria prospected in volcanic vents for thermophilic bacteria. The generics company Actavis capitalized on homegrown chutzpah and dealmaking dexterity to transform a failing lab into a global juggernaut. I n more recent years a new generation of life science entrepreneurs has increasingly taken advantage of newer social rather than natural resources: the unified and centralized national healthcare system, scientific and engineering talent, and the deep societal embrace of computing and technology. Again, these turn the old problems of isolation and a limited workforce into a model system for developing novel therapies and tools to streamline healthcare. Two recently published reports provide a welcome and comprehensive view of the breadth, success, and challenges of Iceland's life science industry today. Sandra Mjöll Jónsdóttir-Buch has provided a much-needed mapping of the sector (in Icelandic) that highlights some key statistics and remarkable trends. From an overall perspective, the sector is huge in local terms, employing nearly 4,500 people, or 1.5% of the labor force. This is a larger share even than in Sweden, known for its active and mature life sciences sector, although four large firms – Alvotech (biosimilars), deCODE (now a subsidiary of Amgen), Kerecis (codbased skin grafts), and Controlant (supply-chain logistics) – account for half of these jobs. The industry analysis also shows the shift over time from a focus on exploiting natural resources towards medtech and digital health startups. This trend accelerated rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic, which both spurred an ongoing transformation in the health system and brought it significantly closer to citizens. An interesting outlier in this context are the numerous startups working with seaweed, which is ubiquitous around Iceland but historically little used. The second report, by Reykjavikbased economist and policy consultant Eszter Czibor, delves into the vitality and challenges of the healthtech sector. Based on interviews with some of the dozens of R&D-based healthtech companies in Iceland, as well as other healthcare and funding stakeholders, she finds strong consensus that Iceland is indeed a great place to start a healthtech enterprise. Advantages include an innovationfriendly healthcare system at the center, substantial government R&D funding, and the ability to make quick and often personal connections with top clinical and IT talent. This is perhaps not surprising in such a tightly knit ecosystem, nor perhaps are the challenges in scaling up to the next stage. She finds similar consensus regarding the difficulty of progressing from trying out a new product to conducting a proper pilot in an official and regulated fashion. The good news is that the importance and potential value creation of ABOUT THE AUTHOR Edward Farmer is a Reykjavik-based communications and strategy consultant. He led communications for deCODE genetics and WuXi Nextcode, and as principal at Plug ehf and partner at Notenda his major engagements have included Genomics England, Owkin and Alvotech. NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG | 69 the sector has focused minds. The health ministry, export council, and national hospital transformation and innovation leadership are now actively working together to create a much clearer path for testing, validation and procurement. T NLS his will enable more companies to attract further investment, scale up, and market abroad. Having turned isolation and smallness into a virtue, it's still important to be aware of their limitations. For Icelandic firms in virtually every field, the island may be an excellent laboratory but the market lies over the ocean. EDWARD FARMER