ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

Erhvervsudvalget 2020-21
ERU Alm.del Bilag 376
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LIFE SCIENCE ACROSS THE ØRESUND

– a survey of transregional commuters, actors, research and investments

900 border commuters in

Medicon Valley

At least 20 Danish CEOs

at companies in Skåne

13 Danish companies listed

in Sweden since 2014

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

PREFACE

The Danish-Swedish life science cluster that spans over the Øresund, Medicon Valley, is linked together

by all of the engaged individuals who work at the universities, hospitals, research centres and all of the

companies in the region. As part of the Interreg-project Greater Copenhagen Life Science Analysis Initiative,

Øresundsinstituttet has surveyed networks, collaborations, investments, ownership and personal contacts

in Medicon Valley.

More than 900 people employed at companies in the life science cluster commute across the Øresund Strait,

most of them from Skåne to Danish companies such as Novo Nordisk, Ferring, LEO Pharma, Lundbeck and

Genmab. The growing group of companies from Skåne – frequently small and listed in Sweden – is also hel-

ping itself to the generous offering of skilled business leaders schooled in the large life science companies

across the strait in Denmark. Today, more than 20 life science companies in Skåne are headed by a Danish

CEO. Ultimately, in and around Copenhagen is where Medicon Valley’s largest life science companies are.

The Danish system of large, foundation-owned companies means that power over the company remains in

Denmark, even if it is publicly traded, and it also means that part of the company’s profits return to research

and new startups via the foundations that own them. In Sweden, the focus is more on going public; since

2014, thirteen Danish life science companies have acted on the attraction to listing in Stockholm, and twelve

of them are still listed today. More than 25 companies are active on both sides of the Øresund – and this is

no novel phenomenon. Already back in 1914, the then-Danish Løvens Kemiske Fabrik set up a Swedish sub-

sidiary in Helsingborg: Leo Läkemedel. The company has changed hands many times since then, and today

it’s known as McNeil, and its manufacturing and development units are still in Helsingborg.

There is nothing new about national rules and regulations making work across the strait more difficult despite

the proximity over the Øresund with the bridge connecting Copenhagen and Malmö and ferries shuttling

between Helsingborg and Helsingør. University grants are generally not allowed to cross borders, for example,

although a good collaboration means bilateral flow. Over the past six years, crossing the Øresund has become

even more difficult for us humans. The migration crisis, crime and now the coronavirus pandemic have led to

national decrees on border control and at times even partially closed the borders. At the same time, the border

region is receiving support from Brussels via the EU-programme Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak. Since

2015, Interreg has granted nearly €47mn for joint border regional development projects in the life sciences.

This analysis is part of one such project.

After more than 50 interviews with players from Medicon Valley, we can draw several conclusions:

•

Personal contacts are of great consequence for the border regional development between Sweden

and Denmark.

•

The national systems still have difficulty managing a border region.

•

The trans-Øresund exchange is extensive. Medicon Valley’s Danish and Swedish parts are tightly

interwoven by their people, capital, projects, research and affairs.

•

There remains great potential to increase contacts across the Øresund. The Øresund is where

Denmark’s and Sweden’s national life science strategies meet. Two neighbouring countries, both

successful in the life sciences, each an important trade partner for the other. The interviews in this

report show that the actors who see great opportunities in expanding collaborations are very many.

Copenhagen and Malmö, 22 June 2021

Johan Wessman

CEO

Øresundsinstituttet

LIFE SCIENCE ACROSS THE ØRESUND

– a survey of transregional commuters, actors,

research and investments

This analysis has been prepared by Øresundsinstituttet as part of the Interreg-

project Greater Copenhagen Life Science Analysis Initiative and was written by

Jenny Andersson, Kristoffer Dahl Sørensen, Soﬁ Eriksson and Johan Wessman.

Project manager for analytics: Jenny Andersson

Overall project manager: Johan Wessman

Translation: Justina Bartoli

Cover photo: News Øresund

June 2021

GREATER COPENHAGEN LIFE SCIENCE ANALYSIS INITIATIVE

is an EU-project aimed

at increasing knowledge about the region’s life science cluster. The focus is on the

demand for labourers, future expertise needs, and more. The project has received

funding through the EU-programme Interreg Öresund-Kattegatt-Skagerrak and will

continue until 30 June 2022. The project’s lead partner is Medicon Valley Alliance, and

the partner is Øresundsinstituttet. Region Skåne and Region Zealand are co-funding

the project.

MEDICON VALLEY

is the bi-national life science

cluster spanning eastern Denmark and the

Skåne region of southern Sweden. Today, the

Danish-Swedish region is marketed interna-

tionally with the name ‘Greater Copenhagen’,

and its increasing population has reached

more than four million residents. In Sweden,

the same geographical area is often called the

‘Øresund Region’.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Summary .................................................................. 6

2. Commuters and the labour market .......................... 12

3. Management ........................................................... 26

4. Research and education .......................................... 47

Focus: Diabetes ........................................................ 56

Focus: Oncology ....................................................... 68

Focus: Reproduction ................................................. 82

BioInnovation Institute

5. Transregional sector actors and activities ............... 90

6. Investments and listings ....................................... 110

7. Appendix ............................................................... 135

PHOTO: LEO PHARMA

ABOUT ZEALAND AND SKÅNE

When we refer to Zealand and Skåne in this report, we are generally referring to the

following geographic classification: the Danish island Zealand, and the southern

Swedish province Skåne. There are also public and administrative geographies. On

the Danish side, the Capital Region of Denmark includes the capital city Copenhagen

and the surrounding municipalities, up to northeast Zealand and including the island

Bornholm. Region Zealand comprises the remaining parts of Zealand and islands such

as Møn, Lolland and Falster. On the Swedish side of the Øresund, the province of Skåne

is geographically equivalent to Region Skåne. Together, the three Danish and Swedish

regions comprise the Øresund Region, whose population was 4.1 million at the end of

2020, with two-thirds living on the Danish side. The Medicon Valley cluster shares the

geography of the Øresund Region. The term Greater Copenhagen is used as an inter-

national place brand for the Danish-Swedish region, and it also designates a political

collaboration that encompasses the three abovementioned regions as well as Region

Halland. The Greater Copenhagen region has a population of 4.4 million.

LEO Pharma Open Innovation.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

SUMMARY

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE REPORT

MORE THAN 900 BORDER COMMUTERS

The life science sector’s labour force moves back

and forth across the Øresund Region. A total of

over 900 border commuters were identified in the

region. At least 800 people commute from Skåne

to work at life science companies in Zealand. At

least 100 commuters from Zealand were identified

as working in the life science sector in Skåne.

These figures are the result of extensive contact

between Øresundsinstituttet and the companies

between 2020-2021. One often hears about highly

educated workers who are active across the Øre-

sund. Novo Nordisk is the Medicon Valley company

with the largest number of border commuters.

200 people travel from Sweden across the Øre-

sund to work at the company in Denmark.

Read more about border commuting and the

labour market in the sector on page 12-25

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

At least 20 Danish CEOs/managing di-

rectors work in large, medium-sized and

small life science companies in Skåne.

The number of Danish directors has

risen since 2017. Read more on page 27.

Søren Bregenholt, new CEO of

Alligator Bioscience in Lund.

Simon Østergaard, new

CEO of CellaVision in Lund.

EXCELLENT RESEARCH IN THE REGION

Cancer, diabetes and reproduction are three research areas of excellence in Medicon Valley.

World-class research is conducted in all three, and there are multiple links across the strait.

There are around 600 researchers in

CANCER RESEARCH

at the hospitals in Region Skåne,

Region Hovedstaden and Region Sjælland, and there is also extensive research at the universities,

in the industry and at the Danish Cancer Society’s research institute in Copenhagen. Within cancer

research, it is relatively common for researchers and research groups to collaborate across the

strait, but researchers call for more structural collaboration.

DIABETES RESEARCH

has strong historical links to the

Øresund Region, as the predecessor to today’s Novo Nordisk

was founded in Copenhagen in 1923. Today, research centres

on both sides of the Øresund bring together diabetes research,

and many of the largest players have joined forces in the Inter-

reg-collaboration DiaUnion.

REPRODUCTION RESEARCH

has also traditionally been

strong in the Øresund Region, and there has long been extensive

exchange across the strait within the Interreg-project ReproU-

nion 2.0 and its earlier iterations. Today, a unique biobank is

being constructed, the aim with which is to include 5 000 couples

from Denmark and Sweden and get to the bottom of involuntary

childlessness. Read more pages 46-89.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Novo Nordisk A/S

Ferring Pharmaceuticals A/S

LEO Pharma A/S

H. Lundbeck A/S

206

110

40-45

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

MORE FOREIGN CEOS IN ZEALAND

Around three-fourths of the life science companies that

are listed in Sweden and have headquarters or ma-

nufacturing facilities in Skåne are headed by Swedish

CEOs. In Denmark however, around two-thirds the

life science companies with

headquarters and listings

in Denmark are headed by

Danish CEOs. The share of

foreign CEOs in the segment

is thus larger in Denmark than

in Skåne. Larger, listed Danish

companies such as Novozy-

mes, H. Lundbeck, Zealand

Pharma, Orphazyme and

Ambu for example have recruited chief executives from

abroad in the past five years. According to recruitment

experts, the differences in internationalisation between

Denmark and Skåne are related to the companies’ size,

development stage, capital needs and more. Read more

on page 26-40.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Working more from home due to the

pandemic is making it difficult for border

commuters – in the life science and other

sectors – to fulfil the requirement of

working at least half of the time in their

country of employment. This has created

extra administration and additional costs

for companies and could also mean that

border commuters may be hit with back

taxes. Read more on page 16.

POTENTIAL FOR MORE

RESEARCH COLLABO-

RATION ACROSS THE

ØRESUND.

”Working together is incre-

dibly easy; it’s great when

Danish and Swedish doctors

and researchers get together

for a project and share data

and work together – that has never been a problem, it’s

always been a lot of fun. The obstacles to collaboration

are much more structural.”

Mef Nilbert,

head of research at the Danish Cancer Society

in Copenhagen. Read more on page 80-81.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

GIVES BORDER COMMUTERS

TAX HEADACHES.

€47mn

Between 2015-2022, the EU-programme

Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak

granted just under €47mn to joint Da-

nish-Swedish development projects in the

life sciences. 18 life science projects have

received funding during that time, and ten

of the projects are still currently active –

e.g. DiaUnion. Read more on page 91.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Examples of life science com-

panies in Zealand with border

commuters from Sweden

Number of border

commuters from

Sweden

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND & CELLAVISION

+20

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

SUMMARY

THE WORD ON ØRESUND COLLABORATION

”We have historical collaborations in the Øre-

sund Region, and we will definitely continue to

have them. The collaborations are both on the

commercial and on the academia fronts. I think

we should open a mutual invitation and say: the

things that we can do better together working

across the Øresund are things we should pursue”,

says

Kim Kjøller,

chairperson of the cluster orga-

nisation Danish Life Science Cluster, which was

founded in 2020 and represents around 500 actors

from the sector. Read more on page 106.

DENMARK’S AND SWEDEN’S LIFE SCIENCE

STRENGTHS CONSOLIDATE AROUND THE

ØRESUND

The Øresund Region’s Medicon Valley cluster is Scandinavia’s largest life science cluster. The

region’s common research strengths are in diabetes, cancer, fertility and more, and globally le-

ading companies and universities are active in those ﬁelds. Denmark and Sweden work across the

Øresund to build highly advanced research facilities, and Danish and Sweden investment compa-

nies join together to fund new ideas. Innovation and new startups take shape at universities and

science parks in Medicon Valley, and more than 900 border commuters cross the Øresund for their

work, bringing together Danish and Swedish expertise.

€35mn

The Novo Nordisk Foundation granted

€35mn for the super-microscope Mi-

croMAX in Lund, which will be ready

for use in 2022. The grant is the foun-

dation’s largest in southern Sweden

today. Read more on page 107.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

INVESTMENT CLIMATE IN PROGRESS

The investment climate in Medicon Valley is moving forward, according to a number of Danish and

Swedish investment companies. Funding rounds are growing larger, especially on the Danish side of

the Øresund, and the participation of venture firms from abroad is increasingly more frequent. Many

of the life science companies in Medicon Valley with Danish-Swedish ownership interviewed agree

that the access to risk capital is generally good. Actors from the sector point out that Novo Nordisk

Foundation’s establishment of the BioInnovation Institute in Copenhagen in 2017 was an important

event for seed-funding in the region, and it has also benefitted Swedish life science companies. Com-

panies in Skåne also highlight the need for better access

to venture capital, and companies on Danish shores

would like to see the Danish stock market become more

lucrative, like its Swedish counterpart. The result is

different capital structures on either side of the Øresund:

•

71 life science companies have headquarters in

Skåne and are listed in Stockholm

•

20 life science companies have headquarters in

Zealand and are listed in Copenhagen

•

13 Danish life science companies have gone public

in Stockholm since 2014; 12 of them are still li-

sted. Together, the companies’ IPOs raised 665mn

SEK, or €65mn.

Danish and Swedish companies, organisations,

labour forces, capital and research merge in the

Øresund Region’s life science sector. This is appa-

rent when research starts at Lund University and is

developed further in Copenhagen, for example. Da-

nish and Swedish trade organisations work together

on conferences and marketing strategies. Biotech

companies recruit expertise from Skåne. Danish

companies list in Sweden with the help of Swedish

financial players. Life science companies from Skåne

recruit experienced business managers who have

been schooled in Denmark’s global enterprises. And

research groups work across the Øresund to reach

joint goals of finding new treatments.

The life science sector that spans across the

Øresund is thus linked in many ways in the

Danish-Swedish Medicon Valley cluster, which

employs around 50 000 people. The five chapters of

the report in hand aim to identify strengths, links

and structural similarities and differences in the life

science sector in Medicon Valley, which is Scandi-

navia’s largest life science cluster.

One of Medicon Valley’s shared Danish-Swedish

strengths is that Zealand and Skåne both conduct

globally leading research in diabetes, fertility and

cancer. Research is carried out commercially via

beacon companies such as Novo Nordisk, Ferring

Pharmaceuticals and Genmab, as well as at universi-

ties, where the researchers further boost the region’s

scientific strong points. We received data for this

analysis from hospitals and universities (The only

data from the University of Copenhagen concerns

the Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR)

and Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC),

and reservation is made for the possibility that some

researchers work at hospitals as well as universities

regarding:

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

• Approx. 1 700 cancer researchers

• Approx. 1 000 diabetes researchers

• Approx. 150 reproductive researchers

Sector links within the cluster are apparent in

that e.g. there are employees in the sector who work

on the opposite side of the Øresund. All the while,

researchers at Danish universities develop instru-

ments and software that are already in use and will

MEDICON VALLEY EMPLOYS 50 000

The companies in the Danish-Swedish Medicon

Valley cluster employ more than 50 000 pe-

ople in the Øresund Region.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

MEDICON VALLEY

is the bi-national life

science cluster spanning eastern Denmark

(Region Zealand and the Capital Region of

Denmark) and the Skåne region of southern

Sweden. Today, the Danish-Swedish region

is marketed internationally with the name

‘Greater Copenhagen’, and its increasing po-

pulation has reached four million residents.

In Sweden, the same geographical area is

often called the Øresund Region’.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

SUMMARY

be used at research facilities in Skåne in the future.

Danish companies also receive advice from Swedish

players on going public in Sweden to raise capital

for further development.

• There are at least

900 border commuters

employed in the companies in Medicon Valley,

800 of whom live in Skåne and work in Zealand.

• There are at least

20 Danish CEOs

in the life scien-

ce cluster in Skåne

•

13 Danish life science companies

have listed in

Sweden since 2014

, 12 of them are still listed today.

• Denmark makes financial contributions to

European Spallation Source, ESS,

and

MAX IV

in Lund. Denmark and Sweden are host countries

for ESS, whose research facilities are being built in

Lund and the data centre for which is at Copenha-

gen Bio Science Park (COBIS) in Copenhagen.

Border commuting is important for both

Sweden and Denmark

One of the main results of this report is that there

are more than 900 border commuters at companies

in the region. Many in the sector thus live in one

country and work in the other.

Trans-Øresund exchange is important, as it broa-

dens the recruitment base across the Øresund. Danish

life science companies are currently finding themselves

with a labour force shortage. If border commuting

from Skåne were to decrease, the need for labourers in

the sector in Denmark would be intensified further.

PHOTO: BIOINNOVATION INSTITUTE

UPCOMING ANALYSIS: SURVEY OF THE

DANISH LIFE SCIENCE SECTOR

The focus of this report is movement over the Øresund and transregi-

onal commuters, actors, research and investments in the life science

sector. Upcoming analyses in the Interreg-project Greater Copenha-

gen Life Science Analysis Initiative will include a detailed survey of the

life science cluster on the Danish side of Medicon Valley and more.

An analysis of the clusters on the Swedish side by the name of

“Life science in Skåne – A survey of companies in the sector” was

published in the autumn of 2020. The report shows among other

things that more than 7 500 people work in the life science sector

in Skåne; this in an increase of 1 500 employees since 2015. A total

of 426 life science companies were identified in Skåne.

The analytic work is carried out by Øresundsinstituttet, and the

Interreg-project’s leading partner is Medicon Valley Alliance.

Petter Hartman,

Jens Nielsen,

CEO Medicon

CEO BII Founda-

Valley Alliance.

tion. See p. 103.

See p. 108.

INVESTMENT AND LISTINGS

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Tue David Bak,

Managing Director

Greater Copenha-

gen Committee.

See p. 97.

PHOTO: NOVO SEEDS

Ulrika Ringdahl,

Managing Director

Invest in Skåne.

See p. 97.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Asbjørn Over-

gaard Chris-

tiansen,

CEO

Copenhagen Capa-

city. See p. 97.

PHOTO: PILA PHARMA-JENNY LEYMAN

Report on life science in Skåne

from from November 2020.

Carsten Borring,

Head of Listing. &

Cap. Markets Nas-

daq Copenhagen.

See p. 118.

Fredrik Rahl,

Director Sedermera

Fondkommission.

See p. 120.

Søren Møller,

Managing Partner

Novo Seeds. See

p. 126.

Peter Benson,

Chairperson &

co-founder Suns-

tone. See p. 128.

Dorte X Gram,

CEO PILA PHAR-

MA. See p. 44 &

133.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: COPENHAGEN CAPACITY

Life science companies in Skåne also benefit

from an open and flexible labour market, however.

The expertise that people who reside in Sweden can

acquire working at larger life science companies in

Zealand is unique, as there are multiple large global

companies in the industry in Zealand. They function

as an anchor of sorts for startups and other businesses

in the region. In many cases, people from the sector

from Skåne later bring their expertise back and thus

benefit other companies in e.g. Malmö and Lund.

Increasing awareness among Danes in the sector

of the career opportunities that exist on the Swedish

side of the Øresund is a transregional challenge.

Danish-dwellers in the sector may also have higher

expectations when it comes to e.g. salary that may

be difficult to honour.

With its 25% rate, the so-called SINK-tax has

traditionally prompted Danes to accept positions

in Skåne despite the Danish crown being stronger

than its Swedish counterpart. The taxation advanta-

ge for border commuters has become a tax trouble

during the coronavirus pandemic, however. Official

restrictions have made it difficult for many people

to fulfil the requirement of being physically present

in one’s country of employment 50% of the time.

This has meant additional administration and costs

for companies and employees in the life sciences

and in other sectors, and there have been calls for

the tax rules for border commuters to be adjusted to

accommodate for working from home in the future.

In spite of the abovementioned challenges,

approximately 100 commuters live in Denmark and

work at life science companies in Skåne, more than

20 of them in executive positions.

EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE WHO WORK IN MEDICON VALLEY

COMMUTERS AND EXECUTIVES ACROSS THE ØRESUND

PHOTO: NOVO NORDISK

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

PHOTO: PRIVATE

PHOTO: LEO PHARMA

PHOTO: SCANDINAVIAN ONCOLOGY

Kasper Bødker

Mejlvang,

Country

Manager Novo

Nordisk. See p. 14.

PHOTO: IKENNET RUONA - LUNDS U.

Britt Meelby

Jensen,

CEO Atos

Medical. See p. 22.

Sara Harboe,

Vice President

ArjoHuntleigh. See

p. 25.

PHOTO: KENNETH RUONA

Niclas Nilsson,

Head of Innovation

Lab at LEO Phar-

ma. See p. 41.

PHOTO: DIRECTORS CORNER

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Maj Hedtjärn,

COO & Head of

R&D Operations at

Scandion Oncology.

See p. 34.

PHOTO: LUND UNIVERSITY

Erik Renström,

Vice-chancellor of

Lund University.

See p. 54.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Elise Witthof,

Coordinator iCope.

See p. 74.

Kristian Pietras,

Professor and

Coordinator LUCC.

See p. 76.

PHOTO: NEWS ØREUSND

Carl Borrebaeck,

Professor and se-

rial entrepreneur.

See p. 78.

PHOTO: INVEST IN SKÅNE

TRANSBORDER ACTORS AND OPERATIONS

Aleksander

Giwercman,

Project Manager

ReproUnion 2.0.

See p. 87.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

PHOTO: NOVO NORDISK

COMMUTERS AND THE LABOUR MARKET

Over 900 Danish-Swedish border commuters

in Medicon Valley

Border commuters are important for the life science sector in Medicon Valley, as many of those

active in the sector gain their professional experience across the Øresund. There are over 900 bor-

der commuters in the sector, many of them in positions that require a high level of expertise. At

least 800 people from Sweden work in the sector on the Danish side. Over 100 border commuters

from Denmark commute to jobs in the sector in Skåne; commuting for work from Skåne to Zealand

is thus more common than in the opposite direction. These ﬁgures come from a survey in which

Øresundsinstituttet interviewed the majority of Skåne’s life science businesses, as well as 50 of

the larger Danish life science companies in Zealand, regarding the number of their employees who

commute across the Øresund. For example, just over 200 of Novo Nordisk’s employees commute

from Skåne to the pharma company’s ofﬁce- and research facilities in Zealand. The coronavi-

rus-pandemic has created immediate challenges related to taxation, attracting employees and

more, but also new, ﬂexible working conditions for border commuters.

COMMUTERS AND THE LABOUR MARKET

More than 900 life science employees commute

over the Øresund. At least 800 life science employ-

ees from Sweden work in some of Denmark’s largest

life science companies. Around 100 border commu-

ters from Denmark were identified as commuting

to Skåne for work in the sector.

These results are based on contact for this report

between Øresundsinstituttet and the region’s busi-

nesses in 2020 and 2021. This involved asking the

majority of Skåne’s life science companies questions

regarding the number of their employees who

commute across the Øresund, and 50 larger-scale

Danish life science companies were also selected

and interviewed about the same. Over 30 Danish

life science companies supplied figures regarding

the number of their employees who commute from

Sweden, and in total, around 800 people cross the

border from Sweden to work in the Danish life sci-

ence sector. They are frequently people with a high

level of expertise.

Thus, people who live in Sweden commute to

e.g. the pharmaceutical companies H. Lundbeck,

LEO Pharma and Novo Nordisk, the hearing aid

manufacturer GN Hearing, the ingredients solution

company Chr. Hansen, the biotech companies

Genmab and Zealand Pharma and the medtech

company Ambu.

It may be assumed that the number of border

commuters from Sweden to Denmark would be

higher if board members and consultants were

included in the figures; in addition, commuter

figures were not supplied by all of the life science

companies asked. Examples (page 14) show that

labourers from Skåne find their way to Copenhagen

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

and the surrounding areas to make a difference in

the Danish life science sector, and that the same is

true in the other direction, toward Skåne.

Many border commuters at Novo Nordisk

and Ferring

One pharmaceutical company in Denmark with

many employees from Sweden is Ferring Pharma-

ceuticals A/S, which was founded in Malmö in

900

More than 900 Danish-Swedish border

commuters were identified in Medicon

Valley in Øresundsinstituttet’s survey

between 2020-2021.

800 BORDER COMMUTERS FROM SWEDEN

At least 800 border commuters from Sweden

were identified as working in life science

companies in Zealand; for example, ca.

200 commuters from Sweden work at Novo

Nordisk on the Danish side of the Øresund.

100 BORDER COMMUTERS FROM DENMARK

At least 100 border commuters from Den-

mark were identified as working in life scien-

ce companies in Skåne. Most of the sector’s

commuters travel from Sweden to Denmark.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

COMMUTERS AND THE LABOUR MARKET

OVER 900 DANISH-SWEDISH BORDER

COMMUTERS IN MEDICON VALLEY

Many life science companies in the Danish-Swedish Medicon

Valley cluster recruit employees from across the Øresund. At least

800 people from Sweden work in the sector on the Danish side.

Over 100 border commuters from Denmark commute to jobs in

the sector in Skåne for a total of at least 900 border commuters in

the life science sector in the Øresund Region. Most commute from

Sweden to Denmark for work in the sector.

Number

of border

commu-

ters from

Sweden

206

110

40-45

Examples of life science

companies in Zealand with

border commuters from

Sweden

Novo Nordisk A/S

Ferring Pharmaceuticals A/S

LEO Pharma A/S

H. Lundbeck A/S

Coloplast A/S

Chr. Hansen A/S

Demant A/S

AGC Biologics A/S

Genmab A/S

GN Hearing A/S

Xellia Pharmaceuticals A/S

WS Audiology A/S

Radiometer Medical A/S

Zealand Pharma A/S

Subsector

Pharma

Biotech

Pharma

Medtech

Biotech

Medtech

CDMO

Biotech

Medtech

Biotech

Medtech

Biotech

Number of

employees

in Zealand

16 800

580

2 100

1 700

1 300

1 800

670

210

630

690

1 000

1 200

230

Example of companies in Zealand with 1-9 border commuters from

Sweden:

Ambu A/S, Bavarian Nordic A/S, Symphogen A/S, AstraZe-

neca A/S, Orphazyme A/S and Ferrosan Medical Devices A/S.

Number

of border

commu-

ters from

Denmark

Arjo Sverige AB

PolyPeptide Laboratories AB

Atos Medical AB

LEO Pharma AB

Medtech

CDMO

Medtech

Pharma

200

280

200

Example of companies in Skåne with 1-9 border commuters from

Denmark:

Novo Nordisk Scandinavia AB, Boston Scientific Nordic AB,

Camurus AB, SVAR Life Science AB, Probi AB and Ascelia Pharma AB.

Source: Information from the companies and annual reports. Commuter numbers refer to

2018/2019/2020/2021. The numbers apply to border commuters from Sweden and Denmark,

which does not necessarily imply that they are Swedes or Danes. Please note that these figu-

res may have changed since they were reported. Read more about the method on page 135.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: FERRING

Example of life science com-

panies in Skåne with border

commuters from Denmark

Subsector

Number of

employees

in Skåne

1950. In 2002, the company was among

the first to consolidate in the then-new

neighbourhood Ørestad, near Copenha-

gen Airport, and in 2006 it opened a new

global headquarters in Switzerland. Today,

Ferring Pharmaceuticals’ International

PharmaService Center and R&D are in

Ørestad and employ around 600 people,

150 of whom are border commuters from

Skåne. Between May and September of

2021, Ferring Pharmaceuticals will be

moving to Soundport, near Copenha-

gen Airport. Soundport will be the new

Danish headquarters and Ferring Group’s

largest R&D centre. It will be even closer

to Malmö, where the company continues

to have sales- and marketing activity.

Another Danish life science company

with a commuting labour force from

both Sweden and Denmark is Novo

Nordisk. The largest pharmaceuticals

company in Denmark and Scandina-

via, Novo Nordisk has 206 employees

in Denmark who receive their mail in

Sweden and are thus border commuters

between Zealand and Skåne. Of these

206, 138 are Swedish. Moreover, the

company has around five Danish com-

muters at its facilities in Malmö, where

around 75 people are employed.

– It is absolutely crucial for us as a com-

pany to be able to attract and retain com-

petent employees where we are. This is also

true for our Danish subsidiary, and luckily

we can bring in sharp minds from Sweden.

Similarly, our subsidiary in Malmö can

be an attractive workplace for people who

commute in the other direction over the

Øresund, says Kasper Bødker Mejlvang,

country manager for Novo Nordisk in

Denmark. He himself works at Novo

Nordisk’s Ørestad office, which employs

just under 100 people. He adds:

– Our position in Ørestad, close to

the Øresund Bridge, makes commuting

between work and home in Sweden both

easy and fast. Under normal circumstan-

ces, without Covid-19, it actually takes

less time to commute to and from Malmö

or elsewhere in Skåne than it would

from say Copenhagen to our facility in

Hillerød, he says.

Another of Denmark’s largest pharma-

FERRING’S NEW RESIDENCE CAN BOOST BORDER COMMUTING

OVER THE ØRESUND ONCE AGAIN

More border commuters in Medicon Valley

may become a reality in the years to come.

One major reason is that Ferring Pharma-

ceuticals (International Pharma Science

Center) is consolidating at a new address

in the Copenhagen area, this time even

closer to the southern Sweden.

In the summer of 2021, the pharmaceu-

tical company will move from its Danish

headquarters in the Ørestad district to

Kastrup, adjacent to Copenhagen Airport.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals’ new Danish

headquarters, which goes by the name

Soundport, is located right on the coast of

the Øresund Strait, with a clear view of Mal-

mö, the city in which the company has its

historical roots. With its 37 500m2, Sound-

Ferring’s new Danish headquarters near Copenhagen Airport, in

port will be the largest R&D centre for the

Kastrup.

Ferring Group, whose global headquarters

are located in Saint-Prex, Switzerland.

chief executive at the company’s headquarters in

Ferring Pharmaceuticals expects to recruit

Switzerland today is the Swede Per Falk.

around 150 new employees as part of the move,

The company’s choice to situate the new Danish

says Marianne Kock, CEO of Ferring Pharmaceuti-

headquarters Soundport near Copenhagen Airport

cals in Denmark.

and just one stop from Malmö’s Hyllie district is justi-

– We expect to employ more staff when we move to

fied by both practicality and logistics. The view of and

our new residence in Kastrup. The new building can

proximity to Malmö are also a nod to the company’s

accommodate up to around 750 employees; we are

history, however: it was there that the company was

just under 600 in our current building. The new staff

founded by Dr Frederik Paulsen in 1950, under the

members might be from Denmark, Sweden or other

name Nordiska Hormonlaboratoriet. The research

countries. What is important to us is finding the right

lab and factory were built in the Limhamn district.

employees with the right competences, she says.

Today, the founder’s son Frederik Paulsen Jr is

Marianne Kock emphasises that the broadest

chairman of the board at Ferring Pharmaceuticals,

possible recruitment sphere will be vital for the

and he is also the owner – via a foundation – of the

many new vacancies at the new Danish headquar-

Malmö-based life science companies PolyPeptide,

ters, and employees who commute over the border

QPharma, Nordic Drugs and Svar Life Science, which

will make all the difference, she says.

together employ more than 650 people in Malmö.

Historically, the company has made use of

border-commuting employees. Today, more than

one hundred of those employed at the Internatio-

nal Pharma-Science Center and R&D in Ørestad,

Copenhagen are border commuters from Sweden.

Back in 2002, Ferring Pharmaceuticals consoli-

dated in Denmark and in doing so scaled back its

operations in Malmö, although the company still has

sales and marketing activities there. Over the years,

being established on both sides of the Øresund has

meant that many border commuters from Denmark

and Sweden have worked for the company, and the

Ferring AB was founded in Malmö.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

COMMUTERS AND THE LABOUR MARKET

WORKING FROM HOME DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HAS

LED TO TAX ISSUES FOR THOUSANDS OF BORDER COMMUTERS

Partially closed borders in Denmark and Sweden, re-

commendations by authorities and employers to work

from home and negative Covid tests at the border

have made it complicated to commute for work in the

Øresund Region. According to Skånetrafiken and the

Øresundsbron Konsortiet, commutes by train and car

over the Øresund Bridge have decreased as a result.

Increased working from home during the coronavirus

pandemic in 2020 and 2021 has meant tax trouble for

some border commuters in the Øresund Region.

The Øresund Agreement requires that tax is paid in

the country of employment

As per the Øresund agreement, border commuters

must pay tax in the country in which they perform

their work duties. For Øresund commuters to be

taxed in their country of employment, at least 50%

of their work duties must be performed in that

country over a three-month period; otherwise, they

should pay tax in their country of residence.

For border commuters who have elected or felt

obligated to work from home during the pande-

mic, that has meant – and may continue to mean

– filing taxes for certain periods in their country of

residence and for other periods in their country of

employment and thus submitting tax declarations

in both Denmark and Sweden. According to the

Öresund Agreement however, tax shall not be paid

in both countries for the same period, and another

Nordic agreement, the Trekk agreement, makes

it possible for authorities to transfer tax revenue

that has been paid between the Nordic countries.

For Øresund commuters who live in Denmark and

work in Sweden, changes in tax liability can lead to

unpleasant fiscal surprises, as many usually pay a

special income tax, called SINK-tax, on their work

in Sweden. The tax rate is 25%, but tax deductions

are prohibited. The Danish tax rate is markedly

higher.

For the ca 14 000 border commuters who usually

travel from Sweden to Denmark according to the

most recent available statistics from 2015, working

from home may be an advantage, as the taxes in

Sweden are lower than in Denmark. For the 1000-

2000 border commuters who travel from Denmark

to Sweden for work however, it may become more

expensive.

Actors in the border region criticise regulation

Whilst some border commuters – both in the life

sciences and in other sectors – have worked with

the restrictions and continued to commute throug-

hout the pandemic, others have worked from home.

In March 2021, the information service Øressund-

direkt told News Øresund that they receive around

200 e-mails regarding the taxation issue every

week. The Facebook forum “I klemme mellem 2

lande” – stuck between two countries – has more

than 4000 members. Among those to highlight

the bureaucratic challenges that surround border

commuting and tax issues during the pandemic

has been the network organisation Medicon Valley

Alliance, which works to promote Denmark and

Sweden’s shared interests in the life science sector.

The Freedom of Movement Council, which works

on behalf of the Nordic governments, and the orga-

nisation for Danish-Swedish political collaboration

Greater Copenhagen Committee have also repea-

tedly brought these problems to the attention of the

tax ministries in Denmark and Sweden in order to

establish a fiscal exception for Øresund commuters

– to date, to no avail.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

that fewer Danes are commuting to jobs in the life

ceutical companies, H. Lundbeck, which has facilities

sciences in Skåne. Other actors in the sector with

in the Copenhagen area and in Malmö, also recruits

whom Øresundsinstituttet has been in contact have

from both sides of the Øresund. Around 40-45

confirmed this. It could be related to the lower sala-

employees in Skåne commute to Denmark, where

ries in Sweden, even when the special 25% tax rate

around 1500-1600 people work at the company’s

with the SINK model is taken into account, accor-

headquarters in Valby, Copenhagen.

ding to Dorte X Gram, the Danish CEO of PILA

– At Lundbeck we work to develop treatments

PHARMA in Malmö. She talks about her company

for neurological disorders by researching and

and more in the interview on page 44-45.

developing medicine for migraines, Alzheimer’s,

– Since large enterprises in Denmark offer such

and depression, for example. That requires highly

good salaries, Danes are often

specialised employees with

too expensive – relative to what

neurological expertise. For that

”Our position in

I’m prepared to pay at any rate,

reason, we have an internatio-

she says.

nal workplace, with some of the

Ørestad, close to

top experts from around the

the Øresund Bridge,

globe, and thus naturally we’re

makes commuting

Expertise creates value as

also happy that we can recruit

employees to our offices from

between work and

it moves between Denmark

and Sweden

both Denmark and Sweden,

home in Sweden

says Matias De Place, senior di-

The report Life Science in Skåne

rector of HR at H. Lundbeck.

both easy and fast.”

from 2020 is part of the Greater

Copenhagen Life Science Analy-

sis Initiative, and it identified around

AstraZeneca’s closure sent more

100 Danes with full-time positions at

Swedes to Denmark

around 30 life science companies in

Skåne. The Danish labour force finds

One of the many Swedes in the Danish

its way to some of the Swedish subsi-

life science sector is Niclas Nilsson, head

diaries of larger Danish pharmaceuti-

of Open Innovation for Danish LEO

cal companies such as LEO Pharma,

Pharma. He has noticed more Swedes

Novo Nordisk and H. Lundbeck –

taking on employment in Denmark in

see table on page 14.

the years since he started working for

Kasper Bødker Mejlvang,

Larger companies in Skåne, as

LEO Pharma in Denmark in 2005.

Country Manager for Novo

well as the medtech manufacturers

– There are definitely a lot of Swedes

Nordisk in Denmark.

Arjo and Atos Medical and the

in Danish life science, he says. As he

CDMO-company PolyPeptide Laboratories – all of

sees it, many have come to Denmark in the past 5-10

whose global headquarters are in Malmö – also take

years, and they contribute with additional competen-

advantage of the Danish labour force, they report.

ces and expertise.

Remarkably, McNeil AB in Helsingborg,

The combination of Danish and Swedish

which is Skåne’s largest life science company with

colleagues in the sector has become much more

around 655 employees and has historical roots

widespread, accepted – even completely normal,

in the Danish company LEO Pharma, has no

says Niclas Nilsson. He notes that there was a

border commuting employees from Denmark it its

particular surge in Swedish employees in the life

staff, whilst medium-sized and particularly small

sciences in Zealand when the Swedish-British

companies – for example at Medicon Village and

pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca dismantled

Ideon in Lund – make use of the labour force from

their R&D activities in Lund ten years ago as part

Denmark.

of a larger, global R&D-restructuring, and 900

In addition, there are 20 life science companies

positions disappeared. Niclas Nilsson talks about

with Danish CEOs in Skåne – read more on page

his work in the life science sector in Denmark in

31. If board members and consultants are included

more detail in the interview on page 41-43.

in the count, the number of border commuters

Many of those competences then became

from Denmark linked to the life science sector in

accessible for Danish life science companies on the

Skåne is even higher. The Danish-Swedish biotech

other side of the Øresund, for example, says Niclas

company PILA PHARMA in Malmö for example

Nilsson. At the same time, he has the impression

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NOVO NORDISK

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

COMMUTERS AND THE LABOUR MARKET

has put together an organisation that comprises

both Danish and Swedish consultants, as CEO

Dorte X Gram recounts; read more on page 44-45.

Danish life science companies anchor

startups in Skåne

Another aspect of border commuting in Medicon

Valley is that Swedes who have spent several years

working in the life science sector in Denmark

return to Skåne in new positions – see page 36-40

for some examples. Large Danish life science com-

panies thus function as so-called anchor compa-

nies for life science companies in Skåne as well,

which can recruit experienced personnel from

larger global companies.

Among those who have benefitted from that

is the biotech company Ascelia Pharma which is

headed by the Danish CEO Magnus Corfitzen. The

company expected to double its staff in 2020 and

in the years to follow. Today, it employs 15 people

full-time in Hyllie, south of Malmö, where it mo-

ved last year from its previous location at Medeon

Science Park.

– More than half of the Swedish employees at

Ascelia Pharma today worked in Denmark for years;

that means that they have been in a global pharma

headquarters and gained experience in late-stage

drug development and commercialisation that they

would not have had the opportunity to gain in

southern Sweden, he says.

Employees in Zealand and in Skåne can differ

somewhat, Magnus Corfitzen observes, because

COMMUTER STATISTICS AFTER 2015 IN UNDERSUPPLY

2015 is the most recent year for which official statistics

on border commuting over the over Øresund Strait

are available, as data exchange between Statistics

Denmark (DST) and Statistics Sweden (SCB) has been

temporarily suspended. The reason for this is that

Sweden’s rules regarding public access are conside-

red more extensive than their Danish counterparts.

According to the most recent statistics from

Ørestat / the Øresund Databank, the number of

commuters and other gainfully employed individuals

who commute over the Øresund rose by 297% in the

period from 2000-2015.

In the year 2000, there were 3291 border commu-

ters over the Øresund, and in 2015, that number had

risen to 15 182 people, 14 045 of whom commuted

from Skåne to eastern Denmark, and 1137 of whom

moved in the other direction.

2008 was a record year: 25 689 people had an in-

come on the other side of the Øresund. The number

then dropped, and in 2015 the number of commuters

was nearly one-third lower.

The majority (91%) commute from the Swedish

to the Danish part of the region, but the number of

commuters in the other direction has grown.

After 2015, travel and commuting over the

Øresund has been negatively impacted by three

events: In response to the migration crisis, Sweden

introduced temporary border checks of incoming

travel from Denmark. In November 2019, Denmark

introduced a temporary internal border inspection

of those coming from Sweden to prevent criminal

activity across the border. In March 2020, Denmark

partially closed the border to Sweden to limit the

spread of the coronavirus SARS-Cov-2. Sweden par-

tially closed its borders with Denmark for the same

reason in December 2020. At the time of writing in

the spring of 2021, Denmark and Sweden have both

begun to loosen travel restrictions over the Øresund.

Efforts are currently underway to revive statistics

on Øresund commuting. In the spring of 2021, Regi-

on Skåne and Statistics Denmark have explored the

possibility of using Danish data from e.g. Denmark’s

income register to identify the number of trans-Øre-

sund commuters.

In 2019, the Nordic Council of Ministers and the

Nordic ministers of state set the goal of making

Scandinavia the world’s most sustainable and inte-

grated region by 2030.

AROUND 1 300 PEOPLE WHO RESIDE ABROAD WORK IN THE LIFE SCIENCE

SECTOR IN DENMARK...

The number of people who reside abroad and are employed in the life science sector in Denmark rose 12%

between 2008-2018. The majority are employed in the capital area. Foreign employment in Denmark’s life

science sector comprises ca 2.5% of all employees.

The number of people who reside in

Denmark and are employed in the life

science sector in Denmark

2008

29 032

7 044

9 764

45 840

2018

38 028

6 858

9 887

54 773

The number of people who reside outside

Denmark and are employed in the life science

sector in Denmark

2008

1 028

107

1 213

2018

1 209

1 356

Denmark

Area

Capital Region of Denmark

Region Zealand

Elsewhere in Denmark

Total

Source: Statistics Denmark. The figures do not indicate how many Swedes work in the life science sector in Denmark. It is plausible that the majority of those

who reside abroad are Swedes, as the majority of the commuting is to life science companies in the capital region in Zealand (Denmark). The figures refer to

seven sector codes that are used to define the life science sector: 26.60.10, 26.60.90, 32.50.00, 46:46.10, 72.11.00, 72.19.00 and CF Pharmaceutical Industry.

companies’ composition varies according to size;

that is both unique and positive and should be used

to benefit everyone involved, he says.

– Being able to work freely in every direction is

incredibly important so that the right competences

can be recruited – for both Danish and Swedish

companies, he says.

Pandemic creates tax issues for border

commuters

The coronavirus pandemic has complicated border

commutes for work between Sweden and Den-

mark. As a result, train- and car commutes over

the Øresund Bridge have dropped: -43% and

-27%, respectively, since 2019, according to Skå-

netrafiken and the Øresundsbron Konsortiet.

The pandemic has thus led to problems related

to how employees working from home should be

taxed. The regulations are part of the Øresund

Agreement, a taxation agreement between Sweden

and Denmark. According to the agreement, border

commuters must work on site in their country

of employment at least 50% of the time over a

three-month period in order to be taxed in their

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

... AND THEY PAY CA 265 MN DKK IN INCOME TAX

Income tax from people who reside abroad and are employed in the life science sector in Denmark rose

82% between 2008-2018. During that same period, people in the life science sector who reside abroad paid

a total of ca. 2.6bn DKK in income tax in Denmark.

Denmark

The total income tax from people who reside in Denmark and are

employed in the life science sector in Denmark

The total income tax from people who reside outside Denmark and

are employed in the life science sector in Denmark

2008

6.4 mn DKK

145 mn DKK

2018

10.3 mn DKK

265 mn DKK

Source: Statistics Denmark. The figures refer to seven sector codes that are used to define the life science sector: 26.60.10, 26.60.90, 32.50.00, 46:46.10,

72.11.00, 72.19.00 and CF Pharmaceutical Industry.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

country of employment

rather than in their

country of residence.

Working from home

during the pandemic

has made it difficult

to fulfil the physical

presence requirement of

50% in the country of

Matias De Place, Senior

employment.

Director i HR i H. Lundbeck

As per the rules, tax

must then be paid in

both countries – albeit not at the same time, but

for different periods throughout the year. Not

declaring this might result in tax trouble cos-

ting thousands of crowns. This has meant extra

administration and expenses for many, inclu-

ding the Malmö-based Ascelia Pharma, says the

company’s CEO Magnus Corfitzen. As he sees it,

the situation has been suboptimal, although he

understands border regions will probably never be

completely frictionless.

To date, national authorities in Sweden and

Denmark have not offered exemptions related to

PHOTO: H. LUNDBECK

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

COMMUTERS AND THE LABOUR MARKET

during the coronavirus pandemic. According to

taxation issues for border commuters during the

CEO Petter Hartman, a consequence will be that

pandemic, despite calls for them by the Nordic

companies will have more difficulty recruiting and

Freedom of Movement Council, the collaborative

retaining employees from the opposite shores of

Danish-Swedish organisation Greater Copenhagen

the Øresund, and the efforts being made to attract

Committee and others.

investments and talent to the region are also suffe-

– Politicians say that there is no double taxation,

ring damage.

but in effect there is, as commuters have difficulties

– We have to handle crisis situations better. Bor-

getting refunds of the excess tax they have paid;

der regions get shabby treatment on a national level,

each of the tax authorities believes that they have

and if border regions are to be motors for growth,

done what they have to and that the other tax

that has to change, he says. Read more in the inter-

authority is responsible for the reimbursement, says

view on page 108-109.

Magnus Corfitzen. He adds:

Britt Meelby Jensen, CEO of

– Without border commu-

”Without border

the medical equipment manu-

ting, we dramatically reduce

commuting, we

facturer Atos Medical in Malmö,

recruitment potential in both

dramatically reduce

agrees. The company moved its

Denmark and Sweden, and

from

the competitiveness of the

recruitment potenti-

headquarters 2016.Hörby, Skåne

to Malmö in

Among

region as a whole decreases.

al in both Denmark

other reasons, they wanted to

The question then is whether

facilitate access to the Danish

companies should recruit from

and Sweden, and

labour market, which they did.

elsewhere in Europe or from

the competitiveness

Although she and her colleagues

other parts of the world – if

have been able to commute

people can’t be in the same

of the region as a

across the Øresund during the

place anyway, and we have

whole decreases.”

pandemic, the difficulties of bor-

to take transfer pricing etc

der commuting have nonetheless

into account anyway, even

hit the Øresund Region as a whole,

for employees whose workplace is

she says.

just on the other side of the bridge.

– I find that there has been very

Our region has so much to offer on

little focus on making it easier –

both the Danish and Swedish sides.

neither on the part of Sweden nor

We’ve built up so much and we need

Denmark, she says, pointing out that

to reinforce that further so it will

the Danish and Swedish rules have

continue to become stronger in the

been unclear. As she sees it, it is es-

future, says Magnus Corfitzen. He

sential that potential candidates don’t

believes that smoother commutes,

Magnus Corﬁtzen, CEO

get the impression that crossing the

less administration and authorities’

Ascelia Pharma.

Øresund Bridge can be a nuisance.

acceptance that working from home

– If the Øresund Region and transborder com-

during this or any other pandemic has no effect

muting are something we really want, then it’s also

on tax affairs are essential and necessary for the

important that commuting is made easier – even

long-term growth of the life sciences in the region.

during a coronavirus pandemic, she says. More

Among other things, this is because promising

details in the interview on page 22-23.

biotech companies in Skåne are sometimes depen-

Novo Nordisk’s country manager in Denmark

dent on life science expertise from the Danish side

Kasper Bødker Mejlvang is positive at the moment

of the region in order to grow into a commercial

when it comes to the opportunities for the labour

company – as is the case with Ascelia Pharma, he

market and recruitment that the coronavirus pande-

says – whilst competence in Skåne is, as mentio-

mic have made visible since March of 2020.

ned earlier, broadly beneficial for the life science

– The lockdowns showed us that it’s very possible

industry in Denmark.

to work from home, and in the future that will also

make working elsewhere in the region both easier

Higher priority for border region challenges

and more attractive. But it’s obviously important

Like Ascelia Pharma, the Danish-Swedish network

that there is proper and flexible framework in place

organisation Medicon Valley Alliance is also

for employees who commute, he says.

critical of the border commuting conditions

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Examples of life science companies with facilities in

both Skåne and Zealand

PHARMA/BIOTECH

• Novo Nordisk.

Global headquarters near Copenha-

gen in Bagsværd, offices in e.g. Ørestad and Malmö.

• H. Lundbeck.

Global headquarters in Valby, Copen-

hagen, sales and marketing division in Malmö.

• LEO Pharma.

Global headquarters near Copen-

hagen in Ballerup, sales and marketing division

in Malmö.

• Ferring Pharmaceuticals.

Global headquarters

in Switzerland, branches in e.g. Ørestad/Copen-

hagen and Malmö.

• RhoVac.

Headquarters at Medicon Village in

Lund, branch near Copenhagen in Hørsholm.

• Astellas Pharma.

Global headquarters in Japan,

Nordic headquarters in Kastrup and a branch in

Malmö.

• Lohmann & Rauscher.

Global headquarters in Ger-

many and Austria, branches in Vedbæk and Lund.

• Swedish Labex.

Headquarters in Helsingborg

and branches in e.g. Valby, Copenhagen.

• BD (Becton, Dickinson and co).

Global headqu-

arters in the USA, branches in e.g. Helsingborg

and Lyngby.

• Medidyne.

Headquarters near Copenhagen in

Nærum and branches in e.g. Ängelholm, Skåne.

• European Institute of Science.

Headquarters at

Ideon Science Park in Lund, branch in Kastrup

near Copenhagen.

• Acarix.

Headquarters in Malmö, branch in e.g.

Hellerup in the Copenhagen area.

CRO/CMO/CDMO

• Visiopharm.

Global headquarters near Copenha-

gen in Hørsholm and a branch in e.g. Lund.

• Red Glead Discovery.

Headquarters at Medicon

Village in Lund, office at COBIS in Copenhagen.

• Larix.

Headquarters in Herlev, branch at Medi-

con Village in Lund.

• KLIFO.

Headquarters in Glostrup in the Copenha-

gen area, branches in e.g. Medicon Village in Lund.

• Bioneer.

Headquarters near Copenhagen in

Hørsholm, branch at Medicon Village in Lund.

MEDTECH

• Arjo.

Global headquarters in Malmö, branch

near Copenhagen in Lynge.

• Atos Medical.

Global headquarters in Malmö and

e.g. manufacturing and R&D in Hörby, Skåne and

a branch in Roskilde.

• Getinge.

Global headquarters in Gothenburg,

branches in Malmö and e.g. Ballerup, near

Copenhagen.

• Mediplast.

Global headquarters in Malmö, bran-

ch near Copenhagen in Herlev.

• BoneSupport.

Headquarters at Ideon Science Park

in Lund, branch in e.g. Lyngby near Copenhagen.

• Rubin Medical.

Headquarters in Malmö and a

branch in the Copenhagen area in Hvidovre.

OTHER

• Chas. Hude.

Headquarters in Copenhagen, bran-

ch at e.g. Medicon Village in Lund.

• Høiberg.

Headquarters in Copenhagen, branches

at e.g. Medicon Village in Lund and MINC in Malmö.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

COMMUTERS AND THE LABOUR MARKET

“THE SKILLED LABOUR POOL IS MUCH LARGER

IF WE CAN LOOK BEYOND SWEDEN TO DENMARK

AS WELL”

Medical equipment manufacturer Atos Medical employs around 185 people in Malmö and Hörby

and according to the company’s Danish CEO Britt Meelby Jensen, it is important to take advantage

of the possibility to recruit employees from both sides of the Øresund. She still ﬁnds it important to

raise awareness – especially for people in the sector in Denmark – about the career opportunities

in the life sciences in Skåne.

somewhere else completely, she says, and points out

that there are employees from 16 different countries

at Atos Medical’s headquarters. She also adds that

recruiting employees from Denmark is vital.

– The skilled labour pool is much larger if we

can look beyond Sweden and attract talent from

Denmark as well. Being able to cast our net as far as

possible is essential, she says, pointing out that there

are many qualified candidates in the medical devices

industry in Denmark. Britt Meelby Jensen thus sees

it as mutually beneficial for both countries that Da-

nish and Swedish life science companies can recruit

expertise from across the border.

Knowledge of the sector in Skåne could be

improved

While the Danish labour force does find its way to

the Malmö headquarters, Britt Meelby Jensen main-

tains that a lot can still be done to make the career

opportunities in the life science sector in Skåne

more visible – especially in Denmark.

– When I talk to colleagues in the sector who are

on the lookout for a new job, most have very limited

knowledge when it comes to what’s on the other side

of the Øresund. I think it’s a shame, and I still think

there is a duty to see the region as one single whole

and increase awareness about the exciting opportuni-

ties in both countries, says Britt Meelby Jensen. She

believes that more news coverage of the sector in the

region can increase that knowledge and awareness.

Thanks to the Øresund Bridge, connectedness in

the region is vastly improved today compared to 20

years ago, she says. According to the most recent av-

ailable statistics from 2015, 14 045 people commute

from Skåne to eastern Denmark, and 1 137 commute

from eastern Denmark to Skåne, and as Britt Meelby

Jensen sees it, that bears witness to improvements in

how well people find their bearings across the border,

also when it comes to work.

– We’ve made a lot of progress in the past 20 years,

but we can go so much further, and the conditions are

excellent for that becoming a reality, she says.

The coronavirus pandemic has temporarily

reduced commuters’ freedom of movement in the

Øresund Region. Britt Meelby Jensen does not feel

that the crisis situation has been a barrier for commu-

ting, and that it has shown the potential for greater

flexibility through working from home. She does

however feel that the region has been hit hard on the

whole by the unclarity and confusion related to the

differences in the countries’ restrictions.

– I find that neither Sweden nor Denmark has

put much focus on making commuting easier. If

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Skåne because she made the choice to work at the

When Britt Meelby Jensen started in her position as

company Atos Medical.

CEO of Atos Medical in Malmö in March 2019, she

The focus on a niche population was what attracted

was living north of Copenhagen in northern Zealand,

Britt Meelby Jensen: the company’s

and she had few reserva-

assistive equipment has helped more

tions about heading the

”I find that neither

than 100 000 patients around the

medical equipment com-

globe who have had a cancer-related

pany from the other side of

Sweden nor Denmark

laryngectomy or tracheotomy. The

the Øresund.

has put much focus

company’s main products include

– The fact that the

on making commuting

a valve between the trachea and

company was in Skåne

esophagus that makes speaking

and not in Denmark

easier.”

possible again, as well as products

didn’t influence my

that facilitate breathing. She also saw that Atos Medical

decision much, and that’s because I see the Øresund

had enormous potential for global growth.

Region as one single area, says Britt Meelby Jensen.

Her perception of the region is based on experien-

Headquarters in Malmö helped recruitment

ces and employment earlier in her career; she held

Additional growth requires access to the right experti-

top management positions at Novo Nordisk for 11

se, and Atos Medical must be able to bring in employ-

years, until 2013, and was thus based in Malmö for a

ees from Sweden, Denmark and abroad. Numerous

brief period, and she also collaborated with Swedish

Danish staff members cross the border to work there.

colleagues in her position as CEO of the biotech

Since the headquarters moved from the small town

company Zealand Pharma in the Copenhagen met-

of Hörby in central Skåne to Malmö in 2016, it has

ropolitan area from 2015-2019.

become easier to recruit the right staff.

– I had a lot of Swedish colleagues at my former

– It has definitely made it easier to attract workers

position at Zealand Pharma; my chairperson was

from Denmark and from abroad. We are 40 minutes

Swedish, as was the financial director, says Britt

closer to Denmark than we were before, says Britt Me-

Meelby Jensen, who is on Novo Holdings’ Advisory

Group, a member of the board of the Danish medical elby Jensen. She notes that the headquarters’ location

in Hyllie, just one station away from Copenhagen Air-

device company Ambu, and a member of the Danish

port, makes commuting easy for the headquarters’ ten

Competitiveness Council (Kompetenceevnerådet),

Danish employees, as well as for visitors from abroad.

which proposes initiatives for how Danish businesses

The company’s upper management comprises

can sharpen their competitive edge.

both Danes and Swedes, and Britt Meelby Jensen

Britt Meelby Jensen was already familiar with

believes that the synergy between the two countries

working in a richly diverse international environment

is important for the company, among other things

with Swedes, Danes and others, and she saw that

when it comes to recruiting expertise. Atos Medical

aspect as a definite plus.

thus has ”Øresund-access”; at the same time however,

– That the position was in Sweden was neither a

Atos Medical is without a doubt a Swedish company,

specific asset nor an issue, says Britt Meelby Jensen

says Britt Meelby Jensen.

of deciding to continue her career in Skåne. The

– Our focus is on attracting the best of the best.

motivation was thus not really about ”Danish” or

Sometimes they are in Sweden, in Denmark, or

”Swedish”, she says. Instead, she chose to work in

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Britt

Meelby

Jensen.

the Øresund Region and transborder commuting

are something we really want, then it’s also impor-

tant that commuting is made easier – even during a

coronavirus pandemic, says Britt Meelby Jensen, who

has been commuting between Malmö and Copenha-

gen throughout the pandemic.

Mutual benefits from more exchange

It is essential that potential candidates don’t get the

impression that crossing the Øresund Bridge can be

a nuisance, Britt Meelby Jensen points out. As she

sees it, increased exchange in the life sciences between

Denmark and Sweden would be beneficial since the

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

ATOS MEDICAL AB

• Founded:

1986

• Branches in life sciences:

Medtech

• Focus area:

Laryngectomy care

• Ownership:

Private

• CEO:

Britt Meelby Jensen

• Turnover 2019:

1.7bn SEK

• Total number of employees globally:

809

• Total number of employees in Malmö and

Hörby:

185

• Total number of Øresund commuter employ-

ees from Denmark:

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

COMMUTERS AND THE LABOUR MARKET

countries are compatible in terms of their strong

research- and innovation environments, and they also

complement each other as Denmark’s larger com-

panies develop talents and make the sector’s leading

position visible whilst growth drivers in Sweden

are linked more closely to incubation, startups and

greater access to risk capital due to e.g. lower taxes on

stock, says, Britt Meelby Jensen.

– We are two relatively small countries, but

together we’re stronger, and it’s important to

remember that so we don’t always consider oursel-

ves either one or the other. The Øresund Region is

a good opportunity to put Sweden in focus, and in

the future perhaps there can be more collaboration

with other areas such as Gothenburg or Stock-

holm, she says.

Interview with a commuter

– Sara Harboe

Vice president, Corporate Quality Management

System & Product Compliance at ArjoHuntleigh AB,

part of Arjo Group with headquarters in Malmö. Sara

Harboe commutes from Denmark and has worked in

Skåne since 2013.

Why did you choose to work in Skåne?

Interview with a commuter – Håkan Bladh

Senior alliance manager at LEO Pharma A/S, whose headquarters are in Baller-

up outside Copenhagen. Håkan Bladh commutes from Sweden and has worked in

Denmark since 2010.

Why did you choose to work in Denmark?

– I had been considering changing my job for a

while and the opportunities in southern Sweden were

pretty limited in 2010 (Ed. note: AstraZeneca closed

its R&D facilities in Lund in 2011, which resulted

in 900 people being made redundant). Since my

employer at the time was planning to restructure, it

was natural to look for opportunities on the other

side of the Øresund Strait. I got a good offer for a

very inspiring position and I grabbed it.

How do you find commuting? Both now, with

Covid-19, and under normal circumstances?

company. As for the cultural aspect, I don’t find that

the differences are so great. Communication is more

direct in Denmark. One big difference is that there is

an enormous and dynamic labour market in the life

sciences, especially in Copenhagen. That means great

opportunities for people in the sector.

What have you learnt about the Danish life

science sector that you didn’t know before?

– I have learnt that Denmark is very advanced in the

life science sector, more than what I had thought befo-

re I started. There are a huge number of good startups.

Would you say that people who work in the

life science sector in Skåne are aware of the

career opportunities in the life sciences in

Denmark?

– I’ve always liked working in international en-

vironments, and I’ve also found the idea of working

abroad attractive. When I was offered a position

at ArjoHuntleigh AB as Quality & Environmental

Management Systems Director in 2013, I thought

it could be interesting to work in Sweden for a few

years. As it turned out it was more than that.

– The salary level in Sweden is generally lower

than in Denmark, but by choosing the tax model

called “special income tax for non-residents” –

normally abbreviated “SINK-tax”, it’s comparable.

The model means no deductions are allowed, but

only 25% tax is paid on the Swedish income, on the

condition that one is physically present in Sweden

50% of the time.

How do you find commuting? Both now, with

Covid-19, and under normal circumstances?

and management. It has also meant that communi-

cation in English has been the norm.

What have you learnt or realised about the life

science sector in Skåne that you didn’t know

before?

– That there so many businesses in the life scien-

ces in Skåne – in biotech, medtech and pharma.

That creates opportunities for collaborations and

networks between companies, but also for career

development.

Would you say that other Danes in the sector in

Zealand are aware of the career opportunities

in the life sciences in Skåne?

– Before started working in Denmark I found the

idea of commuting to Denmark terrifying. But

commuting by car works really well. There is a large

group of commuters living in Lund, and we have a

very effective carpooling system. I’ve commuted quite

a bit by train, and it doesn’t always work very well.

In Denmark employers have been more receptive to

employees working from home a few days a week for

a long time; that helps a lot. Working from home has

obviously increased because of the pandemic.

What are the biggest differences between

working in the life science sector in

Denmark compared to Sweden?

– I think that most people are; a lot of people are

probably hesitant to start commuting. I was.

Would you recommend working in the life sci-

ence sector in Denmark? Please explain.

PHOTO: PRIVATE

– Absolutely, it’s a great opportunity to get a chance

to work abroad without moving! There are a lot of

exciting companies with many development opportu-

nities, and Swedes fit in well in Danish

corporate culture.

Do you know of anyone who lives

in Denmark and works in the life

sciences in Sweden?

– Commuting has worked well for me. I have a

company car and a position that allows me to adapt

my working hours, so I don’t need to cross the brid-

ge at rush hour. I got into the habit of keeping my

passport on hand from the very beginning.

– During Covid-19, everyone has been called

on to work from home, and travelling to Sweden

and unnecessarily putting myself and others at

risk of infection has obviously been inappropriate.

The combination of easy access to Covid tests in

Denmark and the rules of conduct for reducing

transmission that we’ve introduced at my workplace

in Sweden have made it acceptable, however.

What is the biggest difference between wor-

king the life science sector in Skåne compared

to Denmark?

– I don’t know, actually. I think that many people

consider it a hassle to cross the border and learn

new rules for taxes, national insurance, pension,

banking, etc. When we recruit people to my depart-

ment, I rarely see applications from Danes, unless

we’ve used a recruitment agency. That’s probably in

part because it’s relatively easy to find work in my

field, and because people try to avoid long travel

times.

Would you recommend working in the life sci-

ence sector in Skåne? Please explain.

– Yes; I’ve had good experiences of working in

Sweden. I live in mid-Zealand, in Lejre, and I

would probably have gone to Copenhagen to find

a comparable position; the journey time wouldn’t

have been any shorter than the commute to Malmö.

Do you know other people who live in Denmark

and work in the life sciences in Skåne?

– As a Swede, the thing one reacts to

when being employed in Denmark for

the first time is that there are no collec-

tive agreements. It’s important to look at

the details of the agreement, especially

when it comes to pension; there can be

significant variations from company to

– Yes, I know of a few people, but it’s defi-

nitely more common for Swedes to work

in Denmark than the other way around.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

– I actually don’t find that the differences are so

great. Maybe because the Danish and the Swedish

companies I’ve worked for have been parts of inter-

national businesses, with international organisation

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

– Yes, there are several employees at Arjo who live

in Denmark and work in fields such as business

development, economics, product management,

medical and regulatory affairs.

PHOTO: PRIVATE

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

MANAGEMENT

Degree of internationalisation varies in Medicon

Valley – more top management recruited from

abroad to Zealand than to Skåne

The majority of Skåne’s publicly traded life science companies are headed by a Swedish CEO. Inter-

nationalisation in upper management levels is more common in Zealand, where twice as many CEOs

have been recruited from abroad to head listed Danish life science companies. According to Danish

and Swedish recruitment experts, the reason for the intra-regional differences may be in the com-

panies’ development strategies, subsidiary constructions and investor structures. Despite increased

internationalisation in the sector, the cluster’s largest companies – Novo Nordisk, H. Lundbeck and

LEO Pharma – are still majority-owned by Danish foundations.

The life science industry in Medicon Valley is

international in many ways; this is apparent in

that companies use English as their workplace

lingua franca; in foreign ownership; in that they are

traded on foreign markets and acquired by private

equity companies from abroad; in that they have

partnerships in other countries or conduct clinical

studies abroad, or in that they have sales offices and

subsidiaries in foreign lands, for example. The com-

panies’ staff is also frequently comprised of people

from many different countries, their board members

often have global perspectives and international ex-

perience. In addition, the environment in Medicon

Valley’s life science educational programmes has an

international focus.

More internationalisation on the CEO-level

in Zealand than in Skåne

Internationalisation of the life science sector is

reflected not only among directors, but is also mani-

fest in leading work groups, board configurations

and more. Due to the research scope, internationa-

lisation of the sector has primarily been explored

at the CEO-level in the publicly traded life science

companies of Skåne and Zealand. It is apparent

in that context that the life science sector is an

international industry, in spite of there being more

administrative directors recruited from abroad on

Danish territory than in Skåne. Around 75% of the

publicly traded life science companies in Skåne are

headed by a Swedish director. When it comes to the

ten largest companies in Skåne in terms of employ-

ees, both publicly traded and privately owned,

five have a Swede at the helm. The has remained

unchanged over the past five years.

The situation is different in the publicly traded

companies in the Danish part of Medicon Valley,

which are also the country’s largest companies.

Since 2017 there has been larger-scale international

recruitment of CEOs, and today almost half of the

publicly traded life science companies in Zealand

are headed by a CEO recruited from abroad. For

PHOTO: ALBRIGHT PARTNERS

MANAGEMENT

Henrik Brabrand,

CEO, Albright Partners

Kim Raabymagle,

Country Manager Denmark,

PharmaRelations

PHOTO: PHARMARELATIONS

Anders Marcusson,

Recruitment manager, Poolia

Life Science & Engineering

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: POOLIA

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

MANAGEMENT

56 of 74

listed companies

with headquarters or larger-scale manu-

facturing in Skåne have a Swedish CEO.

Internationalisation at the executive level

is thus lower in Skåne than in Zealand, alt-

hough the number of Danish and foreign

CEOs there is higher than it was in 2017.

11 of 74

listed companies

with headquarters or larger-scale manu-

facturing in Skåne have a Danish CEO. In

total, there are at least 20 Danish CEOs at

the listed and private life science com-

panies in Skåne. The number of Danish

CEOs has risen since 2017, e.g. at Hansa

Biopharma, CellaVision and Alligator

Bioscience.

comparison, in 2017 around a quarter of compa-

nies were headed by a director from abroad. When

it comes to the ten largest life science companies

in Zealand in terms of the number of employees,

both publicly traded and privately owned, five are

currently headed by a Danish CEO. None have a

Swedish CEO.

To date, the greater degree of internationalisa-

tion on the Danish side of Medicon Valley has not

affected the fundamental ownership structures of the

large Danish pharmaceutical companies Novo Nord-

isk, H. Lundbeck and LEO Pharma, all of which are

still majority-owned by Danish foundations.

Another related aspect of internationalisation

in Medicon Valley is that there are at least 20 life

science companies with a Danish CEO in Skåne

today. Among others, these are the large, private-

ly owned life science companies QPharma, Atos

Medical and PolyPeptide Laboratories in Malmö,

which are headed by Jens Fricke, Britt Meelby

Jensen and Kenneth Stokholm, respectively. In

addition, Novo Nordisk’s Swedish subsidiary in

Malmö is led by the Dane Niels Abel Bonde, and

publicly traded biotech companies such as Hansa

Biopharma in Lund, Alligator Bioscience in Lund

and Ascelia Pharma in Malmö are headed by Søren

Tulstrup, Søren Bregenholt and Magnus Corfitzen,

respectively.

Development stages, investors and compa-

ny structure explain internationalisation

Differences in the degree of internationalisation

between Copenhagen and its surrounding areas

and Skåne may be related to a company’s size and

where it is development-wise, according to Henrik

Brabrand, CEO of Albright Partners, a headhun-

ting and recruitment agency with focus on the

Nordic life sciences whose headquarters are in

Copenhagen.

– There are a lot of small companies, for instan-

ce in Lund’s science parks, while Copenhagen and

the Stockholm region have come a bit further with

late-stage biotech companies. That has meant that

they have a larger funding platform, but also that

they have typically gotten international finan-

cing; that has given those companies more brawn

and more relevance when it comes to recruiting

international CEOs. On top of that, there are also

preferences that go via investor networks located

outside Denmark that also invest in Danish biotech

companies, says Henrik Brabrand.

One recent example of the internationalisation

development is the recruitment of the French

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

THE 10 LARGEST PUBLICLY TRADED AND PRIVATE LIFE SCIENCE

COMPANIES IN SKÅNE – EMPLOYEES AND NATIONALITY OF CEO

Employees

in Skåne

2020/2021

650

400

Employees

globally

2020-2021

135 000

1 900

Company

Municipality

Subsector

Pharma

Medtech

CEO/Managing director

Jody Lodge

Johan Iveberg

Nationality

Other

McNeil AB*

(Johnson & Johnson)

Nolato AB**

Helsingborg

Båstad +

Lomma +

Hörby

Lund

Malmö

Baxter

(Gambro Lundia AB)

QPharma AB

PolyPeptide

Laboratories AB

(PolyPeptide Group)

HemoCue AB*

TePe Munhygien-

produkter AB

Arjo Sverige AB

Rechon Life Science AB

Atos Medical AB

Medtech

CDMO

300

50 000

900

Per-Ola Wictor

Kenneth Stokholm

Jens Fricke

Ängelholm

Malmö

Medtech

CDMO

Medtech

250

200

400

350

6 200

850

Christophe Duret

Hanna Hageberg Hammar

Joacim Lindoff

Roland Holmqvist

Britt Meelby Jensen

Other

THE 10 LARGEST PUBLICLY TRADED AND PRIVATE LIFE SCIENCE

COMPANIES ON ZEALAND – EMPLOYEES AND NATIONALITY OF CEO

Company

Municipality

10 of 23

listed life science

companies in Denmark have a foreign

CEO. That is double the number in 2017.

Two companies have their headquarters

outside of Denmark however. No Swedish

CEOs were found at Danish listed life sci-

ence companies or among the ten largest

private companies in Denmark.

Subsector

Pharma

Biotech

Pharma

Biotech

Medtech/

hearing aids

Pharma

Medtech

Medtech/

hearing aids

Pharma

Employees

at Zealand

2020/2021

16 800

2 600

2 100

1 800

1 700

1 300

1 200

1 000

900

Employees

globally

2020/2021

45 300

6 200

6 000

3 600

16 200

5 600

12 500

4 000

10 800

2 500

CEO/Managing director

Lars Fruergaard-Jørgensen

Ester Baiget

Catherine Mazzacco

Mauricio Graber

Søren Nielsen

Deborah Dunsire

Kristian Villumsen

Henrik Schimmell

Eric Bernard

Carsten Hellmann

Nationality

Novo Nordisk A/S

Novozymes A/S

LEO Pharma A/S

Chr. Hansen Holding A/S

Oticon A/S (Demant)

H. Lundbeck A/S

Coloplast A/S

Radiometer A/S*

WS Audiology A/S

(Widex)

ALK-Abelló A/S

Gladsaxe

Ballerup

Rudersdal

Egedal

København

Fredensborg

København

Allerød

Rudersdal

Other

Danish life science

companies that are listed in Sweden have

a foreign or Swedish CEO. In 2017, all of

the companies had a Danish CEO, with

the exception of RhoVac. More Swedish

and foreign CEOs have thus been recrui-

ted to this group of companies since 2017.

5 of 12

Other

Source: Information was provided by the companies, their websites and their annual reports. The number of employees is rounded. Please note that

these figures may have changed since they were reported. Contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs) are companies that are

commissioned to either develop and/or manufacture e.g. pharmaceuticals for other companies in the life sciences. ‘Zealand’ refers to the Capital Regi-

on of Denmark. *McNeil AB is part of Johnson & Johnson with 135 000 employees around the globe, and HemoCue AB and Radiometer A/S are part of

the Danaher corporation with 69 000 employees internationally. **Figures and information refer to Nolato AB’s Medical Solutions section. The company

also has two other departments that are unrelated to the life sciences; these are Integrated Solutions and Industrial Solutions. Nolato AB employs ca.

6 750 people around the globe and is headed by Christer Wahlquist.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

MANAGEMENT

74 LISTED LIFE SCIENCE COMPANIES WITH HEADQUARTERS OR

LARGER-SCALE FACILITIES IN SKÅNE

Company

23 DANISH LIFE SCIENCE

COMPANIES LISTED IN DENMARK

Natio-

nality

Company

12 DANISH LIFE SCIENCE

COMPANIES LISTED IN SWEDEN

Company

CEO name 2021

Ellen Donnelly

Torsten Freltoft

Helén Tuvesson

Jonas Jönmark

Martin Linde

Søren Bregenholt

Fredrik Jonsson

Kåre Engkilde

Mikael Lindstam

Joacim Lindoff

Magnus Corfitzen

Torsten Helsing

Fredrik Lindblad

Edvard Hall

Isabelle Ducellier

Martin Welschof

Emil Billbäck

Martin Waleij

Fredrik Tiberg

Göran Forsberg

Kristofer Cook

Simon Østergaard

Dan J. Mogren

Tore Duvol

Jan Nilsson

Tara Heitner

Jack E. Madsen

William Cronin

Carl-Johan Boudrie

Fredrik Westman

Mats Rönngard

Therese Filmersson

Christer Fåhraeus

Dario Kriz

Kim Arvid Nielsen

Fredrik Olsson

Johan Nilsson

Natio-

nality

Other

Company

CEO name 2021

Hanna Sjöström

Tobias Agervald

Mats Persson

Søren Tulstrup

Johan Wäborg

Anders Karlsson

Patrik Dahlen

Karin Bryder

Mattias Lundin

Justin Pierce

Jan Andersson

Peter Åsberg

Christer Wahlquist

Ulf Hagman

Staffan Skogvall

Christina Ö. Lloyd

Peter Egelberg

CEO name 2021

Carsten Hellmann

Juan Jose Gonzalez

Steen Thygesen

Paul Chaplin

Peter Mørch

Eriksen

Jes Trygved

Steen Søndergaard

Mauricio Graber

Kristian Villumsen

Ulrich Krasilnikoff

Søren Nielsen

Jan van de Winkel

Gitte Aabo

Deborah Dunsire

Thomas Lethenborg

Lars Fruergaard-

Jørgensen

Ester Baiget

Judith Greciet

Christophe Bourdon

Thomas Skovlund

Schnegelsberg

Jakob Knudsen

Emmanuel Dulac

Jon Sigurdsson

Natio-

nality

CEO name 2021

Fernando Andreu

Per Persson

Steve Carchedi

Natio-

nality

Other

Abliva AB

AcouSort AB

Active Biotech AB

AcuCort AB

Aegirbio AB

Alligator Bioscience AB

Alteco Medical AB

Amniotics AB

Aptahem AB

Arjo Sverige Ab**

Ascelia Pharma AB

Axichem AB

BibbInstruments AB

Bioextrax AB**

BioGaia AB

BioInvent International AB

Bone Support AB

BrainCool AB

Camurus AB

Cantargia AB

Carbiotix AB

CellaVision AB

Clinical Laserthermia

Systems AB

Coegin Pharma AB

Combigene AB

Cyxone AB

Diagonal Bio AB

Dignitana AB

Doro AB

Duearity AB

Enorama Pharma AB

Enzymatica AB

Eql Pharma AB

European Institute Of

Science AB

Follicum AB

Genovis AB

Glycorex Transplantation AB

GPX Medical AB

Guard Therapeutics AB

Hamlet Pharma AB

Hansa Biopharma AB

Iconovo AB

Idogen AB

Immunovia AB

Invent Medic Sweden AB

Lumito AB

Magle Chemoswed AB

Medicpen AB

Midsona AB

Nolato AB

ALK Abelló A/S

Ambu A/S

Audientes A/S

Bavarian Nordic A/S

Bioporto A/S

Cessatech A/S

ChemoMetec A/S

Chr. Hansen

Holding A/S

Other

Coloplast A/S

Curasight A/S

Demant A/S

Genmab A/S

GN Hearing A/S

H. Lundbeck A/S

Monsenso A/S

Novo Nordisk A/S

Novozymes A/S

2cureX AB

Other

Acarix AB

Allarity Therapeutics

A/S (formerly Oncolo-

gy Venture A/S)

DanCann Pharma A/S

Expres2ion Biotech

AB/ApS

FluoGuide A/S

Other

Initiator Pharma A/S

Neuvolution AB

Qlife Holding AB

RhoVac AB/ApS

Other

Saniona A/S

Scandion Oncology

A/S**

Other

SynAct Pharma

AB/ApS

Other

Jeppe Krog Rasmussen

Bent U. Frandsen

Morten Albrechtsen

Claus Elsborg Olesen

Sold to Amgen in 2019

Thomas Warthoe

Anders Månsson

Rami Levin

Bo Rode Hansen

Jeppe Øvlesen

Other

Optifreeze AB (Opticept

Technologies AB)

Pharmalundensis AB

Pharmiva AB

Phase Holographic

Imaging Phi AB

PILA PHARMA AB

Other

Dorte X. Gram

Erik Andersson

Jens Fricke

Patrik Bernstein

Tom Rönnlund

Johan Wennerholm

Johan Drott

Mohan Frick

Ann Gidner

Jonas Hagberg

Axel Sjöblad

Mats Hansen

Johan Folkunger

John Lempert

Håkan Lagerberg

Hans Wallin

Anders Rabbe

Evy Lundgren-Åkerlund

Dag Andersson

Göran Conradson

Onxeo DK*

Orphazyme A/S

Stenocare A/S**

ViroGates A/S

Zealand Pharma A/S

Össur hf.*

Other

PolarCool AB

Polypeptide Laboratories

AB (Polypeptide Group)

Prebona Healthcare AB

Probi AB

Prostalund AB

Other

Respiratorius AB

Scandinavian Chemotech AB

Selectimmune Pharma AB

Sensodetect AB

SenzaGen AB

Spago Nanomedical AB

Spectracure AB

Spermosense AB

Swedencare AB

Vibrosense Dynamics AB

WNTresearch AB

Xintela AB

Xvivo Perfusion Lund AB

Ziccum AB**

Other

Source: Stock exchanges’ company lists. CEOs’ nationalities were deter-

mined via direct contact with the companies. Information on websites, in

annual reports and press releases and on LinkedIn, as well as audiovisual

interviews and presentations were also used to discern national affilia-

tions. 1 January 2017 was the cut-off date for the comparison of CEOs’

nationalities, unless otherwise stated.

*Companies with headquarters outside Denmark ** CEO installed later

in 2017.

Amniotics AB plans to list on Nasdaq Stockholm on 6 July 2021

Diagonal BIO AB plans to list on Nasdaq Stockholm on 6 July 2021.

Gly-

corex Transplantation AB: Johan Nilsson is acting CEO.

PILA PHARMA

plans to list on Nasdaq Stockholm on 12 July 2021

Prostalund AB: Johan

Wennerholm is acting CEO.

BioPorto A/S: Peter Mørch Eriksen resigned

from the position, effective 5 May 2021, until a successor has been found.

Allarity Therapeutics A/S: the company is aiming to list at the latest by 30.

August on Nasdaq in the USA. Note that the listed companies Biotage AB

and Getinge AB have smaller-scale activities in Skåne. Note that Danish

life science companies, e.g. Novo Nordisk, Zealand Pharma, Genmab, Ga-

lecto Biotech and Orphazyme, are also listed in the USA with e.g. Danish

Y-mAbs Therapeutics and Evaxion Biotech.

Christophe Bourdon, the new CEO of the Danish

biotech company Orphazyme, who was most

recently at the American, international biotech

company Amgen.

Henrik Brabrand adds that top management

candidates from other countries might also come

into play more because competence can be greater

abroad when it comes to raising capital.

– We see that CEOs need to understand raising

capital, particularly when it comes to biotech. That

brings us back to a challenge in Denmark, where

neither stockmarket- nor investor culture is especi-

ally strong. Public equity offers are often in Stock-

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

holm or the USA. We see a general challenge when

it comes to experience raising capital, and we thus

also sometimes see some experienced CEOs coming

from abroad who have robust experience navigating

capital markets, says Henrik Brabrand.

Another reason for the greater degree of

internationalisation among CEOs in Denmark

compared to Skåne is the larger concentration

of subsidiaries to international pharmaceutical

companies there, according to Kim Raabymag-

le, country manager of the consultant company

PharmaRelations, which recruits employees in the

life science industry. He has noted the increase in

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

MANAGEMENT

internationalisation and explains that top mana-

gement personnel from abroad at international

pharmaceutical companies move around, gathering

experience in smaller countries such as Denmark,

for example, before moving on to a larger country.

Although attracting talent from abroad is positi-

ve, internationalisation can also limit the career

opportunities of employees who must accept being

on a lower rung than general managers, says Kim

Raabymagle.

He finds that the situation in Skåne is somewhat

different. Whilst there are certainly subsidiaries to

international life science companies, for example

McNeil AB in Helsingborg, Rechon Life Science

AB in Malmö and PRA International Sweden AB,

many smaller companies have also been started

in the region, for example as spin-offs from Lund

University. These spin-offs have a local context

and thus, rather than a director from abroad, their

CEOs are frequently Swedish and have been in-

volved in the company’s development process, says

Kim Raabymagle.

A third explanation might be that the inter-

nationalisation of the life science sector started

earlier in Denmark, says Anders Marcusson, mana-

ger of the Swedish recruitment agency Poolia Life

Science & Engineering AB. He works specifically

with consultants’ need for skills and the recruit-

ment of directors and specialists in life science and

engineering.

– We believe that Denmark is advanced in that

respect; there has long since been openness to inter-

national recruitments. When Sweden’s pharmaceuti-

cal industry lost ground several years ago, its Danish

counterpart continued to find success globally.

Swedish life science has since developed signifi-

cantly in e.g. contract manufacturing and contract

research, with small and medium-sized companies

and a lot of domestically-sourced skills, he says. He

continues:

– There has also been a clear strategy in place

for attracting international competence for a long

time in Denmark. We’re now seeing Swedish

efforts to do the same, and we expect to see a

successive increase in the draw for international

competence, from researchers to top management.

There are certainly many influential factors, but

one of them might also be e.g. that Sweden’s rules

and regulations for expert tax are less competitive

than Denmark’s, although improvements are being

made. We believe than the region’s labour market

is strongly affected by the fact that the Danish and

Swedish labour markets don’t really play by the

same rules, says Anders Marcusson.

to grow in spite of Covid-19 and there is a need for

more workers, and a recent survey by SwedenBIO

confirmed this, reporting that eight out of ten small-

and medium-sized companies in Sweden expect to

recruit more employees in the coming year.

– We have seen hesitation in certain companies

over the past year, what with the uncertainty about

how the pandemic would affect operations, but

very few have experienced anything more than

short-term negative effects, and many are now

announcing expansion – more than before the

pandemic. With that has come a major shortage of

candidates, and companies that are open to recru-

iting e.g. R&D expertise from abroad will have an

upper hand, he says.

PharmacoVigilance (PV) and clinical development

are being introduced all of the time. That means

that these areas are growing in terms of personnel,

and there needs to be a pipeline of people entering

the sector. And it’s harder to find [expertise] in these

areas now than it was just five years ago because there

is a need for more people [and] there are also more

companies, says Kim Raabymagle.

He does not see it as directly related to an

inadequacy in the educational programmes on

offer. Kim Raabymagle adds that even if companies

need to restructure, acquire and merge, which may

lead to dismissals in R&D and sales, personnel in

regulatory affairs (RA), quality assurance (QA) and

performance qualification (PQ) are indispensa-

ble, since they need to have the legislation related

to their products under control. He also sees an

employment increase in areas such as market access,

reimbursement and pricing and a negative trend in

sales, branding and market profiles in Denmark.

Henrik Brabrand also points out that there is now a

bottleneck when it comes to expertise in QA and RA).

– Quite simply, it’s because the regulatory requi-

rements from companies are on the rise – regardless

of whether we’re talking about medtech, pharma, or

biotech – and it’s driving up the demand, he says.

Anders Marcusson agrees.

– We are seeing a shortage of expertise in QA and

regulatory affairs in general. This is not specific to

Skåne; it’s being seen in the sector as a whole. There

are also challenges being faced in areas in which the

borders are blurred between the life sciences and IT,

as they often demand more senior expertise with

complex, cross functional knowledge that has not

yet matured, as many of the functions are relatively

new, he says. He notes that the sector has continued

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Bottleneck in the sector with regulatory affairs and

quality assurance

Despite structural differences relating to internationalisation at the top management level, there is a

general need to recruit more expertise in quality assurance and regulatory affairs to Medicon Valley

on both sides of the Øresund. One reason is that legal requirements in the life science sector, e.g.

by the EU, have become more stringent, say recruitment experts in Sweden and Denmark. Digital

expertise to support the development of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment is also in shortage,

which can mean a greater need to attract expertise to Medicon Valley from abroad.

Besides the tendency toward internationalisation

at the top management level, representatives from

Albright Partners, PharmaRelations and Poolia point

out that there is a definite tendency when it comes to

recruiting expertise in the life science sector in Den-

mark and Sweden in general: there is an increasing

need for more expertise in regulatory affairs, , where

life science companies’ employees ensure that medical

equipment and pharmaceuticals fulfil the safety and

efficacy requirements set out by authorities.

– The entire sector, from medtech to biotech to

pharma, is getting heavier and heavier in a purely

legislative sense, says Kim Raabymagle. This is

apparent from e.g. the EU’s new MDR regulations,

which has tightened the requirements for medical

equipment since May 2021.

– New, expanded requirements from areas like

regulatory affairs (RA), quality assurance (QA),

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Shortage of digital expertise increased need

for candidates from abroad

The demand for expertise in the life sciences is

growing in the digital realm as well, says Henrik

Brabrand. Covid-19 made that clear, with pharma-

ceutical companies like the Danish LEO Pharma

increasing their focus on conducting decentralised

clinical studies, so patients can participate digitally

rather than physically reporting to a hospital.

Furthermore, the pharmaceutical industries in

both Denmark and Sweden want improved access

to health data.

– Digitalisation is happening on all platforms, all

over the value chain and in development processes,

and a lot of that experience is outside Denmark’s na-

tional borders. There is a huge shift toward digitalisa-

tion. We still have a way to go in Denmark, he says.

According to Albright Partners’ own studies,

around 90 Danish life science directors in the phar-

maceutical-, biotech- and medtech sectors admit that

their sector lacks the necessary digital knowledge,

says Henrik Brabrand. He believes that this might

factor into the internationalisation of the life science

sector in Medicon Valley, as there is a demand for

digital expertise from abroad.

In the future, the life science sector in Medicon

Valley might become more internationalised still

when the construction of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed

Link, which began in January 2021, is completed

in 2029.

– We hope to be able to link northern Germa-

ny with Denmark and in extension Skåne, which

will make it even easier to commute and travel in

and out of the region, and the labour market will

become even larger, and new possibilities will be

created for companies to recruit the right people,

says Anders Marcusson.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

MANAGEMENT

PHOTO: CELLAVISION

DANISH BIOTECH COMPANY THAT

COLLABORATES WITH BIOTECH

COMPANIES IN LUND BRINGS IN

SWEDISH CEO

In March 2021, Maj Hedtjärn was recruited as

the new chief operating officer and head of R&D

operations at the Copenhagen-based biotech

company Scandion Oncology, which is listed on

Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Sweden. Maj

Hedtjärn has over 15 years of experience in the life

science sector and was most recently employed by

the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Inno-

vation Centre in Copenhagen. Scandion Oncology

was founded in 2017 by among others Professor

Emeritus Nils Brünner, who continues to be a

scientific advisor for the company and is part of

the board of Lund University’s Faculty of Medicine.

Scandion Oncology also has an active research

collaboration with the Lund-based Swedish bio-

tech company Alligator Bioscience.

SWEDISH ALLIGATOR BIOSCIENCE APPOINTS

DANISH CEO

Søren Bregenholt has a background from e.g. Novo Nordisk and Symphogen, and

he is chairperson of the Danish-Swedish network organisation Medicon Valley

Alliance. Starting on 1 June, he will also be CEO of the Swedish biotech company

Alligator Bioscience. He says that he is aware of the differences in the workplace

cultures of the two countries, and they do not worry him.

Søren Bregenholt’s most recent position was as CEO

and member of the board at Macrophage Pharma in

the UK. Prior to that, he was corporate vice president

at Novo Nordisk, and he was also COO at Symp-

hogen. He is looking forward to his new position as

CEO of the Swedish life science company Alligator

Bioscience, whose headquarters are in Lund.

– I’m really looking forward to it; it’s an exciting

opportunity. Alligator Bioscience has existed for seve-

ral years. It has strong technology and an interesting

immuno-oncology pipeline. I’m eager to work closely

with the Alligator team to maximise the value of the

pipeline for patients, investors and others. It aligns

well with my career to date, both at Symphogen

andNovo Nordisk, he says. He continues:

– For the past 20 years, I have worked in company

management with Danish and international pharma

and biotech and done business on most continents.

I’ve been involved in early- and late project phases

and my previous roles have given me an inside view

of the entire value chain when it comes to pharma.

I believe that those years of experience have been

good preparation for my position at Alligator, both in

terms of subject matter and in a managerial respect.

Alligator Bioscience is a publicly-traded Swedish

biotech company that develops tumour-directed im-

munotherapies for cancer. Among the company’s lar-

gest shareholders are the Danish Sunstone Life Science

Venture Fund; the Swedish co-founder Peter Benson,

who is chairperson of the board at Alligator Bioscien-

ce; the professor from Lund Carl Borrebaek, whose

research contributed to the company’s founding; and

Johnson & Johnson, with whom Alligator Bioscience

entered an agreement worth billions in 2015.

Søren Bregenholt says that he is aware that there

are differences in the workplace culture of Sweden

and Denmark, but he doesn’t consider them an ob-

stacle as he prepares to start working on the opposite

side of the strait.

– I am aware that there are certain differences

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

CELLAVISION IN LUND

RECRUITS NEW CEO FROM

DENMARK

The medical technology company CellaVision has

ca 200 employees around the globe and interna-

tional headquarters in Lund, and in March 2021 it

appointed a new CEO. The new chief executive is

the Dane Simon Østergaard. He most recently held

an executive position at the American diagnostics

company Agilent Technologies; until his recent

change of employment, he was, among other

things, country general manager in Denmark.

Experience with business development, research

& development, quality assurance, operations and

sales and marketing made him the right person to

head CellaVision, states the company.

Søren Bregenholt with

Petter Hartman, CEO of

Medicon Valley Alliance.

+20

At least 20 Danish CEOs/managing directors were found to head listed and privately

owned life science companies in Skåne – for example QPharma, PolyPeptide

Laboratories, Hansa Biopharma and H. Lundbeck in Malmö. Companies with Danish

managers include large, medium-sized, small and micro-companies in Skåne, and

they are active in various subsectors in pharma, biotech, medtech and CDMOs.

LUND-BASED COMPANY FOCUSED ON HAIR GROWTH AND DIABETES THAT

RECEIVED FUNDING FROM THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION IN 2017

RECRUITS DANISH CEO

Kim Arvid Nielsen, with experience from life scien-

ce companies such as Cytovac, Scandion Oncology

and Bayer, is the new CEO of Follicum in Lund.

Follicum develops peptide-based drugs to combat

diabetes as well as unwanted hair loss. Kim Arvid

Nielsen’s new appointment started in April of 2021,

and he was recruited based on his experience in bu-

siness development, investor relations and pharma-

ceutical development, the company states.

– I see great medical and commercial potential in

Follicum’s unique tissue repair peptides, and I will do

my utmost to contribute to the continuing value crea-

tion for the company, using my previous experience in

business and pharmaceutical development, said Kim

Arvid Nielsen in a commentary.

Follicum’s research in diabetes led to the company

receiving a 400 000

DKK grant from

the Novo Nordisk

Foundation in

2017 for pre-

clinical studies with

Follicum’s peptides.

The grant was

specifically for Jan

Nilsson’s research

group at the Clini-

cal Research Centre

at Lund University.

Follicum was founded by the researchers from Lund

Anna Hultgårdh and Pontus Dunér in 2011. The com-

pany was listed on Spotlight in Stockholm in 2014.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

between Danish and Swedish workplace culture, and

I believe awareness is the most important thing. In

Sweden the focus is perhaps more on consensus ma-

nagement than it is in Danish management culture.

I’m confident that when I’ve gotten to know the team

at Alligator Bioscience and they’ve gotten to know

me, we’ll be able to combine the best of Swedish, Da-

nish and international workplace culture and create

an excellent concept. I’m not worried about it, but I

am aware that differences exist, he says.

As chairperson of the Danish-Swedish network

organisation Medicon Valley Alliance, he would like

to see more trans-Øresund collaboration within the

life sciences, and he is pleased that so many people

work on the opposite shore despite the challenges

the region has faced in recent years because of border

checks and travel restrictions.

– We are a border region, and the more we work

together to increase capacity, infrastructure and

labour force, the stronger the region will stand in in-

ternational competition. We are four million people

in the region, around 50 000 of whom are employed

in the life science sector – that’s about as many as in

a medium-sized American city. We believe that we’re

the best in the world, and when it comes to some

things we are, but there are many synergies to be

created if we start working together even more. Col-

laboration increases our chances and opportunities to

become a leading international region, he says.

PHOTO: FOLLICUM

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

MANAGEMENT

Many Danes and Swedes work in the life science sector across the Øresund – as

executives, employees, researchers and chairpeople. Experience and expertise

from e.g. large pharmaceutical companies such as Novo Nordisk, H Lundbeck

and Ferring often cross the border between Denmark and Sweden and attest to a

dynamic and interlinked labour market.

PHOTO: ASCELIA PHARMA

HIGHLY EDUCATED LABOURERS IN THE LIFE

SCIENCE SECTOR WORK ON BOTH SIDES OF THE

ØRESUND

EXAMPLES OF DANES WHO WORK

OR HAVE WORKED IN THE LIFE SCI-

ENCE SECTOR IN SKÅNE

JULIE WARAS

BROGREN

Chief commercial officer

of Ascelia Pharma AB

in Malmö since January

2020. Previously employed

at e.g. Novo Nordisk in

Denmark and Brazil.

• Hanne Risager Romedahl.

Chief scientific

officer of Idogen in Lund until June 2020.

Employed since then at Ferring Pharmaceu-

ticals in Copenhagen. Previously employed at

e.g. Novo Nordisk in Denmark.

• Kristine Koppelhus.

Scientific affairs manager

at BioGaia AB in Lund. Employed at the compa-

ny since 2014.

• Peter Dybdahl Hede.

Vice president R&D

at Probi AB in Lund since 2020. Previously

employed at e.g. Novozymes, Lundbeck and

BASF Health and Nutrition.

• Steffen Wad Jørgensen.

Chief development

officer of RhoVac in Lund/Hørsholm since

January 2020. Previously employed by e.g.

Lundbeck and LEO Pharma.

EXAMPLES OF DANISH CEOS/

MANAGING DIRECTORS IN THE

LIFE SCIENCE SECTOR IN SKÅNE

PHOTO: QPHARMA

• Lone Bruhn Madsen.

CEO of the Lund-based

Timeline Bioresearch AB since 2019. Associated

with the company since 2016.

• Magnus Corfitzen.

CEO of Ascelia Pharma AB

in Malmö since 2014. Previously employed at

e.g. Sunstone Capital A/S, the Danish Growth

Fund and Danske Capital in Copenhagen.

• Michael Akoh.

Managing director and mem-

ber of the board at Wieslab Laboratory Servi-

ces (part of SVAR Life Science AB) in Malmö

since 2020. Previously employed at e.g. SVAR

Life Science, Dako and Oticon.

• Niels Abel Bonde.

General manager of Novo

Nordisk Scandinavia AB in Malmö since

2017. Employed at Novo Nordisk for over ten

years. Previously held various positions at

GlaxoSmithKline. Board member of the trade

organisation Lif in Sweden.

• Søren Tulstrup.

CEO of Hansa Biopharma

AB in Lund since 2018. Previously CEO of Vifor

Pharma AG in Switzerland, and prior to that

employed at e.g.. Merck, Novartis and Shire

Pharmaceuticals.

• Tore Duvold.

CEO of Lund-based Coegin Phar-

ma AB and Edvince AB since 2020. Previously

executive vice president of Innovation Fund

Denmark and leading positions at LEO Pharma

in Denmark.

• Torsten Freltoft.

CEO of AcouSort in Lund

since 2014. Previously CEO of Sophion Bios-

cience A/S, Chemometech and PlastiSens in

Copenhagen and member of DTU Physics’

Advisory Board.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

KENNETH

STOKHOLM

CEO of QPharma AB in Mal-

mö since 2009. Group CEO

of QPharma since 2019.

Previously employed by e.g.

Xellia Pharmaceuticals in

China and Copenhagen.

LARS BUKHAVE

RASMUSSEN

Chief operating officer

of PILA PHARMA AB in

Malmö since May 2021.

Employee since September

2020. Previously employed

by e.g. LEO Pharma in both

the USA and Denmark.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

PHOTO: H. LUNDBECK

EXAMPLES OF SWEDES WHO WORK

OR HAVE WORKED IN THE LIFE

SCIENCE SECTOR IN DENMARK

JENS FRICKE

General director of

PolyPeptide Laboratories

AB in Malmö since 2013.

Previously employed at

e.g. LEO Pharma, ALK

Abelló and Novo Nordisk in

Denmark.

PHOTO: POLYPEPTIDE GROUP

JOHAN LUTHMAN

CEO of R&D at H. Lund-

beck A/S since February

2019. Previously employ-

ed by e.g. Merck & Co. in

the USA and AstraZeneca

in Sweden.

• Christina Reimer.

Chief medical officer of

Alligator Bioscience AB in Lund since February

2021. Previously employed at e.g. Ferring

Pharmaceuticals in Copenhagen.

• Christian Stentoft.

Chief strategy officer at Arjo

AB in Malmö since 2019. Employed in Arjo sin-

ce 2017. Previously employed at e.g. Getinge.

• Claus Egstrand.

Chief operations officer &

senior director growth at Enzymatica in Lund.

Associated with the company since 2017. Pre-

viously employed at e.g. Stryker and MSD.

• Dennis Henriksen.

Chief technology officer of

the Lund-based Idogen since 2014. Previously

director of e.g. BioNebraska Inc. in the USA.

• Jeppe Øvlesen.

CEO of the Lund-based SynAct

Pharma AB since 2014. Previously employed at

e.g. Action Pharma.

• Kåre Engkilde.

CEO of Amniotics AB in Lund

since 2019. Previously employed at e.g. Novo

Nordisk, LEO Pharma and Bioneer in Denmark

and Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen.

MARTIN

RIDDERSTRÅLE

Head of patient care at

the Novo Nordisk Founda-

tion since February 2021.

Previously employed by e.g.

Novo Nordisk A/S. Formerly

adjunct professor of endo-

crinology at Lund University.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

MANAGEMENT

• Anders Månsson.

Employed at Ferring in

Copenhagen from 2007-2011. Leading posi-

tions at LEO Pharma in Denmark from 2011-

2017. From 2019, CEO of RhoVac in Lund.

• Annika Isaksson.

CEO of Flow Robotics A/S in

Copenhagen since early 2021. Previously CEO

of e.g. Amminex Emissions Technology A/S in

Denmark.

• Johan Mastrell.

Vice president Nordic/country

manager Denmark for Coloplast A/S since

2016/2017. Previously employed by e.g. Ferring

Pharmaceuticals in Denmark.

• Malin Carlsson.

Head of translational

medicine at Ferring Pharmaceuticals A/S

in Copenhagen until January 2020. Former

chief medical officer at Takeda Pharma-

ceuticals in Roskilde. Employed at Alligator

Bioscience AB in Lund since January 2020.

• Mats Blom.

Chief financial officer of Zealand

Pharma near Copenhagen from 2010-2019.

Employed at NorthSea Therapeutics in Holland

since. Board member at Hansa Biopharma in

Lund since 2019.

• Mats Persson.

Worked in R&D Partnerships

Management at LEO Pharma in Denmark from

2011-2016. Previously employed at AstraZeneca.

CEO of Hamlet Pharma AB in Lund since 2016.

• Mia Sandberg Lundblad.

Pharmacokineticist

at Ferring Pharmaceuticals A/S until February

2021. Previously employed at e.g. Novo Nord-

isk in Denmark. Clinical director at Respirato-

rius AB in Lund since February 2021.

• Per Olof Ericsson

Senior project director of Zealand Pharma in

the Copenhagen area since 2014. Previously

employed at AstraZeneca and SPAGO Imaging

in Lund.

• Tomas Landh.

Vice president of Innovation

Sourcing at Novo Nordisk in Copenhagen since

2014. Employed by the company since 2003.

Previously head of R&D and chief scientist at

Camurus AB in Lund.

• Åsa Schiött.

Senior project manager at Novo

Nordisk in Denmark from 2013-2015; since then

employed by e.g. Hansa Biopharma in Lund.

Chief scientific officer at Idogen since 2020.

EXAMPLES OF SWEDES WHO ARE

OR HAVE BEEN BOARD MEMBERS

IN THE LIFE SCIENCE SECTOR IN

DENMARK

PHOTO: LUND UNIVERSITET GUNNAR MENANDER

• Mathias Uhlén.

Board member at Novozymes

since 2007. Professor of microbiology at the

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stock-

holm. Visiting professor at Karolinska Institute.

• Per Falk.

President and head of research at

Ferring Pharmaceuticals since 2019. Employed

by the company since 2015. Previously held

leading positions at AstraZeneca and Novo

Nordisk in Denmark, Japan and the USA from

2002-2014. Board member of the Copenha-

gen-based Snipr Biome.

• Peter Benson.

Chairperson of Sunstone Life

Science Ventures in Copenhagen since 2019.

Co-founder of the foundation and managing

partner from 2007-2019. Chairperson of e.g. Alli-

gator Bioscience AB in Lund and Ascelia Pharma

AB in Malmö.

• Ulf J. Johansson.

Board member at the Novo

Nordisk Foundation from 2005-2013. Founded

Europolitan Holdings AB in 1990. Previously

held positions on boards at e.g. Novo Nordisk,

Novo A/S, Ericsson and the Royal Institute of

Technology in Stockholm.

• Åke Lernmark.

Board member at Diaunion.

Head of research at Hagedorn Forskningsla-

boratorium i Gentofte from 1979-1987. Pro-

fessor at Lund University’s Clinical Research

Center in Malmö since 2009.

ALEJANDRA MØRK

CEO of KLIFO A/S in the

Copenhagen area sin-

ce2008. Board member at

Follicum AB in Lund sin-

ce 2018. Board member

of the industry organisa-

tion Dansk Biotek since

2012.

BO AHRÉN

Board member and

former vice-chairperson

at the BioInnovation Insti-

tute in Copenhagen. Pro

vice-chancellor of Lund

University. Board member

of the Novo Nordisk Foun-

dation from 2005-2017.

• Kirsten Drejer.

Board member at Alligator

Bioscience AB in Lund from 2019-2021.

Co-founder of Symphogen, where she was

CEO for 16 years. Board member of Zealand

Pharma and others.

• Michael Shalmi.

Board member at Active

Biotech AB since 2019. Previously managing

director and head of principal investments at

Novo Holdings A/S in Copenhagen.

• Peter Høngaard Andersen.

Board member at

Immunovia AB in Lund since 2020. Previous-

ly employed at Novo Nordisk and Lundbeck,

formerly managing director of the Innovation

Fund in Denmark.

• Peter Wulff.

Board member at Spago

Nanomedical AB in Lund since 2015. CEO of

Bavarian Nordic from 1994-2007. Co-founder

of NeuroSearch.

ANDERS EKBLOM

Vice-chairperson of LEO

Pharma in Copenhagen

since 2018. Board member

of Lund-based Alligator

Bioscience since 2017.

Managerial positions at

AstraZeneca between

2006-2013.

• Camilla Huse Bondesson.

Board member at

2cureX AB since 2019. Consultant for the life

science company Conlega since 2004. Chairman

of the board at Gradientech AB, Immuneed AB

and TdB Labs AB.

• Göran Ando.

Chairperson of the board at Novo

Nordisk in Denmark from 2013-2018. Prior to

that board member since 2005. Chairperson of

the board at e.g. Symphogen in Copenhagen from

2011-2018.

• Magnus Persson.

Chairperson of the board at

Galecto Biotech AB in Copenhagen until May

2020. Continues to advise the biotech company.

Founder of the Scandinavian venture fund Eir

Ventures.

• Martin Nicklasson.

Chairperson Zealand

Pharma A/S in Denmark since 2015. Previous-

ly chairperson of e.g. Orexo AB and BioInvent

International AB.

PHOTO: CELLAVISION

PHOTO: LEO PHARMA

EXAMPLES OF DANES WHO ARE

OR HAVE BEEN BOARD MEMBERS

IN THE LIFE SCIENCE SECTOR IN

SKÅNE

MIKAEL WORNING

Board member at CellaVi-

sion since 2021. Board

member at Ambu and

former CEO of Demant’s

American division.

65 %

of the 23 listed life science companies in

Denmark have a Danish chairperson of the

board. Many companies’ boards feature

foreign members.

82 %

of the 74 listed life science companies in

Skåne have a Swedish board chairperson.

Many companies’ boards feature foreign

members.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: KLIFO

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

MANAGEMENT

EXAMPLES OF SWEDES WHO

WORK IN LIFE SCIENCE-ORIENTED

RESEARCH ENVIRONMENTS IN

COPENHAGEN

PHOTO: PRIVATE

EXAMPLES OF DANES WHO WORK

IN THE LIFE SCIENCE SECTOR IN

STOCKHOLM

NIKOLAJ SØRENSEN

CEO of the Stockholm-

based Orexo since 2013.

Previously held leading

positions at Pfizer and

Boston Consulting Group.

Board member at Bioser-

vo Technologies.

PHOTO: OREXO

MARTIN MALMSTEN

Professor of biophar-

maceuticals, biophysics,

and drug delivery at the

University of Copenhagen

since 2016. Director of

LEO Foundation Center for

Cutaneous Drug Delivery

in Copenhagen. Guest pro-

fessor at Lund University.

PHOTO: DANSTEM - ESBEN ZØLLNER OLESEN

HENRIK SEMB

Professor and executive

Director and group leader

at Novo Nordisk Foun-

dation Center for Stem

Cell Biology (DanStem) in

Copenhagen since 2011.

NIKOLAI BRUN

Chief medical officer of the

Stockholm-based Affibody.

Previously employed as

head of medical evaluation

and biostatistics at the

Danish Medicines Agency.

Previously employed at

e.g. Novo Nordisk and

Genmab.

PHOTO: LÆGEMIDDELSTYRELSEN

DANISH AND SWEDISH BIOTECH COMPANIES IN

THE ØRESUND REGION GAVE LEO PHARMA INPUT

FOR OPEN INNOVATION PLATFORM

Swedish Niclas Nilsson helped build Danish LEO Pharma’s open innovation model ﬁve years ago,

drawing on input from Danish biotech companies and small-scale biotech companies from Medicon

Village in Lund. The model has been a breeding ground for more life science collaboration in the

Øresund Region and around the world. The platform is used by biotech- and pharma companies across

the globe, as well as by universities and students from DTU and Lund University. Niclas Nilsson ﬁnds

that open innovation leads to more sustainable network relationships, and that Danish and Swedish

management culture have grown more similar in recent years.

• Gert Fredrik Bäckhed.

Professor at the Novo

Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabo-

lic Research at the University of Copenhagen.

Associate of the University of Gothenburg,

among others.

• Mef Nilbert.

Head of research at the Danish

Cancer Society in Copenhagen since 2017.

Also associated to e.g. Lund University as a

professor of oncology, as well as Amager and

Hvidore Hospitals.

• Christoffer Lorenzen.

CEO of the Stock-

holm-based Karo Pharma since 2019. Previous-

ly held leading positions at e.g. Hansen from

2008-2019.

• Peter Nordkild.

CEO of the Stockholm-based

Asarina Pharma since 2016. Previously CEO

of Egalet and formerly employed at Novo

Nordisk and Ferring Pharmaceuticals.

Niclas Nilsson was first employed as a scientist at

LEO Pharma back in 2004. His transdisciplinary

background in biology and technology made the

Swede an attractive candidate, and in the years

since then he has noted more and more Swedes

bringing their skills to the life science sector in

Denmark, just as he did. That was especially true

after AstraZeneca closed in Lund around a decade

ago: a lot of the expertise from southern Sweden

became relevant for companies on the Danish side

of the Øresund.

Today, Niclas Nilsson is heading Denmark’ oldest

pharmaceutical company’s open innovation work, and

he also helped build up the platform that LEO Pharma

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

has used for external collaborations since 2015.

Generally, open innovation is about companies

openly sharing knowledge and resources with far

less restrictive legal contracts, using external part-

nerships to find solutions to complex challenges in

the understanding that not all required competen-

ces are on hand internally in the organisation.

Over the years, open innovation has become

more widespread in knowledge-heavy sectors like

the biotech- and pharmaceutical industries, and it

is also used in e.g. Ideon Science Park in Lund and

Novozymes via the Hello Science platform.

– Most companies want to collaborate more

with external partners than they do today, but only

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: LEO PHARMA

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

MANAGEMENT

more concrete, external collaborations; to make

few implement what is necessary in order to work

collaboration processes faster; and to find sparring

together more. Open innovation is a very good ex-

partners with whom to discuss new knowledge in

ample of how that can be made to happen, says Nic-

dermatology and inflammatory skin diseases.

las Nilsson, who believes that their model has been a

To date, the initiative has led to collaborations

good way to start up collaborations in practice.

between LEO Pharma and more than 150 partners

When LEO Pharma started working on an open

in over 27 countries on every continent, and more

innovation platform, they turned to a number of

than 3000 molecules sent by

biotech companies in Den-

mark and at Medicon Village

”Most companies want

external actors have been te-

sted for free in LEO Pharma’s

in Lund, among others. The

to collaborate more

laboratories.

objective was to learn more

Around five of the 150

about how a collaborative

with external partners

partnerships have been from

platform with a larger-scale

than they do today,

Sweden, and at least 20 have

pharmaceutical company

been from Denmark. LEO

could be attractive from the

but only few imple-

Pharma has followed addi-

perspective of a small biotech

ment what is neces-

tional business opportunities

company. One decisive piece

of input for instance was to

sary in order to work

with around 10% of the part-

ners who have made use of

develop practical processes by

together more.”

LEO Pharma’s open testing

sending and testing others’

opportunity. As an example,

materials, as well as legal key

one commercial agreement on the development of

points to minimise the risks for biotech companies

two new drug candidates was entered last year with

when it comes to using open innovation.

the contract research Ubiquigent in Scotland.

Shared cultural understanding is a good

The open innovation model has delivered, says

precondition for collaboration

Niclas Nilsson, because it is not just a question of the

number of business contracts; it’s also about learning

Turning to actors in the sector on both shores of

to think differently, gathering input for other drug

the Øresund – LEO Pharma already had offices in

targets, and making new contacts without necessarily

Malmö – was a reminder that the mutual under-

fuelling the pipeline from Day 1.

standing and the trust-based way of working in

That’s why e.g. master-level chemistry students

both Sweden and Denmark is a cultural asset of the

from Lund University and DTU have also used the

Øresund Region.

testing infrastructure to shorten the distance between

It is precisely that cultural closeness that makes

academia and the industry. Universities from the

the conditions for increasing collaborations in the

USA and Canada are also involved.

region so favourable, says Niclas Nilsson, because

– People who have chemical molecules can test

it can be easier to establish relationships with one’s

them in our laboratory, entirely free from business

neighbours, where there are similar cultural and

and legal constraints, says Niclas Nilsson, adding that

collaborative notions. In addition, he feels that the

the results are given to the actors themselves.

differences between Danish and Swedish manage-

The data thus does not belong to LEO Pharma –

ment have grown less pronounced over the past 15

and that model is unique, according to Niclas Nils-

years in which he has been working in the Danish

son, who has noted that other large pharmaceutical

life science industry; furthermore, as he sees it, it

companies have similar platforms that he does not

has become more common and accepted to have

necessarily consider completely open; there might

colleagues from across the strait.

be reservations related to disclosure, first rights

– Swedish management has developed in terms of

negotiation or other business terms and conditions

entrepreneurship and business focus from being a bit

to continue the collaboration.

more academic in the past, and Danish management

– We’ve taken away all of that, says Niclas

has become much more international and global,

Nilsson.

both in its mindset and its actions, he says.

New partnerships in Sweden and Denmark

From the beginning, LEO Pharma wanted to

achieve three things with the platform: To start

big pharma and smaller biotech companies, where

the former has been able to dictate the conditions to

a greater extent. A more modest, win-win stance is

more beneficial if real work is to be done with open

innovation, says Niclas Nilsson.

– In the long run, it’s much better to have

symmetrical relationships where everyone is taking

the same risk and making the same obligations.

It leads to a network with a more long-term

perspective and makes people come back and find

a match between assets and needs more easily, he

says, pointing out that the open innovation model

has been good branding, helping to strengthen the

network and increase knowledge about the com-

pany and sending the message that LEO Pharma

dares to do things differently.

When it comes to open innovation, the most

important thing he has learned in the past five years

is that one needs to think about collaboration from

the partner’s perspective, because it clarifies the

value creation.

– Instead of saying: We want your help, the ques-

tion should be: How can we help you?

Be open about challenges and needs

One way to improve transregional collaboration in

the life sciences would be that companies dare to be

more transparent when it comes to problems and

needs that can lead to new partnerships, accor-

ding to Niclas Nilsson. He illustrates this with an

example: LEO Pharma recently announced that

they are particularly interested in partnerships in

proteinprotein interactions (PPI) and a few specific

drug targets – this information is traditionally con-

fidential, says Niclas Nilsson, but if one opens up,

the opportunities to find new partnerships increase.

For that reason, it would be an advantage if the

Øresund Region became a “playground” for that

access, says Niclas Nilsson, and he suggests that

the newly established open research collaboration

network ODIN (Open Discovery Innovation

Network) between Aarhus University and other

Danish and international pharma companies –

including LEO Pharma – might inspire a regional

model. The ODIN project has received 54.5mn

crowns worth of funding from the Novo Nordisk

Foundation, and its ambition is for researchers and

companies to collectively and voluntarily exchange

knowledge, collaborate, and make data and results

available for the outside world in order to create

drugs in a new and open way; in Oxford, England,

this has proven to have great potential.

– That model could perhaps be used more bro-

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Niclas Nilsson.

adly in the Øresund Region, so we have a platform

that facilitates scientific dialogue. What I think

we need in the Øresund Region are conversation

starters that open up communication about scien-

ce and needs, and more business is sure to follow,

says Niclas Nilsson.

LEO PHARMA OPEN

INNOVATION

• Founded:

2015

• Branches in the life sciences:

Pharma

• Focus area:

Dermatology and skin

inflammation diseases

• Ownership:

Private

• R&D Lead:

Niclas Nilsson

• Total number of molecules tested:

3 000

• Total number of partners that have used

the platform:

150

• Moreover:

PPI-molecules are a new focus

area. Based on recent success with their own

PPI, LEO Pharma is looking to expand these

activities and look for new partners as part of

the Open Innovation platform.

Open innovation creates relationship parity

Niclas Nilsson emphasises that open innovation can

help mitigate asymmetrical relationships between

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: LEO PHARMA

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

MANAGEMENT

MALMÖ’S INCUBATOR ENVIRONMENT AND

ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT ATTRACTED THE

DANISH-SWEDISH PILA PHARMA

The smoothly operating incubator setting in Malmö was what made Dane Dorte X Gram choose

Skåne as a home base when she started up the pharmaceuticals company PILA PHARMA after

ten years at Novo Nordisk in Denmark. Today, the company has both Danish and Swedish consul-

tant-associates, a Danish operational director with a background from LEO Pharma has been

recruited, and there’s an IPO around the corner.

Skåne – and even more so in Stockholm – the mindset

is almost American.

– Swedes love it when people take chances and try

to come out on top, says Dorte X Gram.

She likes that mentality. She has also found that

Swedes, like Danes, expect people who come from

abroad to learn the local language and make an effort

to integrate, so she has learned herself to speak and

write Swedish competently, so that others understand

that she wants to be part of society.

Danish and Swedish consultant competen-

ces complement each other

Another difference between Denmark and Sweden

that Dorte X Gram has noted is salary.

– Since large enterprises in Denmark offer such

good salaries, Danes are often too expensive – relative

to what I’m ready to pay at any rate, she says.

According to Dorte X Gram, the lower salaries

in Sweden, which can be weighted against the

advantages of the 25% SINK-tax for Danes, prevent

more Danes from working in the life science sector

on the other side of the Øresund. Nonetheless,

she has been able to build a stable internal project

organisation with around 10 Danes and Swedes in

the Øresund Region, all of whom are employed as

consultants based on their expertise.

Structurally, running PILA PHARMA virtually has

worked well, she points out; in part this is because the

looser formation of consultants is flexible, and expen-

ses can be adjusted easily according to whether or not

funding is available. As a result, the company has come

very far on a relatively tight budget, she says, and the

collaboration can continue for many years to come.

There is also a good recruitment pool for consultants

in the Øresund Region; large-scale staff cutbacks at

regular intervals by the larger pharmaceutical com-

panies – AstraZeneca in Skåne around a decade ago,

and more recently LEO Pharma and Lundbeck in the

autumn of 2020 – have freed up expertise that can be

of service to smaller companies in the region.

– There is a sea of consultants. Among other

things I’ve found that there are good consultants in

Skåne for drug delivery. A lot of the diabetes- and

big pharma expertise I’m looking for is in Denmark,

says Dorte X Gram.

Bridge tolls limit commutes

In 2019, PILA PHARMA left the incubator at

Medeon, and since then the company has had its

offices in central Malmö. In September 2020, Dorte

X Gram recruited Lars Bukhave Rasmussen; he has

15 years of experience in various leadership positions

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Environment influences business mentality

Dorte X Gram started the company PILA PHAR-

Today, PILA PHARMA has raised 45mn SEK

MA seven years ago. She had been working more

(€4,5mn) in capital. The first to back PILA PHAR-

than ten years at Novo Nordisk in Bagsværd, where

MA was the state-owned Swedish foundation Almi

she did her PhD studies, when the opportunity

Invest, which invests in tech, industry, cleantech

arose in 2008 to acquire her research results from

and life science, with 1mn SEK. Private Swedish –

Novo Nordisk and create her own company where

and recently also Danish – investors followed suit,

she could develop a new diabetes treatment.

putting millions of crowns into the clinical develop-

Although most of her professional network was

ment of the pharmaceutical

in Denmark, she chose to

”Since large enterprises

candidate XEN-D0501,

develop PILA PHARMA

which Dorte X Gram believes

in Malmö, where she had

in Denmark offer such

can be useful some of the glo-

relocated with her family.

good salaries, Danes are

bal market with around 465

– I set up PILA

million patients.

PHARMA in Sweden be-

often too expensive.”

The company is planning

cause the conditions there

a public offering in July 2021 on Nasdaq First North

were more conducive to making progress when we

Growth Market in Stockholm to raise more capital for

were in the start-up phase, says Dorte X Gram.

the clinical development, which is now in phase 2. To

She knew researchers at Lund University in Skåne

date, the scientific work has been conducted across the

through her work at Novo Nordisk, but other than that,

Øresund Strait and with collaborative partners in e.g.

her network in Skåne – particularly the commercial side

England.

of it – and her knowledge of the area were minimal.

According to the company’s Danish-born

That all changed, however. Encouraged by her

director, Denmark’s seed funding environment was

Swedish partner, she went to a seminar at Medeon

difficult around five to ten years ago; it was domina-

Science Park in Malmö and found that people there

ted by large investment actors, and companies that

actively encouraged her to become a part of Medeon’s

didn’t fit the investment portfolio in one way or

incubator environment, where diabetes projects were a

another had a hard time.

special focus.

The investment environment in Sweden was – and

She discovered that people were generous with their

still is – more diverse, encouraged by e.g. lower taxes

expertise, for example via the ’entrepreneur program-

on income from stocks in Sweden than in Denmark.

me’, where Medeon’s partners offered a free entre-

As a result, more Swedes invest in companies

preneurs programme. Several of them later became

privately, creating a cultural difference in the mentality

collaborative partners – a good “win-win situation”,

surrounding entrepreneurs and wage-earners, says

says Dorte X Gram.

Dorte X Gram.

She notes that she was raised to value intelligence

– When I left Denmark and moved to Sweden,

– her father was a professor of clinical pharmacology –

it definitely felt like putting the good, steady job at

but selling was considered uncouth and the commerci-

risk, she says; in her experience, there was a strong wa-

al aspect wasn’t promoted, neither growing up at home

ge-earner mentality. That’s changing in Denmark now,

nor at school. At Medeon, however, she was given the

she notes, but there are still cultural differences, and in

tools to discover and explore that, among other things.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Dorte X Gram.

at LEO Pharma in Denmark under his belt.

Any new recruits in the near future will likely be

Swedish due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has

made border commutes difficult and strained Da-

nish-Swedish collaboration, says Dorte X Gram.

– But we have plans for a physical office in

Copenhagen, which will make it easier for us to adapt

by attracting relevant Danish expertise, says Dorte X

Gram. She leaves us with a clear message about how

collaboration can be increased.

– If politicians really want open collaboration

across the Øresund Strait, conditions for border com-

mutes during the pandemic need to be clear and realis-

tic, and in addition, the bridge toll needs to be reduced

– because at the moment, it’s really a showstopper for

border commutes, especially from Denmark, she says.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

PILA PHARMA AB

• Founded:

2014

• Branches in life sciences:

Pharma

• Focus area:

Diabetes

• Ownership:

Private

• CEO:

Dorte X. Gram

• Turnover 2019/2020:

• Gross year-end result 2019/2020:

-9 mn SEK/-6 mn SEK

• Total number of employees in Malmö:

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

Strong research environments and potential for

more transborder collaboration

There are many strong research structures for diabetes, oncology, reproduction and more in

Medicon Valley. There are also many research collaborations across the strait, primarily between

individual researchers or research groups. As far as structural collaborations are concerned, many

of the people interviewed for this report assert that they should be able to broaden and become more

plentiful. National focus when it comes to research funding and different taxation and health insu-

rance systems are two example of obstacles that were pointed out.

The life science sector has been made a priority in

Denmark as well as Sweden. Both countries have

formulated life science strategies with initiatives

to strengthen the sector, and prioritisations have

also been made on the regional scale regarding how

research environments in the life sciences can be

developed. A European comparison of research en-

vironments conducted the Dutch research institute

CWTS shows that biochemistry and molecular bio-

logy, endocrinology and metabolism and oncology

are the three areas of research that generated the

greatest number of scientific publications in the life

sciences in Medicon Valley between 2006-2016.

Life science research on the agenda in both

countries

Denmark’s latest life science strategy, from April

2021, asserts that ”the life sciences are a Danish

strength”. ”Sweden should be a leading life science

nation” is the opening line of the Swedish national

life science strategy, presented in December 2019.

Investments in research are one tool for achieving

the goals set in the respective countries. Initiatives

in Denmark include extending the increased tax

deductions that companies are allowed to make for

R&D costs and a multidisciplinary working group

to improve the framework for clinical research.

Sweden’s goals include strong trans-sector resear-

ch in the life sciences and broader exploitation of

research infrastructure. The two countries’ strategies

meet on the shores of the Øresund and in the clus-

ter called Medicon Valley.

In 2018, the Capital Region of Denmark

adopted a research strategy for health research that

will continue until 2022. The report shows that

the three largest research areas in terms of scientific

publications in 2015 were oncology, coronary heart

disease, endocrinology and metabolism. In May

2019, Region Zealand’s regional council adopted

the strategy ”Forskning på forkant” (Research at the

forefront) for health research; it will also continue

until 2022. According to the Danish-Swedish

organisation for political collaboration the Greater

Copenhagen Committee, ” the life sciences are an

industrial and research-related strength in Greater

Copenhagen”. The life sciences are one of the five

key prioritised areas that lay the framework for

growth and welfare in the future.

BioInnovation Institute

RESEARCHERS AT UNIVERSITIES AND HOSPITALS IN THE

ØRESUND REGION *

Approx. number of diabetes researchers

1 000

150

Approx. number of reproduction researchers

* Data based on information reported for this analysis. Note that

researchers can be employed by hospitals and universities simulta-

neously; there is thus a risk that they have been counted twice. The

University of Copenhagen did not report the number of researchers

per field, with the exception of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center

for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR) and and Biotech Research &

Innovation Centre (BRIC); commercial research is not included here.

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

1 700

Approx. number of cancer researchers

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RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

According to Region Skåne’s marketing agency

Invest in Skåne, which works among other things

with the life sciences in Skåne, the region is ”at

the forefront of research within diabetes, neuros-

cience, oncology and inflammation”. Skåne’s 2020

innovation strategy for sustainable growth, deve-

loped by the Research and Innovation Council of

Skåne, FIRS, states that ”Health and medicine are

at the very foreground at learning institutions in

Skåne, and dental health is an area of research with

high impact”. One of their priorities is working to

develop research and innovation environments as

well as to increase commercialisation of research and

to promote internationalisation of the sector.

Biochemistry and molecular biology largest

fields of research

The three research areas that generated the largest

number of scientific publications in the life sciences

in Medicon Valley between 2006-2016 are bioche-

mistry and molecular biology, endocrinology and

metabolism, and oncology. This was shown in a

European comparison with nine other prominent

European life science clusters conducted by the

research institute CWTS on behalf of Medicon

Valley Alliance.

The ten largest areas in terms of the number of

scientific publications between 2006-2016 are:

1. Biochemistry & molecular biology

2. Endocrinology & metabolism

3. Oncology

4. Neurosciences

5. Medicine, general & internal

6. Public, environmental & occupational health

7. Pharmacology & pharmacy

8. Cardiac & cardiovascular systems

9. Immunology

10. Surgery

Together, the 20 largest research fields are

responsible for more than 50% of the total number

of scientific publications in the life sciences in Medi-

con Valley during the period investigated.

When it comes to the scientific publications

by researchers from Medicon Valley cited most

frequently between 2006-2017 in relation to the

international average in each respective field, the

five largest subject areas are: Medicine, general &

internal; Cell biology; Genetics & heredity; Plant

sciences and Sport sciences.

In this analysis, we note that among other

things, there are three strong research structures

across the Øresund: in diabetes, oncology and

reproduction.

Potential for more research collaboration

across the Øresund

Life science research in Medicon Valley takes place

on many levels, including within companies, at

hospitals and on behalf of the regions, at universi-

ties and in cooperative projects. This chapter offers

many examples of such collaborations and inter-

views with the actors involved.

According to Erik Renström, the new Vice-chan-

cellor of Lund University, there is solid bottom-up

engagement and a great deal of collaboration

between Lund University and the University of

Copenhagen in the life sciences. The collabora-

tions are primarily for research between individual

researchers and research groups; collaborations on a

structural level are fewer, he says. He mentions bor-

der issues in relation to the challenge of procuring

research funds that can be used across the Øresund.

– I’m sorry to say that we have many structural

obstacles impeding collaboration. There are many

challenges. Interreg-projects are extremely valuable

however, as we have a great deal of national projects

in which we’d like to have Danish partners, he says.

He plans to work to establish a structural collabo-

ration with the University of Copenhagen in the life

sciences. Read more in an interview on page 54-55.

Swede Mef Nilbert has professor titles from both

the University of Copenhagen and Lund University

and works as head of research at Denmark’s national

cancer foundation, the Danish Cancer Society, in

Copenhagen. She sees structural obstacles caused

by the differing systems for taxation and health

insurance as impeding research collaboration across

the Øresund from expanding. This is apparent for

example when researchers want to divide their time

between e.g a university and a hospital on different

sides of the strait.

– The fact that the health insurance and tax sys-

tems aren’t synced up to make working part-time in

both countries possible is the single greatest obstacle

to research collaboration in the region, I would say.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

HIGHEST RANKING UNIVERSITY

Three of the fours highest ranking Nordic universi-

ties in QS’ annual ranking are in the Øresund Regi-

on. The University of Copenhagen ranks highest at

number 79, followed by Lund University at number

87, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm

at number 89, and the Technical University of

Denmark at number 99.

MICROBIOME RESEARCH GROWING AS A SCIENTIFIC AREA OF

STRENGTH IN THE ØRESUND REGIONS

Research in human’s microbiome started around the

year 2000. Now, some 20 years later, the Øresund

Region stands out as a growing European centre for

microbiome research, as the initial, partial results

from an overview published in the autumn of 2020

show. The business- and network organisations

Copenhagen Capacity, Invest in Skåne as Medicon

Valley Alliance are the motor behind the survey in a

transregional project funded by Interreg.

Research is becoming increasingly more conclu-

sive that the body’s microorganisms can improve

treatments for e.g. cancer, diabetes and fertility.

The survey also describes how the region’s actors

in microbiomes have conducted around 140 clinical

studies in the field of microbiomes over the past 20

years; 80 of the studies were done since 2015.

In addition, around 900 research papers on

microbiomes were published between 2014-2019.

The main authors of 71% of the papers were from

the Greater Copenhagen Region, giving the region a

leading position in the field.

Around 80 Danish and Swedish businesses,

organisations and academic institutions in the

Øresund Region work with microbiome research. Of

them, over 40 life science businesses in the region

work with microbiome treatment R&D. Among

these are the pharmaceutical company Ferring

Pharmaceuticals, whose roots are Swedish, and

the Danish ingredient manufacturer Chr. Hansen.

Swedish biotech companies such as BioGaia, Probi

and Gedea Biotech and the Danish Snipr Biom

and Novozymes were also identified as part of

the microbiome cluster. The latter acquired the

American company Microbiome Labs for ca 126mn

USD in 2020.

According to the actors driving the project, in-

sight into the research will attract more expertise,

more companies and more capital to the Øresund

Region. In April 2021, more than 1 000 people from

over 60 countries participated in a digital conferen-

ce on microbiome research in the Øresund Region.

The survey of the Øresund Region’s microbiome

cluster will continue into 2022.

It gets so incredibly complicated if the systems aren’t

synchronised; for many people, working on both

sides of the Øresund would be so natural. Being

associated with another university or company – in

the same country this is no problem – but if one

works for a university and a private company in the

other country, it gets extremely messy and systema-

tically speaking almost impossible, she says.

Read more in an interview on page 80-81.

Professor of immunology at Lund University and

serial entrepreneur Carl Borrebaeck also sees great

unexploited potential in trans-Øresund collabora-

tion. He maintains that many collaborations are

driven by personal contacts and engagement.

– As a researcher, one’s demands are often ex-

tremely specific, and you choose the collaborations

that give you the most. It doesn’t necessarily need to

be in Denmark; it could be anywhere. But proximi-

ty is always important, and that led me to work a

lot with the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen

and the Danish professor Nils Brünner, he says.

Read more in an interview on page 78-79.

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RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

DENMARK HELPS FUND RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE IN LUND

Danish universities and the Novo Nordisk Foun-

dation are helping build up an advanced research

infrastructure in Lund at European Spallation

Source (ESS) and MAX IV Laboratory.

Bifrost and Heimdal – Danish contributions to

ESS in Lund

When the neutron spallation facility European

Spallation Source (ESS) is ready for use in 2023

and, according to plan, fully operational in 2026,

contributions from e.g. the Technical University of

Denmark in Zealand will have helped it get there.

In recent years, the university has been involved

in the development of an instrument called Bifrost.

Bifrost consists of over 8000 different components,

and the instrument itself is one of a total of 15 highly

advanced instruments at the ESS facility currently un-

der construction. Many of the instruments are relevant

for the life science sector, whilst others – including the

Danish Bifrost instrument – will be utilised more for

basic research in magnetism, energy research, che-

mistry of materials and engineering and geo-sciences.

The Technical University of Denmark is responsible

for the overall development of ’Bifrost’ in cooperation

with the University of Copenhagen and other research

institution in Switzerland, France and Norway.

Staff from the Technical University of Denmark

have also developed software for use at ESS, and

Aarhus University has been involved in the develop-

ment of the Heimdal instrument, another of the 15

large instruments at ESS.

The collaboration between Denmark and Sweden

goes further than Bifrost, however. Both countries are

hosts for the ESS facility in Lund, and are covering ne-

arly half of the construction costs, which are around

€1.84bn in total. Eleven other European countries are

contributing to ESS’ construction, making it a pan-Eu-

ropean research infrastructure that will welcome

up to 3000 international researchers annually. ESS’

data centre is located at Copenhagen Bio Science

Park (COBIS) in Copenhagen, where researchers can

transform experimental data into scientific results –

read more about ESS on page 99.

DanMAX and MicroMAX – Danish contributions to

MAX IV in Lund

Another example of research collaboration between

Sweden and Denmark is also located in Lund. Not

far from the ESS facility is Sweden’s national MAX

IV Laboratory, which is an X-ray facility. The labora-

tory opened in 2016 and is part of Lund University.

A number of Danish public organisations joined

together to construct a beamline at the MAX IV

facility, called DanMAX. The instrument has been

operational since 2020 and benefits e.g. research in

materials- and nanotechnology and molecular and

chemical processes, which can benefit life science

companies and -students in the Øresund Region.

Funding for DanMAX in Lund was made available

by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and

Science, which granted 35mn DKK – ca €4.7mn – to

the project in 2014. Other Danish public organi-

sations such as the Capital Region of Denmark,

the University of Copenhagen and the Technical

University of Denmark also contributed funds for

DanMAX, as did MAX IV Laboratory.

At MAX IV Laboratory in Lund, the Novo

Nordisk Foundation in Denmark also funded the

construction and ten years of operational costs of

a super-microscope by the name of MicroMAX. The

equipment will enable more highly detailed study

of proteins, which will create the foundation for

developing new drugs and more. The Novo Nordisk

Foundation has granted 225mn crowns, ca €35mn

for the microscope; that is the foundation’s largest

grant to southern Sweden to date.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation’s involvement in

the MAX IV lab in Lund is part of a broader strategic

initiative that the Novo Nordisk Foundation calls

“Copenhagen Bioscience Cluster”. The goal is to

create a cluster of world class research centres

and infrastructure in biomedicine and biotech in

the Capital Region of Denmark and in Skåne in

southern Sweden. Read more on page 107.

Highest ranking universities in the Øresund Region

– with around 27 000 students in the life sciences

Universities in the Øresund Region are standing strong against international competition, and around

27 000 students are in some way linked to the life sciences at the region’s universities. Three of the

four Nordic universities included on QS’ annual ranking list of the world’s top-100 universities on

are located in the Øresund Region: the University of Copenhagen, Lund University and the Technical

University of Denmark.

When it comes to the number of students in the

life sciences, the Øresund Region’s most promi-

nent university is the University of Copenhagen:

there are 7 900 students at the Faculty of Health

and Medical Science and 5 800 in life science-re-

lated training programmes the Faculty of Science.

Doctors, dentists, veterinarians and pharmacists of

the future are educated at the Faculty of Health and

Medical Science, and the Faculty of Science offers

educational programmes in biochemistry, biology

and molecular biomedicine.

There are approx. 4 500 students in the life

sciences in various faculties at Lund University: the

Faculty of Medicine (3 000), the Faculty of Science

(700), and the LTH Faculty of Engineering (800).

Lund’s Faculty of Medicine offers undergraduate

education in medicine, physical therapy, speech

therapy and nursing, as well as higher level education

such as further training in biomedicine and nursing

specialisation. LTH Faculty of Engineering offers life

science-related education such as civil engineering

training in medicine and technology, biotechnology,

and chemical engineering. Advanced education inclu-

des master training in pharmaceutical technology.

LTH is part of Lund University, whilst the Techni-

cal University of Denmark (DTU) is an independent

university. With 4 300 students in life science-related

training programmes, DTU and LU have nearly the

same number of life science students. Educational

programmes at DTU include biotechnology, quan-

titative biology and disease modelling, and medicine

and technology.

Multiple smaller universities and colleges in the

Øresund Region also offer education in the life scien-

ces; for example, Malmö University and Kristianstad

University educate dentists and nurses, and Roskilde

University offers training in molecular biology and

mathematical bioscience.

STUDENTS IN BRIEF

ILLUSTRATION: ESS

Students studying in programmes

completely or partially in the life

sciences

26 800

DANISH STUDENT ORGANI-

SATION FOR LIFE SCIENCE

STUDENTS EXTENDED TO

LUND IN 2020

Synapse – Life Science Connect is a student-led,

non-profit organisation for life science students

in Medicon Valley. The organisation works to build

bridges between the life science industry and stu-

dents and recent graduates of the life sciences by

e.g. arranging networking events, company visits,

workshops and summer schools. The organisation

was established at the University of Copenhagen

in 2014, and in 2020 it started up a division in Lund.

Since 2018, the organisation received a grant of in

total 992 000 DKK from the Novo Nordisk Foun-

dation to continue their activities. Synapse also

receives support from the Tuborg Foundation and

Otto Mønsted Foundation in Denmark.

7 900

3 000

ESS.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Students at the Faculty of Health and

Medical Sciences at the University of

Copenhagen

Students at the Faculty of Medicine at

Lund University

Footnote: The figure for KU is from 2019 and for LU from 2020.

MAX IV.

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RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

AROUND 26 800 STUDENTS IN THE ØRESUND REGION IN EDUCATIONAL

PROGRAMMES IN OR RELATED TO THE LIFE SCIENCES

The following data shows the number of students in selected educational programmes or at depart-

ments at the region’s universities that are completely or partially related to the ﬁeld of life science.

Data was provided by the universities themselves and is from the years 2019-2020.

Number of stu-

dents in the life

sciences

13 650

4 500

4 300

2 000

1 600

600

26 800

NEW, REVISED TRAINING PROGRAMMES WITH LIFE SCIENCE-FOCUS

AT CBS – FOR INDUSTRY WORKERS AND STUDENTS FROM MEDICON

VALLEY AND ABROAD

With new continuing education programme on offer, Copenhagen Business School (CBS)

is making it possible for Danish and Swedish life science employees and others Medi-

con Valley to upgrade their skills. The educational institution in Copenhagen also offers

students in e.g. Lund or Malmö master studies in Business Administration and Bioentre-

preneurship and more. The training programme has been newly revised in collaboration

with leading Danish biotech- and pharma companies and supported by the Novo Nordisk

Foundation. To date however, only a small number of students in Sweden and Norway

have taken advantage of the training opportunity in Copenhagen.

There are several new training programmes aimed

at the life science sector on offer in Medicon Valley

– at Copenhagen Business School, for one. Starting

in September 2021, people who work in or head

life science companies in Denmark, Sweden and

abroad will be able to register for a new, flexible

specialised training at a master level at CBS.

The Master of Business Development (MBD)

programme, as it is called, is geared toward people

who work in the pharma-, biotech- and medtech

industries, and it offers an opportunity for experien-

ced people from the sector from e.g. the Danish and

Swedish sides to develop their networks and upgra-

de their knowledge of e.g. business development,

pricing and open innovation processes.

People can choose to participate in the specialist

training with others or individually. It consists of th-

ree courses, and each course costs between 10 000

and 20 000 DKK, or ca €1 400-2 700. The first course

will start in September.

The training programme was designed through a

sparring process with leading life science companies

such as Novozymes, Chr. Hansen, H. Lundbeck and

LEO Pharma, all of whom have border commuters

on their staff (read more on page 14).

Together with the Technical University of Den-

mark (DTU), Novo Nordisk, and the University of

Copenhagen, these same life science companies

offered their input to another, two-year master

programme at CBS so-called CBS-BIO, which is a

MSc-programme in Business Administration and

Bioentrepreneurship.

The programme is aimed at university students

from around the globe; CBS has exchange program-

mes with schools such as e.g. Nanyang Technical

University in Singapore.

Around 30 students were accepted to the newly

revised, two-year programme MSc Business

Administration and Bioentrepreneurship in 2020,

according to figures from CBS. Approximately half of

them were Danish – the remainder were from abro-

ad, and only few were from Norway and Sweden.

Another 45 students are expected to be accepted in

2024, as well as an additional three PhD students

and postdocs.

In the master programme, life science compa-

nies involved, such as Novo Nordisk, offer teach-

ing venues, and students will receive training and

knowledge in bioentrepreneurship at BioInnovation

Institute in Copenhagen.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation granted 6.5mn

crowns, or approx. €875 000, to support the master

programme in Business Administration and Bioen-

trepreneurship between 2021-2024.

CBS is also offering a MSc-programme in Busi-

ness Administration and Innovation in Health Care.

In 2020, around 50 students were admitted to the

programme, according to CBS.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

University

Examples of life science programmes

Faculty of Health and Medical Science and selected programmes the Faculty

of Science

Selected programmes at LTH, the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of

Science

e.g. biotechnology, quantitative biology and disease modelling

e.g. dentistry, specialist nursing and biomedical analysis

e.g. dental hygiene, nursing and health sciences

e.g. the programme Outdoor environments for health and well-being

MSc Business Administration and Bioentrepreneurship & MSc Business

Administration and Innovation in Health Care

Department of Sustainable Biotechnology

University of Copenhagen

Lund University

DTU

Malmö University

Kristianstad University

(HKR)

SLU Alnarp

CBS

Aalborg University in

Copenhagen

Total

Footnote: See appendix for a complete list of educational programmes at the respective institutions.

University of Copenhagen

Lund University

Technical University of Denmark

THREE OF SCANDINAVIA’S FOUR HIGHEST RANKED UNIVERSI-

TIES ARE IN THE ØRESUND REGION / MEDICON VALLEY

There are two Danish and two Swedish universities

among the 100 top universities on QS’ annual ranking

of around 1 300 higher learning institutions around the

globe, according to the 2022 list released in June 2021.

The best universities in Denmark and Sweden are in

the Øresund Region. The University of Copenhagen

ranks highest in Scandinavia at number 79, followed

by Lund University at number 87, the Royal Institute

of Technology in Stockholm at number 89 and the

Technical University of Denmark at number 99. Lund

University climbed ten places since the previous year,

while the University of Copenhagen fell three.

Placement of universities in Skåne and the

Copenhagen area (or with branches there) in QS’

ranking from 2022 (last year’s placement is in

parentheses):

•

University of Copenhagen: 79 (76)

Lund University: 87 (97)

Technical University of Denmark: 99 (103)

University of Southern Denmark: 309 (353)

Aalborg University: 326 (305)

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

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RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

Erik Renström was appointed Vice-chancellor of Lund University this January and wants to establish a

structural collaboration in the life sciences that traverses the Øresund – but points out that unfortuna-

tely, the obstacles today are many; national research funding cannot be used across the Øresund, and

educational training programmes are bound by national regulations. He sees solid bottom-up enga-

gement in making collaboration between Lund University and the University of Copenhagen possible

however, and there are a multitude of active exchanges today, particularly within research.

advantages in Scandinavia. Securing funding for

each involved party is a recurrent challenge in this

respect, however. For example, the Novo Nordisk

Foundation is interested in contributing resources

from Denmark.

– One needs to try and conjure up a shared unit

with various funding typologies and structures in

each of the respective countries – that entails more

effort in addition to everything else, and the will to

do it together needs to be very strong in order for it

not to end in a lot of extra work, says Erik Ren-

ström, who hopes that the Wallenberg Foundations

will contribute funds to this particular project.

Joint online learning might become reality

in 2022

Collaborating on higher education programmes across

the Øresund is complicated, says Erik Renström.

– One is bound by national regulations and by

the universities’ own regulations, particularly when

it comes to training for professions such medical

doctors and nurses. While the conditions would

probably be in place for something inspiring if we

had new tools, it depends, once again, on what one

really wants to get done despite all the obstacles.

That is really the starting point, he says.

There is however one type of instruction between

multiple countries that Erik Renström would like to

see more of – so-called ”collaborative international

online learning”, where students and teachers from

Erik Renström,

Vice-chancellor of

Lund University.

The border issues to which Erik Renström refers

Today, Lund University has around 40 000 stu-

primarily concern the possibilities for transbor-

dents, 8 000 employees and operations in Lund,

der funding. In many EU contexts, he explains,

Malmö and Helsingborg. Although Lund Univer-

collaboration between the University of Copenha-

sity is ranked as Sweden’s most internationalised

gen and Lund University is basically impossible,

university and has the largest number of Danish

since the funding is conditional on partners from

students of all of the Swedish seats of learning,

different parts of Europe wor-

there remains unexploited

”Based on the sum of

king together. Nor can national

potential for collaboration

resources from Vinnova or the

between the universities

my experience, there

Wallenberg Foundations be used

in the Øresund Region,

is solid bottom-up en-

to involve collaborators from

according to Vice-chan-

Denmark.

cellor of Lund University

gagement.”

– I’m sorry to say that we

Erik Renström. He took

have many structural obstacles impeding collabora-

his post as Vice-chancellor in January 2021. His

tion. There are many challenges. Interreg-projects

biography includes a past as a doctor, a diabetes re-

are extremely valuable however, as we have a great

searcher at Novo Nordisk in Copenhagen and dean

deal of national projects in which we’d like to have

of Lund University’s Faculty of Medicine.

Danish partners, he says. Examples of current Inter-

Strong interest in working with the Univer-

reg-projects in life science research in which Lund

sity of Copenhagen

University and the University of Copenhagen are

both involved are ReproUnion and DiaUnion.

Today, Lund University and the University of Copen-

hagen work together on many projects in the life

Wants to establish structural collaboration

sciences, particularly research collaborations.

in the life sciences

– Based on the sum of my experience, there is

In spite of the structural obstacles, Erik Renström

solid bottom-up engagement. Many people from

hopes to be able to establish a structural life science

Lund University work with colleagues from the

University of Copenhagen or other Danish universi- collaboration with the University of Copenhagen.

– We need to identify topics that engage both

ties and vice versa, says Erik Renström

the Swedish and the Danish sides, and in which we

The collaborations are primarily in research, and

have good prerequisites to secure national funding,

usually between individual researchers and research

even if the project will be run as a joint endeavour,

groups. There are fewer collaborations on a structu-

he says.

ral level, says Erik Renström.

Several faculties of medicine in Scandinavia are

– The whole border problem comes into play,

currently working together in a collaboration on

and it does so recurringly. But it is important to

precision medicine. The hope is to join together

emphasise that in contexts that allow for greater

in that field and to reach a critical mass, and

flexibility – which is often the case in research –

thus be able to take advantage of the competitive

there are many active collaborations, he says.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

one country hold a course or parts of a course with

students and teachers from another country, and the

formal aspects of the course – such as exams – are

managed by the respective home institutions.

– When it comes to Danish universities specifi-

cally, we’re especially fortunate, as we can combine

online learning with real study visits – all of the

conditions are in place for it to be a very attractive

proposition, says Erik Renström, adding that this

is already done today on a small scale at Lund Uni-

versity. If everything goes as planned, he believes it

could be a reality between Lund University and the

University of Copenhagen by autumn, 2022.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Lund University’s

main building.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: IKENNET RUONA - LUNDS UNIVERSITET

MANY OBSTACLES FOR LUND UNIVERSITY’S

TRANS-ØRESUND COLLABORATION – BUT NEW

VICE-CHANCELLOR WANTS STRUCTURAL LIFE

SCIENCE SYNERGIES

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: DIABETES

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

The Øresund Region is a globally leading

centre for diabetes research. There are

strong research teams at hospitals, univer-

sities, research centres and companies on

the Danish as well as the Swedish side of the

strait. Novo Nordisk in Zealand goes back to

1923 and is a pioneer when it comes to insu-

lin production as well as a global company

that now manufactures 50% of the insulin

produced worldwide and develops new and

modern drugs for treating diabetes.

Faculty of Health and Medical Scien-

ces at University of Copenhagen.

Parts of Lund University Diabetes Centre

are located at Medicon Village in Lund.

THE UNIVERSITY OF

COPENHAGEN

The majority of KU’s research in

the life sciences is conducted at

the Faculty of Health and Medi-

cal Sciences. 3 000 researchers

and 1 700 PhD students are

linked to the faculty. Diabetes

research is primarily conducted

at research centre established

with the help of donations from

the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

•

Novo Nordisk Foundation

Center for Basic Metabolic

Research (CBMR)

Founded in 2010 with donations

from the Novo Nordisk Foun-

dation. Focuses on diabetes,

obesity and more. More than 210

researchers are linked to the

centre.

•

Novo Nordisk Foundation Cen-

ter for Protein Research (CPR)

Founded in 2007 with a 600mn

DKK donation from the Novo

Nordisk Foundation and contri-

butions from KU.

•

Novo Nordisk Foundation

Center for Stem Cell Biology

(DanStem)

International research centre for

basic stem cell and develop-

mental biology founded in 2011

with a donation from the Novo

Nordisk Foundation. Today the

research aims to answer fun-

damental questions regarding

stem cells’ developmental bio-

logy in order to contribute new

types of treatment for cancer

and chronic diseases, including

diabetes.

THE REGIONS

• Capital Region of Denmark

A total of 493 researchers work

at Steno Diabetes Center Copen-

hagen (219), Rigshospitalet

(106), Herlev & Gentofte (106),

Nordsjælland (31), Amager &

Hvidovre (19) and Bispebjerg &

Frederiksberg (12)

• Region Zealand

Around 40 diabetes researchers

are linked to Region Zealand.

• Region Skåne

Around 25-30 diabetes research-

ers are linked to Region Skåne.

DIAUNION 1.0

The Interreg project

DiaUnion

brings together actors from

Sweden (Region Skåne and

Lund University) and Denmark

(Steno Diabetes Center, Capital

Region of Denmark and Novo

Nordisk Foundation) as well as

the Danish-Swedish project- and

network organisation Medicon

Valley Alliance in order to promote

research of Type-1 diabetes.

100 YEARS OF INSULIN

A team of Canadian researchers discovered the molecule

insulin in 1921. Two years later, they were awarded a

Nobel Prize. The discovery revolutionised healthcare

for diabetics. In 1922 the team also received a visit from

the Danish researcher couple Professor

August Krogh

(Nobel Prize winner for physiology/medicine in 1920)

and

Marie Krogh.

August Krogh acquired the rights to

produce insulin in Scandinavia, laying the foundation for

the listed company known today as Novo Nordisk and its

major owner, the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

CITIES CHANGING DIABETES

The initiative

Cities Changing

Diabetes

was started by Steno

Diabetes Center Copenhagen,

Novo Nordisk and University

College London in 2014. Its aim is

to lower the incidence of Type-2

diabetes in cities. Today more

than 30 cities have joined the

project, including Malmö and

Copenhagen.

NOVO NORDISK

Today, half of the world’s insulin is manufactured by

Scandinavia’s largest pharmaceutical company, Danish

Novo Nordisk.

Novo Nordisk employs 45 000 people,

17 300 of whom work in Denmark. Novo Nordisk is a

merger between the two Danish companies

Nordisk

Insulinlaboratorium,

founded in 1923, and

Novo Tera-

peutisk Laboratorium

(the name was later changed to

Novo Industri), founded the following year by two former

employees of Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium.

MEDEON SCIENCE PARK &

INCUBATOR

• Science park focused on

diabetes

Diabetes is the primary focus

of the science park in Mal-

mö. Among other things, the

Medeon stipend of 50 000 SEK is

awarded annually as part of the

World Diabetes Day arrange-

ments in Malmö.

• Diabetes Alliance Sweden

A national network that brings

together actors from different

parts of the diabetes field. Foun-

ded in 2015, it now has 360 mem-

bers from 120 organisations.

LUND UNIVERSITY DIABETES

CENTRE)

Founded 15 years ago,

Lund Uni-

versity Diabetes Centre (LUDC)

now brings together 219 diabetes

researchers. Together with

diabetes research from Uppsala

University, LUDC’s research has

been designated as a national

strategic research area in the

initiative Excellence of Diabetes

Research in Sweden (Exodiab).

The research is conducted in

both Malmö and Lund.

NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

Via its subsidiary

Novo Holdings,

the Novo Nordisk

Foundation is the major shareholder of the publicly

traded company

Novo Nordisk

and

Novozymes

as well

as a shareholder in a number of other companies. The

Novo Nordisk Foundation was founded in 1989 when the

two foundations

Novo’s Fond

and

Nordisk Insulinfond

merged. The merger also meant that the two competing

Danish companies Novo Industri and Nordisk Insulinla-

boratorium united to become Novo Nordisk. Every year

the foundation distributes billions in grants, primarily

to support research, and invests in new companies via

Novo Holdings.

STENO DIABETES CENTER

EOPENHAGEN

Steno Diabetes Center

Copenha-

gen brings together around 220

diabetes researchers in clinical

and health promotion research

and offers treatment and training

in the field of diabetes. Steno

Diabetes Center is a collaboration

between the Danish regions and

the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Focus: Diabetes research

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: DIABETES

A long tradition of collaboration in diabetes re-

search in the Øresund Region – complementary

research focuses create synergetic effects

Over a long time, the Øresund Region has grown to become a globally leading centre of diabetes

research. Insulin was discovered in Canada in 1921, and just two years later, the predecessor to Novo

Nordisk had been founded with the rights to manufacture and sell insulin in Scandinavia. Today, Novo

Nordisk is the world’s largest insulin-manufacturing company and it has multiple research- and ma-

nufacturing facilities, as well as headquarters in Zealand and ofﬁces in Malmö. In addition, world-class

diabetes research is carried out at Lund University, the University of Copenhagen and the research

centre Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen. The research park Medeon in Malmö is responsible the

national network Diabetes Samverkan Sweden (Diabetes Alliance Sweden). There is a historical pre-

cedent for working together on diabetes research across the Öresund, spurred on in part by the fact

that Denmark and Sweden have had very different focus areas in research, which has created good

synergetic effects. In early 2020, the collaboration was formalised in the Interreg-project DiaUnion,

where the region’s various strengths are combined to develop a public screening programme for Type-

1 diabetes. The aim is to eventually be able to cure the autoimmune disease.

Novo Nordisk’s factory in Kalundborg was founded in 1969. 3 000 employees help produce half

of the world’s insulin here. The company has invested 18bn DKK in Kalundborg since 2000.

There are multiple centres that bring together

research and treatment in the field of diabetes in

the Øresund Region, for example Steno Diabetes

Center Copenhagen and Lund University Diabetes

Centre at Lund University. On the commercial

front, the insulin manufacturer and largest pharma-

ceutical company Scandinavia Novo Nordisk has its

global headquarters near Copenhagen in Bagsværd,

Swedish headquarters in Malmö and four research

facilities on the Danish side of Medicon Valley.

Diabetes research is also carried out at hospitals

in Region Skåne, the Capital Region of Denmark

and Region Zealand – the Danish regions count

more than 500 diabetes researchers. Via interviews

for this report, it becomes clear that there is a long

tradition of collaboration on diabetes across the

Øresund. Nonetheless, it wasn’t until early 2020

that the collaboration was formalised in a joint

project with the Interreg-project DiaUnion.

Europe’s first insulin was produced in Den-

mark in 1923 – and it was the start of Novo

Nordisk

The history of diabetes in the Øresund Region

goes back to Copenhagen in 1923, when a doctor

called Hans Christian Hagedorn, the Nobel Prize

winner August Krogh and the manufacturer August

Kongsted started Europe’s first insulin production.

Called Nordisk Insulin Laboratorium, it would later

become Nordisk Genftofte A/S. Following disputes

within the company, two former employees from

Nordisk Insulin Laboratorium – the two brothers

Harald and Thorvald Pedersen – started Novo Te-

rapeutisk Laboratorium, which later became Novo

Industri A/S. In 1989, the two companies found

their way back together and merged to become

Novo Nordisk A/S, thus becoming the world’s

largest manufacturer of insulin.

A long tradition of collaboration

As diabetes research is a major focus on both the

Swedish and Danish sides of the Øresund Region,

collaborating over the Øresund has also become na-

tural, as interviews for this report showed. Collabo-

ration has primarily been between individual clinics

and researchers.

– There used to be collaborations where

people did a project together, but there has never

been anything overarching, that brings everyone

together under one roof with a decision that it’s

something we want to do. There have been indivi-

dual projects, but otherwise people have stayed in

their own institutes or clinics, says Finn Kristian-

sen, project leader of the Interreg-project DiaUni-

on, which brings together multiple actors from the

field of diabetes in a collaborative research project

focused on Type-1 diabetes.

Flemming Pociot is head of research at Steno Di-

abetes Center Copenhagen and a DiaUnion partner,

and he also talks about a long tradition of research

collaboration. He was also an adjunct professor at

Lund University and has had many research projects

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

across the strait.

– I actually do believe that diabetes as a field

stands out when it comes to collaboration, and the-

re’s a solid tradition for that. Together, Copenhagen

and Malmö are an epicentrum for diabetes research,

and a lot of people work across the strait.

Geographic proximity and research areas

that complement each other

Geographic proximity is highlighted as one

factor that encourages collaboration across the

Øresund. Shared resources are another; for example,

there is a lot of clinical research on both sides of the

Øresund at the Clinical Research Center in Malmö,

which is part of the Institute of Clinical Studies at

Lund University.

– In Sweden there is a good combination of

clinical research and basic research in one place

with the Clinical Research Centre in Malmö; in

Denmark it’s more separated. Our research at Steno

Diabetes Center is primarily close to the clinical;

otherwise basic research is mostly carried out at

universities in cooperation with us, says Flemming

Pocriot from Steno Diabetes Center.

But what has made collaboration across the

Øresund so fruitful is that there have traditionally

been different focus areas in diabetes research in

Denmark and Sweden, which creates good synerge-

tic effects in collaborations.

– There is a long tradition of diabetes research on

both sides of the strait, and I would say that on the

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Danish side, we’ve concentrated on the insulin-pro-

ducing cell for many years and tried to understand

why the immune system destroys it and whether we

can alter that somehow. Sweden’s strength is that

they have been faster when it comes to researching

in a clinical setting and getting involved in interna-

tional projects where the focus is on longer periods

prior to the disease emerging, says Flemming Pocrit.

DiaUnion brings together actors against

Type-1 diabetes

The complementary research areas were also one

of the reasons why the Interreg-project DiaUnion

started up in early 2020.

– Our expertise in the Øresund Region overlaps

to a certain extent – but for the most part each side

complements the other extremely well. People can do

something in Denmark that they can’t do in Sweden

and vice versa, and that’s something that’s been in

focus for many years, but until DiaUnion there was

never any more formal collaboration set up between

the two research groups on either side of the Øre-

sund, says project leader Finn Kristiansen.

The three-year project brings together Steno

Diabetes Center, the Capital Region of Denmark,

Medicon Valley Alliance, Region Skåne and Lund

University, and it is funded by Interreg and the

Novo Nordisk Foundation. The project focuses on

Type-1 diabetes, which is an autoimmune disease;

that means that the cells that produce insulin are

destroyed by the body’s immune system.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: DIABETES

Novo Nordisk’s headquarters in

Bagsværd near Copenhagen.

Pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has

headquarters and four research centres in

the region

With 16 800 employees at the company’s headquar-

ters as well as manufacturing- and research facilities

in Zealand and 75 employees at the company’s

Swedish offices in Malmö, Novo Nordisk is Scandi-

navia’s largest pharmaceutical company. Of the 16

800 employees in Zealand, 206 commute from the

Swedish side of the Øresund. Four of Novo Nord-

isk’s total of 12 research facilities are in Zealand. The

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic

Metabolic Research (CBMR)

Started in 2010 at the Faculty of Health and Medi-

cal Sciences at KU with the help of a donation from

the Novo Nordisk Foundation in the amount of

885mn DKK. The centre received another dona-

tion in the amount of 700mn DKK in 2018. The

centre’s vision is: ”To strengthen interdisciplinary

research that transforms the basic understanding of

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Faculty of Health and Med-

ical Sciences, University of

Copenhagen

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

– We have no explanation for why people de-

velop Type-1 diabetes, and that is what we want to

learn more about. People are working on it on both

sides of the Øresund: in Denmark there is a strong

focus on genetics, and in Sweden there is a great

deal of experience with screening; these are two

things that we’re seeking to align. We want to try to

collaborate on other autoimmune diseases in order

to make some progress, says Finn Kristiansen.

The other two autoimmune disorders being

investigated are celiac disease (gluten intolerance)

and thyroiditis (inflammation of the thyroid gland).

A pre-study is being done right now to see whether

it’s possible to screen children for all three diseases

simultaneously. The hope is that the pre-study will

become a public screening programme for determi-

ning who is at risk of developing the diseases and in

which bracket of time that will happen. Read more

about DiaUnion on pages 64-65.

largest of them is located in Måløv, 18km northwest

of Copenhagen. The three other facilities are near the

headquarters in Bagsværd, in Søborg and in Hillerød.

There are e.g. early drug discovery laboratories and

facilities for production upscaling in Måløv, and drug

candidates are developed, formulated and manu-

factured for pre-clinical and clinical testing in Bags-

værd. The focus at the research centre in Søborg is on

late-stage development across all therapy areas, and

the centre in Hillerød is an innovation hub and the

company’s key location for pioneering new medical

devices and delivery technologies.

Over the past two years, Novo Nordisk has made

additional investments in Måløv and Kalundborg.

Two years ago, the company invested two billion

crowns in its insulin factory in Kalundborg, where

half of the world’s insulin is manufactured. In early

2021, Novo Nordisk also announced its plan to

invest 500mn DKK in its production facility in

Måløv in order to meet the future demand for the

diabetes pill Rybelsus, which has been approved by

pharmaceutical authorities in the USA, Europe and

Canada in the past two years.

Malmö-based science park Medeon focuses

on diabetes – but would like more commer-

cial collaboration across the strait

Back in 1985, Medeon Science Park & Incubator

in Malmö were Sweden’s first science park focused

on the life sciences. Today, diabetes is one of its

main areas of focus. Medeon helped put Malmö on

the map when it comes to diabetes, for example by

starting up the national network Diabetes Sam-

verkan Sweden, or DSS. Today, DSS has around

360 members from more than 120 organisations

in the industry, academia, the healthcare sector and

patient organisations in order to strengthen innova-

tion potential, develop startups in the field, generate

new collaborations and more. Medeon is also part

of the programme Cities Changing Diabetes and

works with the Lund University Diabetes Center

(LUDC), for example in the annual joint arrange-

ment World Diabetes Day, at which Medeon also

awards its annual 50 000 SEK stipend to a diabetes

researcher.

As far as Medeon’s collaborations across the

Öresund are concerned, commercial co-operations

are currently rather limited; reasons for this include

that there are not as many small companies in

diabetes on the Danish side as in Sweden, which is

also a question of resources, according to Medeon’s

CEO Ulf G. Andersson.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Diabetes research at the University of Copenhagen

Numerous centres at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences conduct research in diabetes and

other ﬁelds. Many of them have been established with the help of donations from the Novo Nordisk

Foundation. Read more about four selected research centres below.

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein

Research (CPR)

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein

Research (CPR) was established in 2007 thanks to

a 600mn DKK donation from the Novo Nordisk

Foundation and contributions from the University

of Copenhagen (KU). The centre is a part of the

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at KU. In

2015, the centre received another 180mn DKK do-

nation from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which

granted an additional 700mn DKK in 2019 to

finance the five following years. There are research

groups in the fields of diabetes and cancer at the

centre. Most of the cancer research conducted at the

centre is basic level, but there is also translational

research. CPR has 235 employees; 160 of them are

researchers, 50 are research assistants, and 15 work

in administration.

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem

Cell Biology (DanStem)

DanStem is an international research centre for

basic stem cell and developmental biology instituted

in 2011 at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sci-

ences at KU via a donation from the Novo Nordisk

Foundation. Today, it aims to answer fundamental

questions regarding stem cells and developme-

ntal biology in order to contribute new types of

treatment for cancer and chronic diseases, including

diabetes. The centre is currently running two larger

scale strategic translational research programmes

in diabetes and haematological cancers. Basic and

translational research are also conducted in the field

of reproduction. The centre has 241 employees, 194

of whom are researchers/research students.

the mechanisms involved in metabolic health and

disease, and to accelerate this knowledge toward

new prevention and treatment strategies”. The

centre focuses on basic metabolic research, inclu-

ding obesity and diabetes. There are 210 researchers

linked to the centre today.

Biotech Research and Innovation Center

(BRIC)

A research centre at the Faculty of Health and

Medical Sciences at KU. BRIC was founded by

the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and

Innovation in 2003 with the aim of creating an

elite research centre. There are 250 researchers and

a number of research students at BRIC. Whi-

le BRIC’s primary research focus is on cancer,

followed by neurological disorders, a number of

projects also deal with metabolic diseases – one of

which is diabetes.

BRIC is involved in multiple collaborations

across the Øresund, and most of the collaborations

are within specific research projects. As a centre

for example, BRIC works with a Swedish professor

by the name of Sara Ek, who is a member of their

advisory board and on the selection committee for a

H2020 Marie Curie project. BRIC is also working

with Medicon Valley Alliance (MVA) on another

Marie Curie-project, and MVA is helping spread

knowledge about the project and its results.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: DIABETES

Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen

Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen brings together around 220 diabetes researchers in clini-

cal- and health promotion research and offers treatment and training in the ﬁeld of diabetes. The

centre has a long history that goes back to the founding of Novo Nordisk. Research at the centre

has long since had links across the Øresund, and its involvement in the Interreg-funded project

DiaUnion has made the collaboration more concrete and brought research across the strait to a

new level, says Flemming Pociot, who is head of research at Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen

and a professor at the University of Copenhagen.

Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen goes back to

1932, when Nordisk Insulin Laboratorium (NIL)

– known today as Novo Nordisk – founded Niels

Steensens Hospital in Copenhagen. Niels Steensens

Hospital admitted patients from all over Scandina-

via, although most were Danes with Type-1 diabe-

tes. Treatments were permeated with a holistic view

of patients’ lifestyles, and diet and exercise played

an important role. The hospital also started a colla-

boration with the public healthcare system, which

was unique at the time, and through donations

from the Nordisk Insulin Foundation – today the

Novo Nordisk Foundation – many of the patients

received treatment free of charge.

The merger that made Novo Nordisk set

Steno Diabetes Center in motion

About ten years earlier, in 1923, Europe’s first

insulin production had been started by a doctor

called Hans Christian Hagedorn, the Nobel Prize

winner August Krogh, and the manufacturer

August Kongsted. It was called Nordisk Insulin

Laboratorium, and would later become Nordisk

Gentofte A/S. Following disputes within the

company, two former employees from Nordisk

Insulin Laboratorium – the two brothers Harald

and Thorvald Pedersen – started Novo Terapeutisk

PHOTO: THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

Laboratorium, which later became Novo Indu-

stri A/S. In 1989, the two companies reunited

and merged to become Novo Nordisk A/S, thus

becoming the world’s largest manufacturer of

insulin. Two years after the merger, Niels Steensens

Hospital merged with Hvidøvre Hospital, which

was owned by Novo Industri A/S at the time. The

merger meant that more research labs and clinics

were added to Niels Steensens Hospital, whose

name was changed to Steno Diabetes Center.

Steno Diabetes Center is now in all Danish

regions thanks to donations from the Novo

Nordisk Foundation

The centre continued to develop; in 1991 for ex-

ample, an educational unit was created to allow re-

search results to be transferred to training of health

personnel, and in 2010, the humanistic-oriented

research unit Sundhedsfremme (Health promo-

tion) was founded. Sundhedsfremme works for

diabetes prevention.

The collaboration between Steno Diabetes Cen-

ter and publicly-funded healthcare has continued

until today, and there is now a Steno Diabetes

Center in every region in Denmark – an initiative

made possible by donations from the Novo Nordisk

Foundation. Steno Diabetes Center thus became

Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen in early 2017,

and the regional diabetes centres throughout the

country were founded between 2018-2019.

Clinical and health-promoting research

brings together 220 researchers

Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen currently has

two primary research focuses: clinical research

and research on promoting health. A total of 219

researchers are linked to the centre, according to

the Capital Region of Denmark. Research is con-

ducted in close collaboration with the University

of Copenhagen, where a large part of the basic

research is carried out.

Lund University Diabetes Center

Lund University Diabetes Centre (LUDC) was founded 15 years ago, and there are 219 diabetes resear-

chers there today. Together with diabetes research from Uppsala University, LUDC’s research has been

designated as a national strategic research area in the initiative Excellence of Diabetes Research in

Sweden (Exodiab). The research is conducted in Malmö and Lund.

In 2006, diabetes researchers at Lund Univer-

sity received a ten-year ’Linné Grant’ from the

Swedish Research Council. That was the start of

the Lund University Diabetes Center (LUDC),

but diabetes research has long since been reco-

gnised as one of Lund University’s strong areas of

research. Already back in 1997, a research group

was granted the status ”Centre of Excellence” by

the Wallenberg and Juvenile Diabetes Research

Foundation for a larger scale research project

that continued until 2003. The distinction laid

the foundation for a number of other important

research contributions. Many other initiatives in

diabetes research have since taken place at LU;

for example, the academic network the Diabetes

Programme at Lund University (DPLU) was

established in 2003 to augment research and ge-

nerate research collaborations, primarily between

young researchers; this eventually led to LUDC

receiving the Linné Grant in 2006.

Designated national strategic research area

in 2009

In 2009, the government designated LUDC’s diabe-

tes research in collaboration with Uppsala Uni-

versity as a strategic research area under the name

Exodiab. A total of ca 430 people are employed in

Exodiab (310 in Lund and 120 in Uppsala). The in-

itiative is financed with 30mn crowns annually, and

its aim is to develop new treatments and drugs that

can prevent or cure diabetes. Researchers in Exodiab

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

have access to e.g. globally leading biobanks for

diabetes research as well as the Human Tissue Lab,

where insulin-producing cells from humans, liver-

and muscle tissue and fat can be studied.

Research in Lund and Malmö

Research at LUDC is conducted in both Lund and

Malmö. At the Clinical Research Center (CRC) in

Malmö, basic research is combined with clinical re-

search. A robot by the name of Hamilton is a recent

addition to the centre. One of three of its kind in

the world, it can simultaneously analyse multiple

different antibodies remarkably faster than previo-

usly. Among other things, the new robot will be

used in the screening for diabetes, celiac disease and

thyroiditis planned within Øresund collaboration

and the Interreg-project DiaUnion. The two other

robots that use the same technology are located at a

lab in California.

Close collaboration with the industry

Diabetes research at LUDC is also conducted in

close collaboration with the industry in the colla-

borative project LUDC-IRC. Other partners are

Region Skåne, Follicum AB, Probi AB, Pfizer, John-

son & Johnson Innovation and Novo Nordisk. The

goal of the project is to develop tailored treatments

for Type-2 diabetes by using the biobanks and tissue

samples available in LUDC. The project has recei-

ved 100mn crowns from the Swedish Foundation

for Strategic Research.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: DIABETES

HIS SON’S DIABETES MADE HIM WANT TO PUSH

RESEARCH FORWARD – AND IT WAS THE BEGIN-

NING OF THE DIAUNION PROJECT

Started in 2019, the Interreg project DiaUnion 1.0 has brought together many actors in the Øre-

sund Region to improve understanding of why Type-1 diabetes occurs, as well as to establish a

joint screening program to identify those at risk of developing the disease. The goal is to be able to

offer preventative treatment as early as possible and, in the future, to contribute to preventing the

disease entirely. Research expertise on both sides of the Øresund complements each other well, and

collaboration has worked perfectly to date, says Finn Kristensen, who initiated DiaUnion 1.0 and now

manages the project.

mark, Lund University, and Steno Diabetes Center

Copenhagen. In addition to the supplementary

grant, the Novo Nordisk Foundation also became

a financier, contributing €250 000. As of now, the

project is set to continue until September 2022, and

discussions are already underway about how the

collaboration may be developed in the future; the

working name is DiaUnion 2.0.

The drive to improve understanding of the

disease’s origin

Expertise in diabetes research on both sides of the

Øresund complements each other well, and the

research in DiaUnion is based on that expertise, says

Finn Kristensen.

– Type-1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, and

lifestyle has absolutely nothing to do with whether

or not one develops it. We have no explanation for

why people get Type-1 diabetes, and we want to learn

more about it. People are working on it on both sides

of the Øresund: in Denmark there is a strong focus

on genetics, and in Sweden there is a great deal of

experience with screening; these are two things that

we’re seeking to unite, says Finns Kristensen.

Concretely speaking, this is being done through

collaborations on two other autoimmune diseases:

coeliac disease (gluten intolerance), and thyroiditis

(inflammation of the thyroid gland). These three

diseases share risk genes, meaning that there are

shared mechanisms in the body that lead to their

Finn Kristensen,

project manager

DiaUnion

Medicon Valley Alliance – which has a coordinating

When Finn Kristensen’s son was diagnosed with

role in ReproUnion – became involved in the plans,

Type-1 diabetes, he felt he needed to do everything

and they decided to seek funding via Interreg. They

in his power to help research move forward. He put

also turned to the regions, to get them on board the

his career as a civil engineer on hold and instead

project.

started working with the international non-profit

– We found that interest was strong and there

organisation Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

were great opportunities to work

(JDRF), which he started

up in Denmark and

”I can say quite simply

on the project. We started out

informally, looking at what we

headed until 2017. Via

could do to develop a project

the organisation, he beca-

that the collaboration

believed

me aware of the research

has worked absolutely

together that we receivinghad

good chances of

funding

expertise on both sides

perfectly.”

from Interreg and the regions.

of the Øresund Region,

We knew that the regions’ interest

and the idea to gather the

was strong when it came to promoting development

region’s actors in a joint project was born.

projects on diabetes, he says.

– I initiated a more formal collaboration. There

have been individual collaborations in diabetes

An uncommon path to funding

between Sweden and Denmark in the past, but no

To begin with, the DiaUnion project had a total

one had formed a group and formulated a common

budget of one million euros, half of which was from

objective previously, says Finn Kristensen, who is

Interreg. The initial ambition had been to bring in

now DiaUnion’s project manager.

two million euros, but the Interreg funds for inno-

After a year of collaboration between the actors, his

vation projects had been exhausted.

conclusion is that the collaboration has worked well.

– We revised the original plan as a one million

– I can say quite simply that the collaboration has

euro-project that we could start in January 2020.

worked absolutely perfectly. There has been a great

Our attention was then drawn to the fact that

positive drive to pool our strengths from the very

funding was still available for other types of projects

beginning, and I find that everyone’s contributions

in the Interreg-programme – funds that risked not

have been incredible, and everyone has been willing

being distributed because the demand was too low.

to share their knowledge and follow up. It could not

Following productive discussions with Interreg

have been better; I see it as a huge success, says Finn

and other central actors regarding the possibility to

Kristensen.

transfer funds between the various priorities, we were

ReproUnion inspired the Interreg project

able to apply for a supplementary grant that we were

lucky enough to receive, says Finn Kristensen.

In order to realise his idea, Finn Kristensen turned

The foundational project was coordinated by

first to the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which tipped

Medicon Valley Alliance. Besides Interreg, it was

him off on a project with similar ambitions in the

funded by Region Skåne, the Capital Region of Den-

field of reproduction called ReproUnion. After that,

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

emergence. In spite of that, they manifest in very

different ways; for that reason, doctors and research-

ers have not shared information and experiences to

a broader extent previously.

– Another advantage of looking at all three diseases

simultaneously is that we can screen for all three at the

same time. That means that we can streamline the work

of tracing who is at risk of being affected by these dise-

ases and prevent or delay their emergence. The primary

goal is to be able to determine who is in the risk group,

follow them and prevent the disease from developing –

or at the very least delay its development, he says.

FACTS: DIAUNION 1.0

The Interreg project DiaUnion brings together actors

from Sweden (Region Skåne and Lund University)

and Denmark (Steno Diabetes Center, Capital Region

of Denmark and Novo Nordisk Foundation) as well as

the Danish-Swedish project- and network organi-

sation Medicon Valley Alliance in order to promote

research of Type-1 diabetes. DiaUnion 1.0 will be

ongoing from January 2020 to September 2022. The

hope and aim is to discover more about why the

autoimmune disease develops and to establish a

screening programme on both sides of the Øresund

to identify special risk genes that reveal who is at

risk of developing Type-1 diabetes in the future and

providing treatment as early as possible.

Research in the project focuses in part on in-

creasing knowledge about the biomarkers that are

linked to an increased risk of developing Type-1

diabetes and adding other biomarkers to improve

filters and thus better predict who runs a high risk

of developing the disease and when it might be

expected to emerge. The next stage is to use the

research on biomarkers in a screening in which

children will have an opportunity to be screened

for Type-1 diabetes, coeliac disease and thyroiditis

in a pre-study for the upcoming project DiaUnion

2.0. The goal of the upcoming DiaUnion 2.0, expec-

ted to start in 2022, is to screen newborns for the

three autoimmune diseases and follow them for

an extended period in order to see which of them

develop diseases and to be able to implement

preventative treatments in an early stage. Two PhD

students have been employed for the project, and

the entire research group meets on a weekly basis

to report and discuss results.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: IDA WANG

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: DIABETES

“BRINGING IN PARTNERS TO BOOST RESEARCH VIA

COLLABORATION HAS BEEN AN ENORMOUS SUCCESS”

Daniel Agardh researches autoimmune diseases at Lund University and is a practi-

sing paediatrician at Skåne University Hospital. Part of the research he conducts is

within the project DiaUnion, where he is responsible for research on Swedish turf.

– This project makes me feel there is great hope for the future. I have found that

bringing in external partners to boost research to new levels through collabora-

tion has been an enormous success so far, he says.

– I see huge benefits to be had by using st-

rengths on both sides of the Øresund to carry

out the project. Together, Malmö and Copenha-

gen are a very large region with great opportu-

nities to join together and do excellent research,

says Daniel Agardh.

He finds that the collaboration between the

parties in DiaUnion works very well. In practice,

this means that e.g. the PhD student Sara Juul

has been employed at Steno Diabetes Center

Copenhagen to investigate biomarkers for Type

1 diabetes and their development, and postdoc

Alexander Lind has been given a position at

Lund University where he studies how these

biomarkers can be used more for a future

screening. They then discuss their results with

the senior researchers. In addition to Daniel

Agardh, these include Flemming Pociot from

Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen and Åke

Lernmark from Lund University Diabetes Centre

(LUDC). Although the coronavirus pandemic has

made it more difficult to meet in person, the

collaboration has continued smoothly, and the

physical meetings have been replaced by video

conference calls, says Daniel Agardh.

He also points out that the design of the colla-

boration has been a success factor for the project,

and he emphasises how important the roles of

project coordinator Finn Kristiansen and Medicon

Valley Alliance’s CEO Petter Hartman have been.

– The collaboration is very good, and Finn

Kristensen is behind that – he’s a phenomenal

organiser who keeps everything together when

the rest of us are busy doing other things. He

makes sure that we stay in touch and arranges

meetings with everyone from Novo Nordisk

to patient associations. He has been able to

bring in external parties, and then we bring our

expertise, says Daniel Agardh. He emphasises

that conducting a good study goes far beyond

just research.

– There are so many other puzzle pieces that

need to be in place, for example contact with

politicians. In that respect I’d like to mention

Petter Hartmann (MVA’s CEO), who is fantastic

at bringing contacts together via his network;

as researchers, we wouldn’t be able to do it,

because we simply don’t have those contacts.

In addition to the exchange of experiences,

expertise and strengths, trans-Øresund collabo-

ration also provides a greater base for research,

which in turn means that research moves for-

ward at a faster pace, says Daniel Agardh. While

the collaboration between Danish and Swedish

researchers has worked well within the DiaUni-

on project, certain differences in the countries’

legislation have become more apparent.

– What I’m seeing are small differences in

legislation regarding whether or not certain

research can be conducted. I see it as a chal-

lenge rather than a weakness, and there are

opportunities to use the difference to actually

make changes where things didn’t work befo-

re. Some things are very challenging however,

such as conducting a screening on both sides

of the Øresund; since it isn’t as common in

Denmark, getting ethical approval can be

difficult, says Daniel Agardh.

PHOTO: JOHAN PERSSON

“NOW THAT WE’RE IN DIAUNION, WE HAVE BOTH FUNDING

AND TIME – IT USED TO BE SOMETHING WE HAD TO FIND

TIME FOR ON THE SIDE”

Flemming Pociot is a professor at the University of Copenhagen and head of

research at the Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen. As he sees it, research

collaboration has become more concrete and moved up on the agenda since

the establishment of DiaUnion. Copenhagen and Malmö have developed into an

epicentre for diabetes research, and there is a great deal of activity across the

Øresund, which can largely be explained by the complementary expertise found

on either side of the strait, he says.

– Both sides have a long tradition of diabetes

research; our strengths on the Danish side are

that we’ve focused on insulin-producing cells

for many years and sought to understand why

they are destroyed by the immune system and

whether we can change that somehow. The

strength on the Swedish side is that they are

faster when it comes to conducting clinical

research and getting involved in international

projects that focus on longer periods before

people have the disease, says Flemming Pociot,

who is a professor at the University of Copen-

hagen and head of research for the research

group Translational Type 1 Diabetes Research

in clinical research at the Steno Diabetes Cen-

ter Copenhagen.

He adds that the model for diabetes research

on the Swedish side of the Øresund, where both

basic and clinical research are gathered at the

Clinical Research Center (CRC) in Malmö, is

a more favourable research model than the

one used on the Danish side; there, clinical

research is located at the Steno Diabetes Cen-

ter Copenhagen, and a large part of the basic

research conducted is done at the University of

Copenhagen.

As a former adjunct professor at Lund Uni-

versity, Flemming Pociot has a broad network

and good familiarity with diabetes research

on the Swedish shores of the Øresund. He has

been researching the emergence of Type-1 di-

abetes, which is one of DiaUnion’s focus areas,

for the past 25 years, and he has had a series

of collaboration in research, but it wasn’t until

the Interreg-funded project DiaUnion that the

Øresund collaboration became more concrete

and more highly prioritised.

– When the opportunity arose to formalise

the collaboration – because it has never been

done before, with joint funding and a shared

structure, although it has existed for years – it

was a fantastic prospect. It also helped that

we know the Swedish partners, we know what

they represent and how we can best help each

other and in doing so get as much as possible

out of the collaboration, he says. He continues:

– Before we became part of DiaUnion, the

collaboration depended more on whether we

made the right agreement with the right pe-

ople, and because it hadn’t been formalised,

the priorities were different. Now that we’re

part of the project, we have both funding and

time – and we can do the things we want to

get done. It used to be that we had to find time

for them on the side.

As he sees it, the Øresund collaboration

works well, but he would like to see it be

easier for PhD students to split their research

training between the two countries.

– It would make a lot of sense in a lot of

research projects, he says.

PHOTO: LIZETTE KABRÉ

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: ONCOLOGY

ROSKILDE UNIVERSITY

Here, researchers at the Depart-

ment of Science and Environme-

nt have for example collaborated

with Zealand University Hospital

to develop models for more

effective and more individual tre-

atments for cancer of the blood.

Focus: Cancer research

Cancer research is carried out in many

universities, hospitals and research

centres in the Øresund Region. There

are frequently collaborations between

individual researchers and research

groups across the Øresund strait. A

selection of cancer research environ-

ments are presented below.

MALMÖ UNIVERSITY

• Department of Biomedical

Science at the Faculty of Health

and Society

Experimental and clinical cancer

research is conducted by around

ten employees. These include

PhD students, post-docs, lectu-

rers and professors. In addition,

students are also involved in

research projects.

LUND UNIVERSITY

• Lund University Cancer Center

(LUCC)

LUCC is at the core of Lund Uni-

versity’s cancer research. More

than 600 researchers are linked

to the centre. Read more about

LUCC on page 76-77.

• CREATE Health

A strategical research centre for

translational cancer research

at LTH School of Engineering

in Lund, and also part of LUCC.

The centre is unique in that

researchers from four different

faculties at Lund University are

at home here (LTH, the Faculty

of Medicine, the Faculty of Social

Sciences and the Faculty of

Science.)

• The European Cancer Moons-

hot Lund Centre

The international collaborative

project Cancer Moonshot was

initiated by the National Cancer

Institute in the USA, and the

project’s European centre is in

Lund. Research there focuses on

identifying proteins in melanoma

tissue, and it is conducted at the

Biomedical Centre (BMC).

KRISTIANSTAD UNIVERSITY

TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

OF DENMARK (DTU)

Cancer research at DTU is con-

ducted at e.g. DTU Health Tech.

The department recently recei-

ved a 37.7mn DKK grant from

the Novo Nordisk Foundation

to establish an interdisciplinary

research centre where they will

transform CAR T-cell therapy for

treating solid cancer tumours.

SWEDEN CANCEROME ANALY-

SIS NETWORK - BREAST

• Sweden Cancerome Analysis

Network – Breast (SCAN-B)

The Øresund Region’s largest

breast cancer research project.

The collaboration started in

2010. Since then, tissue samples

have been collected from 17 000

people and analysed at SCAN-

B-labbet in Lund. In addition

to Lund University and SUS,

a number of other hospitals

in southern Sweden are also

involved.

THE DANISH CANCER SOCIETY

Denmark’s national cancer foun-

dation the Danish Cancer Socie-

ty is located in Copenhagen. It

has its own research institute in

Copenhagen with 250 research-

ers and research students from

46 different countries.

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

The majority of KU’s research

in the life sciences is conducted

at the Faculty of Health and

Medical Sciences. 3 000 resear-

chers and 1 700 PhD students

are linked to the faculty. Cancer

research is for example carried

out at these two research

centres:

• Biotech Research & Innova-

tion Centre (BRIC)

BRIC’s focuses are biomedical

basic research in cancer and

neurological and metabolic

diseases and disorders. 250 re-

searchers who primarily, though

not exclusively, work with cancer

are linked to the centre.

• Novo Nordisk Foundation

Center for Stem Cell Biology

(DanStem)

International research centre for

basic stem cell and develop-

mental biology, founded in 2011

with a donation from the Novo

Nordisk Foundation. Today the

research aims to answer fun-

damental questions regarding

stem cells developmental bio-

logy in order to contribute new

types of treatment for cancer

and chronic diseases, including

diabetes.

Three researchers work in on-

cological research. They are at

the departments of biomedicine,

physical therapy and nursing,

respectively.

THE REGIONS

The Capital Region of Denmark,

Region Zealand and Region Skå-

ne count a total of 600 cancer

researchers. Note that some

of these researchers are also

linked to the universities.

• The Capital Region of Denmark

438 researchers at Rigshospi-

talet (321), Herlev & Gentofte

(74), Bispebjerg & Frederiksberg

(27) and Amager & Hvidovre (5),

Nordsjælland Hospital (11)

• Region Zealand

Around 50 cancer researchers.

• Region Skåne (Skåne Univer-

sity Hospital; SUS)

95-100 cancer researchers.

DANISH NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTRES

There are 11 research centres for cancer in Denmark. They were

founded in 2016 in collaboration with the Danish Cancer Society,

Danish Comprehensive Cancer Center (DCCC) and the regions

themselves. Many of the centres are based in Zealand.

• COMPAS – Danish Research Center for Equity in Cancer

Steered from Zealand University Hospital in Næstved; research

is based at research institutions and hospitals all over Denmark.

• Danish Research Center for Precision Medicine in Blood Cancer

Based at the Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC) at the

University of Copenhagen (KU); research is conducted in collabo-

ration with all five Danish regions.

• DCCC Danish Center for Targeted treatment of Primary Brain

Tumors

Founded in 2020 at the Department of Oncology at Rigshospitalet

in collaboration with researchers from e.g. BRIC at KU.

• National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy (CCIT-DK)

CCIT-DK is located at Herlev Hospital and is a centre for expe-

rimental, translational, and clinical collaborations in the field of

cancer immunology and cancer immunotherapy.

• CASTLE – Cancer Survivorship and General Late Effects

The centre is located at Rigshospitalet and focuses on late ef-

fects such as anxiety and depression in cancer patients.

TWO PRIVATE CLINICS AT

MEDICON VILLAGE IN LUND

• Peritus Clinic

A private specialist clinic at

Lund’s Medicon Village focused

on cancer treatment and resear-

ch, primarily in urology. Opened

in 2020. One of Sweden’s first

private cancer clinics.

• A new clinic for treating can-

cer that affects

will be founded

at the science park Medicon Vil-

lage in Lund. The clinic is being

financed with private funds from

Hans and Julie Rausing, who are

donating £20mn, or approxima-

tely a quarter of a billion SEK.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: ONCOLOGY

Broad unexploited potential in the Øresund

Region’s oncological research

There are strong cancer research environments on both sides of the Øresund. Nonetheless, few

formalised collaborations in cancer research exist across the Øresund; collaborations are instead

largely driven by individual initiatives and personal networks. Structural obstacles, national research

funds that may not be utilised for transborder projects, a lack of time and of knowledge about what

is available on the other side of the Øresund have all been highlighted as reasons why the collabo-

rations are not more ﬁrmly established. One exception is the Interreg-funded collaborative project

iCope, where researchers from both sides of the Øresund work together in the ﬁeld of childhood

cancer with the aim to establish a permanent centre in the region.

Research collaboration is largely driven by

There are multiple oncological research centres in

individuals and personal networks

the Øresund Region. For instance, Lund University

Collaborations in cancer research in the Øresund

(LU) brings together around 600 researchers at

Region are mainly smaller scale undertakings

Lund University Cancer Center (LUCC), and the

brought about by individual initiatives and personal

strategical centre for translational cancer research

networks, resulting in collaborations between indi-

Create Health is at LTH School of Engineering, also

vidual researchers, research groups or clinics.

in Lund. In addition, the research group Cancer

The cancer researchers interviewed for this report

Moonshot Lund conducts research within the inter-

have or have had collaborations across the Øre-

national project Cancer Moonshot. On top of that,

sund, but these have been via their research groups

research is undertaken at Skåne University Hospital

and individual collaborations.

in Lund and Malmö, often

”As a researcher, one’s

Kristian Pietras is a professor

with universities.

at Lund University and former

On the other side of the

demands are often

coordinator of the Lund Uni-

bridge, cancer research is

extremely specific, and

versity Cancer Center and he

conducted at the Univer-

works with e.g. research groups

sity of Copenhagen (KU),

you choose the colla-

from BRIC at the University

especially at the Faculty

borations that give

of Copenhagen, and his own

of Health and Medical

research group also includes

you the most.”

Sciences. One research

Danish employees. Head of

centre there is the Biotech

research at the Danish Cancer Society Mef Nilbert

Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC) where 250

has professor titles from both sides of the Øresund:

researchers focus primarily on studying cancer. The

she is a professor at KU and a visiting professor

university also works with hospitals in the Capital

at LU. Carl Borrebaeck is a professor at LU and a

Region of Denmark, at which 438 people work

serial entrepreneur and has multiple collaborations

in cancer research – most of them at the Center

established on the Danish side of the strait. The

for Cancer- and Organ Diseases at Rigshospitalet,

majority of the other research institutes also report

and with Region Zealand, where around 50 people

that they collaborate across the Øresund, but on a

conduct cancer research. Denmark’s national cancer

smaller scale – between individual researchers and

foundation, the Danish Cancer Society is located

research groups or as part of larger Nordic projects.

in Copenhagen. Unlike its Swedish counterpart the

Swedish Cancer Society, the Danish Cancer Society

The right collaboration is more important

has its own research institute. The research institute

than geographic proximity

aims to conduct globally leading cancer research,

Various reasons why collaborations haven’t been

and 250 researchers from 26 different countries

established more broadly emerged in the interviews

work there. Cancer research cancer is also conduc-

with researchers. It is repeatedly mentioned that

ted at Malmö University, the Technical University

research collaboration is facilitated – though not

of Denmark (DTU), Roskilde University and Kris-

dependent on – geographic proximity. Finding

tianstad University, albeit on a smaller scale.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

the right research group for collaboration is more

important than geographic proximity, and in today’s

international research environment that might well

mean looking to the USA or China.

– As a researcher, one’s demands are often ex-

tremely specific, and you choose the collaborations

that give you the most. It doesn’t necessarily need to

be in Denmark; it could be anywhere. But proxi-

mity is always important, and that led me to work

with the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen and

numerous Danish cancer researchers early on, says

Carl Borrebaeck.

Head of research at the Danish Cancer Society

Mef Nilbert sees it similarly.

– Our research centre truly wishes to be at the

forefront of research centres, and our collaborations

are also globally leading collaborations. So, a rese-

arch collaboration might be with Karolinska, but it

might also be with New York or Glasgow. In that

respect we think somewhat more internationally

than simply the Øresund Region, she says.

She emphasises however that working together

to share resources such as core facilities and speciali-

sed analyses is big in the Øresund Region.

More collaboration requires time and

knowledge

There is broad unexploited potential and room for

improvement in cancer research collaboration across

the Øresund, as many of the interviewees for this

report point out. However, expanding joint efforts

requires both time – which is not always available

in the hectic day-to-day life of a researcher – as well

as knowledge, and a network in the other country.

When a network is already in place, asking around

for potential collaborators is often easy. If one lacks

a network however, getting a general view of rese-

archers and research environments can be difficult,

according to the interviewees.

– I consider the fact that there is no systematic

collaboration across the Øresund as a failure personal-

ly, but the task has been too great; so much has been

happening internally in the organisation. I see enor-

mous potential, and I myself work a lot with research

groups in Copenhagen – so personally, I have a lot of

interaction across the strait, but I’d like to bring that

to the institutional level. Building a network is often

the first step to collaboration, says Kristian Pietras,

professor at LU and former coordinator of LUCC.

Mef Nilbert points out that collaboration can be

obstructed by a lack of knowledge about the resear-

ch environments that exist in the region.

– Now, I know both sides well, but it’s hard

for people in Copenhagen to read the menu of

research environments on offer in Lund – and vice

versa, I’m sure. Universities could play a bigger role

by opening up and approving courses, as well as

making some kind of menu and showing that these

excellent research environments are in Copenhagen,

and these are in Lund, she says.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Danish Nils Brünner, professor at the University of Copenhagen, and Carl Borrebaeck, professor at Lund University, have many

years of collaborative cancer research behind them. Among other things, they founded the company Scandion Oncology together;

Nils Brünner still acts as scientiﬁc advisor.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: ONCOLOGY

(Interregional Childhood Oncology Precision

National research funds make transborder

Medicine Exploration). As the name indicates, the

research more difficult

project focuses on researching childhood cancer.

An addition factor making research collaborations

It is run by the Capital Region of Copenhagen

across the Øresund more difficult is that research

(Rigshospitalet), the Technical University of Den-

funds are often earmarked for national research.

mark (DTU), Lund University and

Carl Borrebaeck, who tried to start

Region Skåne (SUS). The three-year

an Interreg-programme in the field

project started in April 2019 and

of cancer a number of years ago,

will continue until March 2022. The

believes this to also be one of several

project started with a close, long-

reasons why cancer research has

term collaboration between the de-

not been built up more across the

partments for childhood oncology at

Øresund.

Skåne University Hospital in Lund

– It’s obviously a real limitation.

and Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen.

I hear people say, ”money isn’t

In 2014, the clinical collaboration

always the most important thing”,

received the Oresund Award for

and no, I agree that it isn’t, but it

its work, and that prompted them

is an important catalyst that makes

to start investigating how to

it possible for us to build

establish their joint efforts

up collaborations on a

”The fact that the

more firmly –which resulted in

somewhat larger scale, he

health insurance and

iCope. The collaboration has

says, and goes on:

tax systems aren’t

multiple focus areas; among

– If Innovation Fund

other things, researchers work

Denmark and Vinnova

synced up to make

with the industry to develop

were to make a joint

working part-time in

a robot that will help children

programme, collaborations

would take off quickly. It’s

both countries possible

maintain a presence at school

during periods when they’re

an unexploited potential,

is the single greatest

receiving treatments, and

and it could work better.

research is also conducted on

Part-time positions are

obstacle to research

late effects for the afflicted

common in the world of

collaboration in the

children. Working together on

research, which also means

a relatively narrow diagnosis

region, I would say.”

that structural obstacles

like childhood cancer makes

emerge between the

it possible to form a broader research base, and

countries – for example if one researches at a uni-

children can receive care and treatment on both

versity in one country and has a part-time position

sides of the Øresund.

at a private company in the other country.

Read more about the project on page 74-75.

– The fact that the health insurance and tax

systems aren’t synced up to make working part-ti-

me in both countries possible is the single greatest

New Interreg-project on cancer being

obstacle to research collaboration in the region,

investigated

I would say. It gets so incredibly complicated if

In addition to the abovementioned iCope, there

the systems aren’t synchronised; for many people,

are also larger Interreg-projects in diabetes- and

working on both sides of the Øresund would be so

reproduction research today – these are DiaUnion

natural, says Mef Nilbert, head of research at the

and ReproUnion 2.0, both coordinated by the Da-

Danish Cancer Society, a professor at the Universi-

nish-Swedish cluster organisation Medicon Valley

ty of Copenhagen and a visiting professor at Lund

Alliance. Possibilities to start similar collaborations

University.

in oncology and a collaboration focused on drug

Interreg-project on childhood cancer grew

delivery are currently being investigated, says MVA’s

from an individual collaboration between

CEO Petter Hartman.

clinics

– These are topics with strong links to the border

region, and there are interested actors from research

One collaboration between two separate clinics

environments as well as the industry, he says.

that was formalised by an Interreg-project is iCope

PHOTO: TOMAS BERTELSEN

SKÅNE SETS IT SIGHTS ON BECOMING A COMPREHENSIVE CANCER

CENTRE

In April 2020, Karolinska Institute and Karolinska

University Hospital were accredited as Sweden’s

first Comprehensive Cancer Centre by the Orga-

nisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI).

There are a total of around 20 such centres in

Europe today. To receive accreditation, an institute

must demonstrate the highest level of quality in

everything from a kind reception, prevention, di-

agnosis, treatment and rehabilitation to research,

teaching and training. Skåne University Hospital

is currently seeking to receive accreditation; this

is done via a project in which Skåne University

Hospital is working together with LUCC.

– We are one part of the process, and we are

managing the research aspect for Region Skå-

ne, says Kristian Pietras, professor and former

coordinator of LUCC. He explains that the aim

with the accreditation is to put a quality assuran-

ce seal on the centres that offer well thought out

and well-structured cancer care integrated with

research.

Mef Nilbert is head of research at the Danish

Cancer Society in Copenhagen and a member of the

European accreditation group. When asked if she

believes it would be possible to receive accreditation

for cancer research in the Øresund Region as a

whole, she replies:

– Yes, it could be done, and it would really baffle

those big Europeans; they think a country and a city

can be a cancer centre. I’m part of the accreditation

group – and if Lund University was accredited and

the University of Copenhagen got quality assurance,

then they could create a joint network across the

two countries; it would be incredibly exciting and it

could even include other hospitals.

ELEVEN NATIONAL CANCER

CENTRES IN DENMARK

Denmark has created a national network by the

name of Denmark Comprehensive Cancer Center

(DCCC) that functions as a research network with

focus on translational and clinical cancer resear-

ch. It is not accredited according to the European

quality assurance, however. In 2016, DCCC and

the Danish Cancer Society and the Danish regi-

ons established eleven national cancer centres

in Denmark. Four of these are based in Zealand,

but all of them aim to include healthcare and

research throughout the country. The natio-

nal centres are intended to strengthen cancer

research and compile new research experiences.

The centres also have a coordinating function;

they are responsible for ensuring that all larger

Danish research environments within their

research areas are involved in the centre and for

making sure that new research in the respective

areas are implemented in hospitals throughout

Denmark. Read more about the national cancer

centres on page 68-69.

Copenhagen Centre for

Cancer and Health.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: MOELVEN DENMARK

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: ONCOLOGY

A long and fruitful collaboration between the departments for childhood cancer at Copenhagen’s

Rigshospital and Skåne’s University Hospital (SUS) in Lund grew into the Interreg-funded project iCope

(Interregional Childhood Oncology Precision medicine Exploration). Among other things, the project

is a collaboration on diagnostics and treatment, as well as the development of robots and tablets that

aim to help make the everyday easier for children with cancer and their families. The lead partner is

the Capital Region of Denmark (Rigshospitalet), and other partners include the Technical University of

Denmark (DTU), Lund University and Region Skåne (Skåne University Hospital).

iCope is a three-year project that took off in April School of Engineering. On the Danish side of the

Øresund, a robot is being developed in collabora-

2019. It is the result of a long clinical collabo-

tion with Shape Robotics A/S.

ration between the departments for paediatric

– Children with cancer miss out on a lot of

cancer at Rigshospitalet and Skåne University

time at school and in their

Hospital in Lund. As can-

social contexts – the robots

cer in children is a relative-

”The Øresund Region

are meant to represent the

ly infrequent diagnosis and

has what it takes to

child at school, so children

the number of patients is

can be part of lessons even

small, collaboration across

become a globally

if they are under isolation

the Øresund has been

leading centre for

during the treatment, says

very valuable for creating

Elise Witthoff. In addition,

a larger base and allowing

research and treat-

iCope works with the compa-

experience to be shared. In

ment of childhood

ny Qlucore, which develops

2014, the 30-year collabo-

cancer.”

software to facilitate analysis

ration between SUS and

of complex genetic data for

Rigshospitalet received

individual patients and that can easily be used

the Øresund Award. The collaboration has since

developed further, ultimately leading to the Inter- clinically.

reg-funded joint project iCope, whose vision is

The aim is to increase the number of child-

to create a globally leading centre for childhood

hood cancer researchers

cancer research in the Øresund Region.

One of the project’s objectives (see the fact box for

Developing digital tools and robots

others) is to increase the number of researchers in

the region who study childhood cancer. By creating

The project works broadly in the field of childhood

a joint PhD-programme between Lund University

cancer and includes everything from research on mo-

and the Technical University of Denmark, the hope

leculare- and DNA level to treatment and diagnosis

is that the number of researchers will increase, as

to the development of digital tools and robots. It also

well as the exchange of research over the Øresund.

conducts research for improved cure rates and better

– The hope is that the PhD-qualification will

quality of life in the long term for childhood cancer

weigh heavier, particularly when one is looking for

patients related to late effects in the project ALL-Star,

work or a research position in Denmark or Sweden,

and bio-ethics are an overarching focus.

says Elise Witthoff.

– When it comes to e-health, health sciences are

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, research

exploring the development of a tablet to make life

candidates have been unable to conduct teaching

easier for patients and their families in the everyday,

and research at DTU and Lund University, mea-

with frequent check-ups and questions – it will al-

ning that to date, the work has focused heavily on

low them to contact their clinic directly and get an-

recruiting students and coordinating the PhD-agre-

swers to questions, as well as to see test results and

ement between the universities. The goal is for the

the like, says iCope’s coordinator Elise Witthoff.

joint PhD-programme to remain in place even after

This is being done in collaboration with LTH

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

The pandemic means new conditions for

collaboration

The coronavirus pandemic has not only meant

that iCope’s joint PhD-programme hasn’t been

able to go according to plan; many nurses and

doctors who research within the project have had

to cut back on their research hours and work with

covid-related tasks instead. Absences due to illness

have increased and created additional pressure on

wards; as a result, researchers who are clinically

active have had less time to dedicate to the project,

says Elise Witthoff. Nonetheless, research in the

project has progressed.

– Research that started before the pandemic has

been easier to continue and produce results with,

for example e-health and tumour biology. Now, as

spring draws to an end, we also see great progress in

the areas that have required some new structures to

be built up, for example bioinformatics.

Striving for a world-leading research centre

The Øresund Region has what it takes to become

a globally leading centre for research and treat-

ment of childhood cancer, says Elise Witthof. She

explains that the Paediatric Oncology Research

Laboratory at Copenhagen’s Rigshospital is the

largest Nordic centre for phase I and II research

in paediatric oncology, that Lund University and

Skåne University Hospital were among the first in

Scandinavia to research late effects and that one of

Europe’s foremost institutions for bioinformatics

and healthtech is located at DTU.

The hope is that when the project comes to

an end in September 2022, the collaboration will

continue and become permanent, despite the lack

of Interreg funding.

– The vision is to become a stable organisation/

network/centre that can be active between Lund

and Copenhagen, and our goal is to become glo-

bally-leading in genetic childhood cancer research

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Elise Witthoff is the Swedish coordinator of iCope, and

Cornelis Jan Pronk, senior consultant at SUS and associate

professor at Lund University, is responsible for research on

the Swedish side.

and e-health. The steering committee is discussing

what can be done organisationally and what it

might look like in the future, says Elise Witthoff.

The steering committee is comprised of SUS’ head

of research Ingemar Petersson, Rigshospitalet’s vice

director Per E. Jørgensen, Thomas Lars Andresen,

professor and head of department at DTU, and

the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Lund Uni-

versity Kristina Åkesson.

OVERARCHING GOALS

•

Equal access to personalized medicine for

children with cancer

•

Improved quality of life in the long-term

for those who have been treated for child-

hood cancer

•

Identify genetic biomarkers for children

Text with cancer

•

Maintain continuity at school and facilitate

social contact and family life for children

during cancer treatment

•

Create a stable infrastructure for sharing

of data across the Øresund whilst main-

taining patient integrity

•

Increase the number of paediatric oncolo-

gy researchers

•

Increase the number of female research-

ers in leading positions

•

Strengthen collaboration with the industry

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

ICOPE STRIVES FOR GLOBALLY LEADING RESEARCH

IN CHILDHOOD CANCER IN THE ÖRESUND REGION

the conclusion of the iCope project; the programme

is thus already being managed by the universities’

postgraduate research studies.

Another of iCope’s focuses is to increase the num-

ber of female research leaders; this is being pursued

in collaboration with the company Indea. Together,

they have devised a one-year leadership programme

for female researchers and heads of research.

– We have been able to hold the training online

in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, and the first

participants received their diplomas this May. It has

been very successful, says Elise Witthoff.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: ONCOLOGY

NATIONAL COOPERATION IN PLACE – BUT

COLLABORATION ACROSS THE ØRESUND

IS FUELLED MOST BY INDIVIDUALS AND

SPONTANEOUS MEETINGS

Lund University Cancer Centre (LUCC) brings together over 600 cancer researchers in more than 100

research groups. While collaboration with similar organisations at other Swedish institutions is strong,

there is a great unexploited potential when it comes to international collaboration and contacts on the

other side of the Øresund. ”We have a lot of very strong research here, but people stay on their own

turf”, says Kristian Pietras, professor at Lund University and the coordinator of LUCC. His own resear-

ch does however involve exchanges with multiple research groups in Copenhagen.

are cancer researchers, says Kristian Pietras, who

In Lund, cancer research is focused at Lund Univer-

is a professor and Lund University and LUCC’s

sity Cancer Centre (LUCC). LUCC was establis-

coordinator.

hed in 2019 as an extension of an earlier cluster

Kristian Pietras explains that a large number of

collaboration for Lund University’s research on

the researchers at LUCC are also linked to Region

cancer. LUCC is described as an umbrella organisa-

Skåne and research at Skåne University Hospital –

tion, facilitating research through its overview and

insight of the landscape. Another of LUCC’s impor- but that LUCC is responsible for the majority of

the research.

tant roles is to function as management support,

preparing questions related

Unexploited potential in

to cancer research for the

”...many people get

international collaboration

management of different

their PhD at Lund

Region Skåne is LUCC’s main

departments at Lund

collaborative partner. There is

University, within the

University and then

also ample and fruitful collabo-

university as a whole, and

continue with their

ration in cancer research with

for Region Skåne. Today,

research here. So, the

similar organisations at larger

funding for the centre

comes from subventions

international perspec-

higher learning institutions in

Sweden, says Pietras. When it

from Lund University’s Fa-

tive is lacking so-

comes to international collabo-

culty of Medicine, Region

ration and collaboration across

Skåne (ALF-funds, which

mewhat in Lund, and

the Øresund Strait however,

are Swedish Research

Council funds for clinical

on top of that perhaps

there is more to be desired.

research in medicine)

the Danes don’t see the

– We have a lot of very

strong research here, but people

and a number of external

point of trans-Øresund

stay on their own turf, so more

foundations.

internationalisation is high on

collaboration.”

600 cancer research-

the agenda right now, he says.

ers associated with

LUCC

Why might that be so?

– I’m not sure. It’s difficult to pinpoint, but

Today, 600 researchers in more than 100 research

studies have shown that many people get their PhD

groups are linked to the centre.

at Lund University and then continue with their

– We generated the list of our researchers by

research here. So, the international perspective is

reviewed who has research grants related to cancer

lacking somewhat in Lund, and on top of that per-

research. Some have their primary activities in a

haps the Danes don’t see the point of trans-Øresund

different branch of basic research relevant to cancer

collaboration, he says.

research, but it is perhaps less obvious that they

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Breast cancer, genomics and tumour micro-

environments are areas of strength

Singling out LUCC’s areas of strength in cancer

research is complex; in practice, it is a question of

around 200 different diseases, says Kristian Pietras.

He does however point out three areas in which

LUCC excels.

– Breast cancer research has traditionally been

strong in Lund. The volume and quality are both

high across the board, from basic research to trans-

lational research and clinical research, where we are

at the leading edge.

– Genomics, if we’re talking about bioinfor-

matics and technology. We are good at analysing

patient samples using large-scale methods.

– Within biology, we are strong when it comes

to tumour microenvironments – that is, the inte-

raction between tumour cells and other cells in the

vicinity of the tumour, says Kristian Pietras.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Kristian

Pietras.

PHOTO: KENNETH RUONA

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Strategic collaboration across the strait is

lacking – but the University of Copenhagen

is the most frequent collaborative partner

for research publications

There are no systematic collaborations for cancer

research that span over the Øresund today.

– I have requested them and tried to initiate

them. When I moved here from Karolinska Insti-

tute, I initiated a number of collaboration projects,

but none of them survived. But although there is

no systematic trans-Øresund exchange in place,

researchers from the University of Copenhagen are

the most frequent collaborative partner for research

publications by cancer researchers in Lund.

– I think that the cooperation between Lund

and Copenhagen today is fuelled mainly by indivi-

duals and spontaneous collaborations, says Kristian

Pietras, although he mentions the Interreg project

iCope as an exception.

Personally, Kristian Pietras sees the lack of an

established, systematic trans-Øresund collaboration

for cancer research as a failure; he says that it is

difficult to find the time to establish something like

that when there is so much internal work in the

organisation. In his own research however, he has a

great deal of exchanges with research groups from

Copenhagen, and a number of the researchers on

his team commute from Denmark. Kristian Pietras

works with e.g. research groups at Biotech Research

& Innovation Centre in Copenhagen, and he is

also a member of the scientific board at the Danish

Cancer Society.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: ONCOLOGY

“WE COULD BEAT SILICON VALLEY OR ANY OTHER

”VALLEY” FOR THAT MATTER – WHAT HOLDS US

BACK IS THAT THERE ARE NO TRANSBORDER

RESEARCH FUNDS”

Carl Borrebaeck is a professor of immunology at Lund University, and his research has led to the

formation of six companies. In his capacity as a researcher and an entrepreneur, he has put the vicinity

of the Øresund to good use, but he believes that there remains a great deal of unexploited collabora-

tion potential. To improve collaboration, he would like to see more transborder research funds and a

shared platform that highlights the differences in Swedish and Danish company rules.

own initiative and his personal contacts, and the

Carl Borrebaeck is a professor and the serial entre-

short distance between the two countries has also

preneur behind the companies Alligator Bioscien-

played an important role.

ce, Immunovia, Scandion

– As a researcher, one’s

Oncology, SenzaGen,

”Geographic proximi-

demands are often extremely

BioInvent International and

ty plays an important

specific, and you choose the

PainDrainer. His research

collaborations that give you

and his business ventures

role in collaboration,

the most. It doesn’t necessarily

take him over the Øresund

but people also need

need to be in Denmark; it

extensively; an example

could be anywhere. But proxi-

is Scandion Oncology, a

to know each other.”

mity is always important, and

Danish company recently

that led me to work with the Danish Cancer Society

offered on First North in Stockholm that Carl

in Copenhagen and numerous Danish cancer rese-

Borrebaeck founded with the Danish professor

archers early on, he says.

and entrepreneur Nils Brünner. The two have

conducted a great deal of research together and are

He travelled to China and found what he was

both behind the Øresund network the Oncology

looking for in Hvidovre

Network, which is now run by Medicon Valley Al-

Carl Borrebaeck talks about the time he travelled

liance. Carl Borrebaeck also initiated the strategic

across the world to find a suitable biobank for colla-

centre for cancer research Create Health at LTH

boration. He came into contact with an interesting

School of Engineering, which works to extend

potential collaborative partner in China, but later

translational cancer research and the cooperation

discovered that there was a more suitable biobank at

between academia and health care.

Hvidovre Hospital, which led to a long collabora-

The Øresund collaboration is fuelled by per-

tion and many joint research publications with the

sonal engagement and geographic proximity

professor Julia Johansen.

– A more structured programme between

Carl Borrebaeck is active in research and entre-

Sweden and Denmark would have made it much

preneurship on both sides of the Øresund. He has

easier. We would have saved hundreds of thou-

worked for many years with the Danish professor

sands of crowns by now. Geographic proximity

Nils Brünner, with whom he founded the Danish

plays an important role in collaboration, but

company Scandion Oncology, to which he is now

people also need to know each other. If I don’t

scientific advisor. He has also published numerous

know exactly what is available on the other side of

articles with the Danish researcher Julia Johansen

the Øresund, I can call Danish colleagues and ask,

from Hvidovre Hospital and been active in various

but those without that option miss out on a lot

Danish boards of directors.

of “benefits” and good advice that doesn’t need to

Carl Borrebaeck explains that his collaboration

cost a lot, says Carl Borrebaeck.

with Danish actors has largely been fuelled by his

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Great potential in more collaboration – but

funding is an obstacle

Carl Borrebaeck believes that the Øresund Region

brings together a large and unique variety of cancer

researchers, e.g. at Lund University Cancer Center,

BRIC at the University of Copenhagen, and the

Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen. The fact

that there isn’t more trans-Øresund collaboration

than there is means that the resource is underexplo-

ited, he says.

– We’ve been talking about generating more

collaboration between Skåne and Copenhagen for

20 years now, and the million-dollar question is: how

can it be done? he says.

One important reason why collaboration in

cancer research isn’t more extensive in the Øresund

Region is the type of funding for research, Carl

Borrebaeck says.

– In terms of the basic conditions, there are good

researchers in both Skåne and Denmark. We could

easily beat Silicon Valley or any other “valley” for

that matter. What holds us back is that Denmark

gives funding to Danish researchers and Sweden gives

money to Swedish researchers, he says.

Carl Borrebaeck is convinced that there would

be more collaborations if e.g. Innovation Fund Den-

mark and Vinnova joined together for a common

funding programme.

– We have unique biobanks, expertise, equip-

ment, we have a 7-tesla machine in Lund that is

co-owned by Danish researchers but that isn’t being

taken advantage of the way it could because of the

limitations in how research funds may be used. Col-

laboration works in spite of those limitations – but it

could work very, very, very much better, he says.

Wanted: shared trans-Øresund platform

When it comes to commercial collaborations

across the Øresund, differences in the countri-

Carl Borrebaeck.

es’ legislation are what pose the greatest risk

of throwing a spanner in the works, says Carl

Borrebaeck. He mentions disparities in internal

company regulations and election committees

as examples, and he would like to see a shared

platform that pools together the differences in the

legislation of both countries.

Sweden’s stock market opens up for smaller

companies than Denmark’s, making it fairly com-

mon for Danish companies to list on the Swedish

market. There is even a need to re-examine the le-

gislation in Sweden and Denmark in that respect,

says Carl Borrebaeck – who has listed numerous

Danish companies in Sweden himself.

– Which legislation should be followed if a Da-

nish company wants to be listed in Sweden? One

must follow Swedish market rules but remains a

Danish company. That means that many listings

are delayed and unnecessarily complicated, he says.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

PHOTO: APELÖGA - LUNDS UNIVERSITET

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESEARCH: ONCOLOGY

PHOTO: TOMAS BERTELSEN

”CROSSING THE ØRESUND MAY BE EASY, BUT

COLLABORATING IS VERY COMPLICATED”

Mef Nilbert is head of research at Denmark’s national cancer foundation, the Danish Cancer Society in

Copenhagen. As a Swede with professor titles from the University of Copenhagen and Lund University,

she is an Öresunder from head to toe. She sees structural differences between the two countries that

put limits on what is otherwise simple research collaboration – and believes that the region needs to

be better at presenting the research environments that exist. At the moment, Øresund collaboration

primarily means jointly exploiting resources and performing specialised analyses at both sides of the

Øresund Strait.

environment, Mef Nilbert says.

Mef Nilbert is a professor at the University of

But when it comes to strong research colla-

Copenhagen and a visiting professor in Lund. After

borations where joint analysis or innovation are

splitting her time between Sweden and Denmark

necessary, collaboration across the Øresund is

for many years, she decided to work exclusively in

more limited.

Denmark in 2017 when she became head of rese-

– Our research centre always strives to colla-

arch at the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen,

borate with other leading researchers around the

which is the country’s national cancer foundation

world. So, a research collaboration might be with

with a research institution

Karolinska, but it might also

of its own and the vision

”We always want to

be with New York or Glasgow,

to conduct cancer research

at the global forefront.

recruit the best of the

she says.

There are 250 resear-

Structural obstacles limit

chers and students at the

best, and it makes no

research centre, and they

difference if they come

part-time work across the

Øresund Strait

are also closely linked

from Mexico, Sweden

According to Mef Nilbert,

to Danish hospitals and

there is great potential for

or the Philippines.”

universities. Six of them

more research collaboration

commute from Sweden

across the Øresund, and the collaboration itself

– there are thus more Italian researchers than

is often simple and works well. What obstructs

Swedish at the Danish Cancer Society’s research

that are structural obstacles created in part by the

institution.

countries’ different taxation- and health insurance

– We are extremely international, and we’d like

systems.

our institution to be the same. We always want

– Working together is incredibly easy; it’s great

to recruit the best of the best, and it makes no

when Danish and Swedish doctors and research-

difference if they come from Mexico, Sweden or the

ers get together for a project and share data and

Philippines, says Mef Nilbert.

work together – that has never been a problem,

Collaboration for resources and specialised

it’s always been a lot of fun. The obstacles to

analyses

collaboration are much more structural. Crossing

The Danish Cancer Society strives to be an interna-

the Øresund may be easy, but substituting data

tional research institution, and there is a great deal of

or including patients from different countries in a

exchange across the Øresund.

clinical study is extremely complicated.

– When it comes to jointly exploiting resources

The fact that the tax- and healthcare systems dif-

for example – such as core facilities and performing

fer and haven’t been synchronised better is blatantly

specialised analyses – we really think ’Copenha-

apparent when a researcher wants to divide her time

gen and Lund’. The same is true when it comes to

between e.g. a university and a hospital on opposite

technological platforms, clinical trials and developing

sides of the Øresund, she says.

early startups; one wants to stay close to one’s own

– The fact that the health insurance and tax

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Mef Nilbert, Head of

research at Denmark´s

national cancer foundation.

Universities can play a greater role in crea-

ting collaborations that cross borders

Postgraduate studies are very different at e.g. the

University of Copenhagen and Lund University,

and that is yet another obstacle for generating more

research collaboration, Mef Nilbert points out.

– It isn’t possible to take courses on one side of

the Øresund and receive credits for them in the

other country. The universities’ proximity to one

another entails great potential for exploiting the

course offering on the other side of the Øresund.

But I know that both the University of Copenhagen

and Lund University have taken the initiative to ex-

plore how this issue could be solved, and I consider

that positive.

She also believes that the region’s universities

should be better at showing which research environ-

ments exist to facilitate collaborations in the region.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

systems aren’t synced up to make working part-ti-

me in both countries possible is the single greatest

obstacle to research collaboration in the region,

I would say. It gets so incredibly complicated if

the systems aren’t synchronised; for many people,

working on both sides of the Øresund would be

so natural. Being associated with another univer-

sity or company – in the same country this is no

problem – but if one works for a university and a

private company in the other country, it gets ex-

tremely messy and systematically speaking almost

impossible, she says.

– Now, I know both sides well, but it’s hard

for people in Copenhagen to read the menu of

research environments on offer in Lund – and vice

versa, I’m sure. Universities could play a bigger role

by opening up and approving courses, as well as

making some kind of menu and showing that these

excellent research environments are in Copenhagen,

and these are in Lund, she says.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESRACH: REPRODUCTION

RESEARCH: REPRODUCTION

LUND UNIVERSITY

• Department of Translational

Medicine

Research groups for molecular

genetic reproductive medici-

ne, reproductive medicine and

clinical chemistry are located

here. Their research is largely

at the Reproductive Medicine

Centre and the Clinical Research

Center in Malmö.

• Division of Occupational &

Environmental Medicine

Reproduction is a special focus

for the research group Environ-

mental Epidemiology, particu-

larly related to e.g. involuntary

childlessness and pregnancy

complications.

Reproductive research is conducted at the Öre-

sund Region’s universities, hospitals and com-

mercial enterprises; the pharmaceutical com-

pany Ferring Pharmaceutical’s largest research

facility is in Copenhagen. Many of the research

environments throughout the region are part of

the collaborative project ReproUnion 2.0, which

has been active in various iterations for more

than ten years. The following is a presentation of

some research environments in the field.

CAPITAL REGION OF DENMARK

There are a total of 140 resear-

chers at:

• Rigshospitalet (80)

The Department of Growth and

Reproduction is located here, as

well as the Fertility Department,

and some research is carried

out at the Laboratory of Repro-

ductive Biology (LRB).

• Nordsjællands Hospital (23)

Research is conducted here at

the Department of Gynaecology

and Obstetrics. Among the focus

areas are gestational diabetes

and labour stimulation. During

the coronavirus pandemic, re-

search has also investigated the

effects of Covid-19 on pregnancy.

• Herlev & Gentofte Hospital (10)

Research is conducted here

at the Fertility Clinic at the

Department of Obstetrics and

Gynaecology.

• Amager & Hvidovre (27)

Denmark’s largest gynaecology

and obstetrics department is

located at Hvidovre Hospital. The-

re are two research focus areas:

– Optimising patient treatment

while lowering risks, and

– Patient-centred care/persona-

lised medicine.

• Bispebjerg/Frederiksberg

Hospital*

Reproductive health is an area

of focus for research at the

Department of Occupational and

Environmental Medicine.

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

The majority of the University of

Copenhagen’s research in the

life sciences is conducted at the

Faculty of Health and Medical

Sciences, and there are 3 000 re-

searchers and 1 700 PhD students

linked to the faculty. Reproductive

research takes place at e.g.:

• Department of Cellular and

Molecular Medicine

• Department of Public Health

FERRING PHARMACEUTICALS

• Research facility in Ørestad

The company’s largest research

facility will be part of Ferring’s

new offices in Kastrup. Today,

600 people work at Ferring in

Copenhagen; this number is

expected to increase to 750 with

the move. There are just under 20

employees in Malmö.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Focus: Reproduction and fertility

MALMÖ UNIVERSITY

• Centre for Sexology and Sexu-

ality Studies

The Centre for Sexology and

Sexuality Studies at Malmö

University is involved in research

projects dealing with fertility

and cancer. The centre is part of

ReproUnion’s challenge 5 – ”Im-

proving fertility awareness”.

REGION SKÅNE

• Reproduction Medicine Centre

(RMC)

conducts a great deal of the

reproductive medicine research

in Region Skåne. Today, RMC is

located on the hospital premises

in Malmö, but in late 2021 it will

move to a new location in Malmö’s

Western Harbour district to make

room for a maternity ward hotel in

Malmö. Around 5-6 reproductive

researchers are linked to Region

Skåne, according to the region.

REPROUNION 2.0

A collaborative project between

Region Skåne, the Capital Region

of Denmark, Lund University, the

University of Copenhagen, Ferring

Pharmaceuticals and Medicon

Valley Alliance. ReproUnion is the

fourth consecutive collaborative

project on reproduction, and five

primary research topics are in

focus. The project started in 2019

and is scheduled to end in Sep-

tember 2022. Read more about

ReproUnion 2.0 on page 86.

REGION ZEALAND

There are a total of around 10 reproductive researchers at:

• The fertility clinic at Zealand University Hospital in Køge,

which is

currently conducting three different PhD-studies in fertility.The clinic has

an extensive exchange with the Capital Region of Denmark.

• Zealand University Hospital in Roskilde

conducts fertility research at

the Clinical Biochemical Department.

• ReproHealth Research Consortium Zealand University Hospital

is a

consortium whose aim is to conduct international reproductive research.

The aforementioned Clinical Biochemical Department is a main partner

together with the Department of Gynaecology/Obstetrics, the Patho-

logy Department and the Paediatric Department of Zealand University

Hospital.

• The Centre for Immune Regulation and Reproductive Immunology

(CIRRI)

is a collaboration between the Clinical Biochemical Department

in Roskilde and the Department of Clinical Medicine at the University of

Copenhagen. The focus is on modelling the immune system and its func-

tion during pregnancy and with certain gestational complications.

PHOTO: REGION SJÆLLAND

* Although the hospital is part of ReproUnion, the Capital Region of Denmark did not report the number of researchers in the unit.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Malmö University.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND ØRESUND

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESRACH: REPRODUCTION

RESEARCH: REPRODUCTION

Reproduction and fertility are strong research areas in the Øresund Region. There are numerous excel-

lent research environments on both sides of the Øresund, most of which are involved in the EU-funded

collaborative project ReproUnion 2.0, which has been active in various forms for the past ten years.

Researchers in the project are currently building up a unique biobank by the name of RUBIC. The only

one of its kind in the world, it will comprise 5 000 couples from Region Skåne and the Capital Region of

Denmark. Ferring Pharmaceuticals is a globally leading company in the ﬁeld of fertility. In the summer

of 2021, it will move to its new Danish headquarters in Kastrup, and the research facility there – which

is already the company’s largest – will welcome 150 new employees.

Research on reproduction in the Øresund Region is

conducted at a high international level at hospitals,

universities and in the industry. Ferring Pharmaceu-

ticals’ largest research facility is located in Copenha-

gen. Many of the region’s major actors in reproduc-

tion research collaborate across the Øresund via the

Interreg-funded project ReproUnion 2.0, which

was preceded by three other collaborative projects.

ReproUnion brings together the healthcare sector,

academia and Ferring Pharmaceuticals in a unique

”private-public partnership” that is coordinated

by Medicon Valley Alliance. In recent years, the

project has also started research collaborations with

universities from the international forefront, such as

Stanford University in the USA. Read more about

ReproUnion on page 86-87.

Unique biobank of infertile couples being

constructed in ReproUnion 2.0

As part of ReproUnion 2.0, researchers are cur-

rently building up a one-of-a-kind biobank and

Danish and Swedish sides of the Øresund Region.

The biobank is called ReproUnion Biobank and

Infertility Cohort (RUBIC). RUBIC is expected

to be an important part of the Øresund Region’s

research infrastructure in the future. The hope is

that research will be able to discover what causes

involuntary childlessness.

– No comparable studies with this many partici-

pants have ever been conducted before, and the eyes

of the research community are on us, said Margare-

ta Kitlinski, specialist at Skåne University Hospital

and one of Sweden’s leading experts on involuntary

childlessness in a press release when RUBIC was

presented in the spring of 2021.

The hope is that the model used to jointly explo-

it the biobank – which will effectively comprise two

separate national biobanks – will be utilisable in

other research areas as well.

A patient mobility agreement across the Øresund

has been developed through the ReproUnion col-

laboration; it entails that residents of the Øresund

Region affected by reproductive challenges or other

disorders related to reproduction can receive treat-

ment and healthcare in Region Skåne as well as in

the Capital Region of Denmark. Patients can thus

be offered more and improved treatment options.

The patient agreement on fertility was the first of its

kind in the Øresund Region when it came into ope-

ration in 2017. Since then, residents of Skåne have

been able to receive specialised treatment for certain

reproductive disorders and hospitals in the Capital

Region of Denmark in Copenhagen and vice versa.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals largest research

facility is in Copenhagen

The pharmaceuticals giant Ferring Pharmaceuti-

cals has 600 employees in Copenhagen and 17 in

Malmö. One of its two R&D facilities is in Copen-

hagen; the other is in San Diego, USA. When the

company – whose headquarters are in Switzerland

– moves its Danish headquarters from Ørestad to

Kastrup, the number of employees there will increa-

se by 150, says Marianne Kock, CEO of Ferring in

Denmark, in an interview for this report. The new

headquarters is called Soundport, and the inaugu-

ration is planned for the summer of 2021. With its

37 000m2, it will be Ferring’s largest R&D facility.

Ferring conducts research in five main areas:

•

Reproductive medicine and maternal health

Gastroenterology

Urology & Uro-oncology

Microbiome

Early-stage development

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

More than 150 researchers in the regions

Region Skåne, the Capital Region of Denmark

and Region Zealand are all investing in research in

reproductive medicine, and according to data from

the three regions, there area over 150 researchers in

the field in the three regions.

In Region Skåne, the majority of the research is

conducted at the Reproductive Medicine Center

(RMC) and the Clinical Research Center (CRC) on

the hospital premises in Malmö. In late 2021, RMC

will move to a new location in Malmö’s Western

Harbour district to make room for a maternity ward

hotel at its previous location in Malmö.

In the Capital Region of Denmark, research is

conducted at the fertility clinics at Nordsjællands

Hospital in Hillerød, Bispebjerg/Frederiksberg

Hospital, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Hvidovre

Hospital and at Rigshospitalet. The Department of

Growth and Reproduction is also located at Rigs-

hospitalet, and combines clinical activity and rese-

arch. There is a special focus on male reproductive

disorders and children with growth- or hormonal

disorders. The department has a number of labs in

which research is carried out, and it receives patients

from all over Denmark. 80 people are employed

there; around half of them are researchers.

In 2017, Region Zealand founded a consorti-

um for reproductive research called ReproHealth

Research Consortium Zealand University Hospital.

The main partners in the consortium are Regi-

on Zealand’s Clinical Biochemical Department

(Zealand’s University Hospital in Roskilde), the

gynaecological/obstetric department, the patholo-

gy department and the paediatric department of

Zealand’s University Hospital. The region’s fertility

clinic is part of the gynaecological/obstetric depart-

ment at Region Zealand’s University Hospital in

Køge. At the clinic, research is conducted as part of

three different PhD study programmes, as well as in

numerous studies and projects in collaboration with

the Capital Region of Denmark and others.

Region Zealand was part of ReproUnion until

2019, but prior to ReproUnion 2.0, which is still

active today, it chose to leave the collaboration in

order to focus more on its own research projects.

Anne Lis Englund heads the fertility clinic in Regi-

on Zealand and says that it is possible that the regi-

on will become an active party in the collaboration

again in the future. The fertility clinic in Region

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Zealand will be part of the new university hospital

currently being constructed in Køge. Completion

is planned for 2025, and it will contain 800 beds in

separate rooms.

Generous regulations for assisted reproduc-

tion attracted the involuntarily childless to

Denmark

Denmark’s rules for assisted reproduction have

long since been more generous than in many other

countries, including Sweden. There has been no

shortage of donated sex cells in Denmark, and

there are many private clinics that offer both egg

and sperm donations to single women and childless

couples. Swedish legislation related to assisted re-

production has grown more forgiving over the past

five years, and in 2016 it became possible for single

women in Sweden to receive reproductive assistan-

ce. As of 2019, private clinics in Sweden are allowed

to carry out assisted reproduction with donated em-

bryos, eggs or sperm. Since that same year, double

donation is also permitted – that is, both egg and

sperm may both be from donors.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

World class reproduction research in the Øre-

sund Region

During the coronavirus pandemic, Ferring has

also funded research projects that investigate how

pregnancy and fertility are affected by Covid-19.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESRACH: REPRODUCTION

RESEARCH: REPRODUCTION

For more than ten years, researchers from both sides of the Øresund have collaborated on reproduc-

tive medicine within the Interreg-funded projects ReproSound, ReproHigh and ReproUnion. Not only

has this beneﬁtted the research community; the patient mobility agreement put in place via the project

has also helped involuntarily childless couples throughout the Øresund Region gain access to the best

healthcare possible. The current project ReproUnion 2.0 will conclude in 2022 – but the researchers

have no intention of letting their research collaboration end there, says project manager Aleksander

Giwercman, who helped start the collaboration in 2010.

Since 2010, the research projects in the Repro-se-

ries have received 30mn crowns in grants; the

funds have been distributed among four different

projects. What began as an individual collabo-

ration between Jens Sønksen at Herlev Hospital

and Aleksander Giwercman at Skåne University

Hospital has become a firmly established research

collaboration, and also inspired the diabetes resear-

ch collaboration DiaUnion.

Today, project manager and co-founder of the

collaborative project Aleksander Giwercman is a

professor at Lund University and a senior physician

at the Reproductive Medicine Center in Malmö.

Born in Poland, he moved to Denmark at fourteen

and later studied to become a physician, specialising

in andrology, the branch of medicine that deals

with the study of male reproduction. He worked at

Rigshospitalet for a number of years before moving

to Skåne in 1999. In Skåne, he helped establish

clinical reproduction- and andrological operations

at what was then University Hospital MAS –known

today as Skåne University Hospital. That led to a

mixed reproductive medicine clinic for both women

and men that opened in Malmö in 2007. Aleksan-

der Giwercman headed the clinic until 2014. All

the while he conducted research, predominantly

on male reproduction, and in 2012 he became a

professor at Lund University. When reorganisa-

tions merged the clinic with other departments in

2014, he chose to focus exclusively on research and

teaching.

A patient cancellation gave the opportunity

to google shared research funding

While working as a physician, he built up a collabo-

ration with former colleagues on the Danish side of

the Øresund, in particular with Jens Sønksen, who

was a urologist and researcher at Herlev Hospital

who occasionally came to Malmö to help Aleksan-

der Giwercman with various treatments.

– Every time we met, we said to each other that

there really must be funding accessible for Øresund

collaborations somewhere for the research projects

we wanted to do together. But there was never time

to develop it further. But then one time there was

a patient cancellation, and we had one and a half

hours; we started googling, and then we found

Interreg. At the time Interreg had offices in Copen-

hagen, so we had a meeting with them, and they

were very positive. Their approach was user-friendly

and they helped us bring it forward, says Aleksander

Giwercman.

One of the people in charge of the matter with

whom they had contact is a well-known figure in

the Øresund Region’s life science sector today – na-

mely Petter Hartman, now CEO of Medicon Valley

Alliance.

– He was extremely enthusiastic, and we applied

for and received €1mn from Interreg, to be distri-

buted over three years, from 2010-2013, under the

name ReproSound, says Aleksander Giwercman.

Complementary competences led to the

idea for ReproHigh and the patient mobility

agreement

As ReproSound progressed, ideas for the next

project began to emerge as the researchers realised

they had complementary competences on both

sides of the Øresund. In Denmark for example,

they had come a long way with research on extrac-

ting and freezing the ovaries of women who were

to e.g. be treated for cancer. At the time however,

there was a shortage of donated eggs in Denmark,

since women who donated their eggs were not gi-

ven any compensation; this happened to coincide

with a campaign by Region Skåne to encourage

more women to donate eggs.

– We contacted Region Skåne, which in turn

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

”Every time we met, we

said to each other that

there really must be

funding accessible for

Øresund collaborations

somewhere for the

research projects we

wanted to do together.”

Aleksander Giwercman, professor at Lund University and a se-

nior physician at the Reproductive Medicine Center in Malmö.

both sides of the Øresund. Aleksander Giwercman

recounts how the patient mobility agreement and

the collaborative research during that time bene-

fitted from the great visions of a well-integrated

Øresund Region.

– It was in the spirit of the times; there was a

lot of talk about integration in the Øresund Regi-

on at that time. We had proposed out collabora-

tion ourselves, and we were enthusiastic about it,

so nobody needed convincing, he continues.

REPROUNION 2.0

Programperiod:

1 jan 2019-30 sep 2022

Partners:

Medicon Valley Alliance

Region Skåne

Region Hovedstaden

Lund University

Malmö University

University of Copenhagen

Ferring Pharmaceuticals

Five research areas in ReproUnion 2.0:

Improving male fertility:

Increase the understan-

ding of how lifestyle, environmental and genetic

factors affect male fertility with the goal of deve-

loping specialized treatments and preventative

measures.

Optimizing reproductive health outcomes:

Develop new, cheaper, and more efficient repro-

ductive techniques to reduce societal costs and to

minimize the strain women are exposed to during

artificial reproductive treatment.

Securing female ovarian function:

Reduce the

negative impact diseases and treatments have

on fertility by increasing the knowledge of the

function of the ovary.

Preventing infertility-related morbidity:

In-

vestigate how infertility can function as an early

marker for common major diseases.

Improving fertility awareness:

Increase informa-

tion to the society regarding the impact of lifestyle

factors on reproduction and the possibilities of

having a family; important information in relation

to political decisions and the work of authorities

to minimize negative societal consequences.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: LUND UNIVERSITY

ReproUnion 2.0: Øresund collaboration gives

reproduction research an extra boost

contacted the Capital Region of Denmark, because

they realised that we needed an agreement so these

patients could cross the bridge and receive the best

possible treatment free of charge, says Aleksander

Giwercman.

The patient mobility agreement came into

action in 2017. In practice, it means that all

residents of Skåne and the Capital Region of

Denmark can receive healthcare for certain more

advanced kinds of reproductive disorders on both

sides of the strait, and thus expand and improve

their treatment options. With the realisation of

the highly complementary expertise in the Øre-

sund Region, a new project began to emerge: the

project ReproHigh was granted €2mn by Interreg

between 2012-2014. The name ReproHigh is a

nod of recognition to the high level of expertise on

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

RESRACH: REPRODUCTION

RESEARCH: REPRODUCTION

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

PHOTO: PROGRESS PR

ons to access co-funds. The regions were incredibly

Increased funding created new opportuni-

positive, and with Greater Copenhagen in mind it

ties – as well as challenges

was natural for Region Zealand to be a part of it.

When ReproHigh started up, it also involved

Ferring also contributed and co-financed part of the

Medicon Valley Alliance, of which Stig Jørgensen

project. More than 20 PhD stu-

was CEO at the time. As

dents were associated with the

the project progressed, the

”We are extremely ta-

project and conducted research

researchers saw, with MVA’s

in a broad field surrounding

help, that if the collabora-

lented when it comes

reproductive medicine.

tion was to continue after

to research here in

ReproHigh, the perspective

Five research areas in

the Øresund region.

needed to be broader, and

more funding was neces-

But if anything has to

ReproUnion 2.0

that is now

Prior to the project

sary. The project that was

change, really change,

ReproUnion 2.0, five clear

to be ReproUnion 1.0 was

areas of focus were selected,

granted €15mn by Interreg,

we will have to ally

instead of the broader research

50% of which would be

that had been conducted in

funded by the parties them-

with others as well.”

earlier projects. An additional

selves – this created new,

difference to earlier projects is that Region Zealand

greater opportunities, as well as challenges, says

is no longer involved. ReproUnion 2.0 was granted

Aleksander Giwercman.

just over €8mn, of which 50% from Interreg, and it

– Throughout the first two projects, our coun-

will continue until September 2022.

ter-financing was one and two million, respectively,

– We realised that we can’t research everything

and we could use our own working hours to finance

– we need to find several broad areas where we can

the project. But when we reached that level that

really direct our efforts, and we decided that we

was impossible, so MVA said that we would have to

wanted to make a programme with a longer-term

approach the pharmaceutical industry and the regi-

24 MILLION FOR RESE-

ARCH ON COVID-19 AND

FERTILITY

In December of 2020, ReproUnion was

granted an additional 24mn crowns to

investigate the effects of Covid-19 on fer-

tility, pregnancy and foetuses. The funding

is from Region Skåne, the Capital Region

of Denmark, the pharmaceutical company

Ferring and the EU-programme Interreg.

with our Danish colleagues so both regions will have

scope. Research projects usually last three years, but

strong representation and can avoid the legislation

we had a 10-12-year programme in mind where In-

involved in solving this issue. The regions are extre-

terreg and the regions can contribute funding in the

mely interested; they understand that if we do some

first years, and that will eventually have produced

of the work and find a model that works, others will

results that allow us to compete for major grants

be able to use it in other fields as well. And at the

from the NIH and EU foundations, for example.

same time, we enjoy being pioneers – in one way

Before ReproUnion 2.0, they also looked

it’s a bit of a nuisance, but in another it’s fun, and

beyond the boundaries of the Øresund Region to

there is a goodwill of sorts from our

find collaborators at large universi-

surrounding environments because

ties in the USA and Britain; there

we’re developing something of which

is a lot of interest in working with

everyone sees the potential, says

biobanks and registers, as the access

Aleksander Giwercman.

they have to these in their nations is

The aim with the biobank is to

not comparable. A collaboration has

find reasons for infertility and to

been established with e.g. Stanford

develop new methods of treatment.

University in the USA.

– The short-term goal is for more

– We are extremely talented

people to be able to have children

when it comes to research here

after treatment. In the long term,

in the Øresund Region – but if

we want to map out the reasons

anything is to change, really change,

for infertility, develop new treat-

we will have to ally with others as

Margareta Kitlinski, senior

ments methods and study the long-term

well, he says.

physician at SUS.

consequences of infertility, says Margareta

Building a one-of-a-kind shared used bio-

Kitlinski in a press release. She is a senior physician at

bank – RUBIC

Skåne University Hospital, and together with Alek-

In ReproUnion 2.0, researchers are working to

sander Giwercman, she is responsible for research on

build a biobank that can be used as a shared resour-

the Swedish side of the Øresund.

ce – although in practice, there will be one biobank

While the formal starting date for the establish-

in Denmark and another in Sweden, as Swedish

ment of the biobank was June 2020, couples who have

material may not be stored in Denmark and vice

sought help for fertility treatments at clinics in Region

versa The name of the biobank is ReproUnion Bio-

Skåne and the Capital Region of Denmark in recent

bank and Infertility Cohort (RUBIC), and the goal

years have been asked to participate in the study.

is to include 5 000 infertile couples.

The Swedish examinations are conducted at the

The hope is that the biobank will become part of

Reproductive Medicine Center in Malmö, and the

the research infrastructure in Region Skåne and the

Danish examinations are done in a collaboration

Capital Region of Denmark in the future.

between Rigshospitalet, Hvidovre Hospital, Herlev

– We’re currently setting up a steering group

Hospital and Nordsjællands Hospital.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND ØRESUND

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

Sector actors have their sights set on strengthening

transregional activity in Medicon Valley

For many Danish and Swedish actors in the life science sector, working together across the Øresund

Region simply makes sense. Perhaps they want to promote the region, establish business contacts,

broaden research collaborations, fund startups, work to reach political goals, or something else entirely.

Many actors and science parks have also expressed willingness to increase transregional collaboration.

Multiple actors work to connect the Danish-

-Swedish Medicon Valley cluster more closely. These

actors work on a wide variety of levels

– politically, financially, in investments, in marke-

ting, academically, with innovation, as students,

with events and as enterprises – to strengthen the

life science sector across the Øresund.

Øresundsinstituttet has identified an array of

organisations that coordinate, promote and benefit

from the life science activities across Medicon Valley

in different ways.

As an example, the Danish-Swedish cluster

organisation Medicon Valley Alliance works to create

networks and with workshops and research projects

with Danish and Swedish actors from the sector.

In Copenhagen and Malmö respectively, Copen-

hagen Capacity and Invest in Skåne are dedicated to

international branding of the region and attracting

businesses and talent from abroad, and over the

past 8-10 years, the Novo Nordisk Foundation has

granted more than 6.5bn DKK. (€875mn) to the

strategic initiative ”Copenhagen Bioscience Cluster”,

which aims to make the Capital Region of Denmark

and Skåne in southern Sweden a leading cluster for

biomedicine and biotech. To the same ends, the

foundations has also contributed around €35mn

to the new super-microscope MicroMAX in Lund,

which will be operational in 2022.

These diverse efforts strengthen transregional

activities, and according to Medicon Valley Alliance,

there is a good basis for increased Danish-Swedish

collaboration on e.g. health data and clinical studies.

There is also transregional collaboration between

Medicon Valley’s science parks and incubators,

although these actors are not organised in their own

network; instead, collaboration in the group has

a project-to-project character, meaning that some

collaborations often last a limited time. Generally

speaking, the will to work across the Øresund is good

at the region’s science parks.

EU-PROGRAMME CONTRIBUTED ALMOST €47MN IN GRANTS TO

DANISH-SWEDISH LIFE SCIENCE ØRESUND PROJECTS BETWEEN

2015-2022

Since 2015, the EU-programme Interreg Öre-

sund-Kattegat-Skagerrak has granted almost

€47mn to joint Danish-Swedish development

projects in the life sciences; that corresponds to

ca. 350mn DKK, or ca. 479mn SEK. Project funding

thus makes the EU an important transregional life

science actor in the Øresund Region.

In concrete terms, 18 projects in the life sciences

received support between 2015-2022; ten of these

are still active. The active development projects

include e.g. DiaUnion and ReproUnion, which

bring together such actors as Lund University,

the University of Copenhagen, Region Skåne, the

Capital Region of Denmark, Medicon Valley Alliance

and Steno Diabetes Center in Copenhagen. These

projects are described in more detail in Chapter

3. Having received ca. €4.5mn, ReproUnion is one

of the ten currently active projects that has been

given the most funding from the EU-programme

Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak. The nine

life science-oriented innovation projects under the

auspices of Interreg that will be active until 2022

were originally granted around €18mn.

Since 1990, the EU has provided financial support

to partnerships across European borders via the

Interreg initiative. There are approximately 70 Inter-

reg-programmes in the EU. The secretariat of the

Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak programme is located

in Copenhagen, Malmö, Gothenburg and Sarpsborg.

TRANSREGIONAL SECTOR ACTORS

AND ACTIVITIES

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

JENNI NORDBORG: SWEDEN’S AND DENMARK’S LIFE SCIENCE

STRATEGIES HAVE HEALTH DATA, CLINICAL STUDIES AND

PREVENTATIVE HEALTH IN COMMON

Denmark and Sweden each have their own national

life science offices in Copenhagen and Stockholm, and

communication and exchange between the countries

is continuous. A growth team for life science was insti-

tuted in Denmark in 2016, and the recommendations it

presented became a political agreement in 2018. The

Danish government launched an updated life science

strategy in April 2021. Sweden’s new life science

strategy was released in 2019, and Jenni Nordborg

is heading the task of implementing the strategy in

Sweden. According to Jenny Nordborg, both strategies

particularly emphasise for example health data, clini-

cal studies and preventative health as important focus

areas with potential for more collaboration.

– Collaboration across the Øresund is definite-

ly crucial for Scandinavia becoming a leading life

science hub, and that is an important objective of the

Swedish life science strategy. Since we have so many

trans-Øresund collaborations, our situation in the

future could be improved by developing more sustai-

nable structures for collaboration on clinical studies

and health data, for example. Prioritising Scandinavi-

an collaboration – and thus collaboration across the

Øresund – has become more important, she says.

According to Jenni Nordborg, the following

research- and innovation structures in Sweden and

Skåne may benefit increased life science collabora-

tion across the Øresund:

• European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund and data

centre (DMSC) in Copenhagen

• MAX IV Laboratory in Lund

• SciLifeLab, with facilities in Lund and

Stockholm

• Testa Center in Uppsala

• AstraZeneca Bioventure Hub in Gothenburg

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

PERSONAL CONTACTS AND ØRESUND PROXIMITY BRING TOGETHER

LIFE SCIENCE COMPANIES IN SKÅNE AND BIG PHARMA IN ZEALAND

Many life science companies in Skåne have

collaborations and clients in the sector in the

Copenhagen area. At Medicon Village in Lund for

example, which is a science park with around

170 life science companies, there are a series of

contract research organisations, or CROs, that

conduct research for clients on the Danish shores

of the Øresund.

Among these CROs are Red Glead Discovery and

Truly Labs. Another is ImaGene-IT AB, whose focus

is on histology and molecular labelings combined

with quantitative image analysis, among other

things., respectively CEO and CSO of ImaGene-IT,

have worked across the strait numerous times

since founding the CRO in 2012, with Novo Nordisk

in Denmark and others.

The large Danish diabetes concern contacted Ima-

Gene-IT for laboratory research support. The contact

was initiated through personal contacts; several

previous colleagues from ImaGene-IT later began

working for Novo Nordisk and could recommend the

small, Lund-based company for consultancy work.

Network and geographic proximity thus mean a lot in

Medicon Valley, note the directors of the CROs.

– Being able to cross over and work so closely is

clearly an advantage. All of our projects are close

to our clients in general, so the Copenhagen area is

absolutely perfect, Bo Holmqvist says.

The collaboration with Novo Nordisk lasted se-

veral years, until 2016. ImageGene-IT was happy to

see that larger pharmaceutical companies in Med-

icon Valley, such as Novo Nordisk, invited external,

previous collaborators to seminar- or network

days, so the contact could remain active and needs

and new innovations could be sketched out. Luckily

enough, ImaGene-IT’s product and method allow

for collaboration with

a broad range of life

science companies,

Anders Brinte and Bo

Holmqvist explain, and

for a small company,

being located in a

science park is an ad-

vantage when it comes

Bo Holmqvist.

to contact with others.

– A lot of companies

contact Medicon Village

and enquire about

specific expertise, and

Medicon Village con-

tacts us, its members,

and puts us in contact

with potential clients,

says Anders Brinte.

Anders Brinte.

Contacts with Lund

University and Region

Skåne have also been important in terms of new

commissions, they explain. The two public actors

use ImaGene-IT’s solutions, and they had a pre-

vious collaboration with the Irish pharma company

Shire, which was acquired by the Japanese Takeda

in 2019. Via personal contacts at the university and

Region Skåne, ImageGene-IT established a new

collaboration with Takeda, which has a subsidiary

in the Copenhagen area.

Takeda then brought in ImageGene-IT on a new

project in which the pharmaceutical company was

involved at the University of Copenhagen. Over the

past two years, ImagGene-IT in Lund has thus had

a fruitful collaboration on tissue analysis studies

with Takeda and the Faculty of Health and Medical

Sciences in Copenhagen, Bo Holmqvist says.

PHOTO: IMAGENE-IT

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

PHOTO: IMAGENE-IT

Jenni Nordborg.

MUNICIPALITIES AND ACTORS FROM THE SECTOR IN THE

ØRESUND REGION JOIN FORCES IN NEW MARKETING

CONSORTIUM TO PROMOTE MEDICON VALLEY

Greater Copenhagen International Marketing

Consortium (GCIMC) is the name of a new collabo-

ration for international branding and marketing in

the Danish-Swedish Greater Copenhagen Region.

The new collaboration is being driven by Danish and

Swedish investment promotion organisations Invest in

Skåne in Malmö and Copenhagen Capacity in Copen-

hagen, as well as the political, transregional collabo-

rative organisation Greater Copenhagen Committee,

which is presided over by Danish-Swedish leadership.

Four municipalities – Copenhagen, Malmö, Lund

and Helsingborg – are contributing funds to the new

marketing consortium.

The aim is to draw attention from abroad to the

Greater Copenhagen Region, which comprises 85

municipalities and the four regions the Capital Regi-

on of Denmark, Region Zealand, Region Skåne and

Region Halland. Attracting talent and investments

to the region are among the goals, and the consorti-

um will also coordinate between actors.

The consortium will focus particularly on marke-

ting the region based on three areas of strength: Life

science, IT/Tech and cleantech/climate. The actors

already work to promote these areas of strength.

In addition, Invest in Skåne, Copenhagen Capacity

and Greater Copenhagen Committee are already

involved in another marketing project related to the

life sciences where the focus is on promoting the

Øresund Region’s growing microbiome cluster. The

marketing enterprise has resulted in digital marke-

ting campaigns, a website about the opportunities to

work with microbiome research in the Øresund Re-

gion and a digital conference in April 2021, attended

by more than 1 000 participants from 60 countries

around the world. Read more about the microbiome

project on page 48, and about the actors mentioned

here on page 96.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

GALECTO AND MINERVAX

are examples of

life science companies that were started at Lund

University and are now established in Copenhagen.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

SUPPORTS ØRESUND COLLA-

BORATION

Over the past two years, the Novo

Nordisk Foundation has granted fun-

ding to a series of life science actors

with a focus on transregional colla-

boration in the Øresund Region. The

foundation’s support has gone to e.g.:

€250 000

to the Danish-Swedish

DiaUnion project, headed by Medicon

Valley Alliance; partners include

Lund University and the Capital Regi-

on of Denmark.

€98 500

to the student organisation

Synapse, which has teams in Copen-

hagen and Lund.

€1.8mn

to the mentorship programme

NOME, which has benefitted many

biotech startups in Lund’s life science

environments and others. Medicon Vil-

lage in Lund, Accelerace Management

in Copenhagen are two of the seven

partner organisations that run NOME.

Danish organisations are members of

the new cluster organisation Danish

Life Science Cluster, whose tasks

include promoting transborder colla-

boration – albeit there are no specific

requirements to focus on working

together across the Øresund.

CPHLABS

is a co-working lab space in Copenhagen

meant to help biotech entrepreneurs. People from

the industry on both sides of the Øresund can request

space there.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

500

employees will be linked to the new ESS facility in

Lund in 2025. An additional 60-70 will work in ESS’

data centre DMCS, located at COBIS in Copenhagen.

SWEDISH FOUNDATION OPENS

COPENHAGEN BRANCH

The Swedish private equity company Segulah Medical

Acceleration is setting up a new investment company

and offices in Copenhagen. The fund also has a base in

Stockholm and is focused on investments in medtech

companies, both in Medicon Valley and in Europe. The

new fund has 1.2 bn SEK under management.

FERRING AND BII ESTABLISH

COLLABORATION

In January 2021, the pharma compa-

ny Ferring Pharmaceuticals started

a collaboration with the life science

incubator BioInnovation Institute (BII),

which receives funding from the Novo

Nordisk Foundation and became an

independent foundation in 2020, after

an initial three-year establishment

phase. It is BII’s first industry colla-

boration with a life science company

outside the incubator. The two parti-

es’ collaboration focuses on access

to industry expertise and identifying

promising new businesses. Ferring

has R&D centres in 12 countries

around the globe, the largest of which

is in Copenhagen’s Ørestad district

(International Pharma Science Cen-

tre) and employs around 600 people.

Of them, 110 are border commuters

from Sweden. Ferring also has facili-

ties in Malmö, and it will be moving to

its new Danish headquarters adjacent

to Copenhagen Airport this summer.

Copenhagen-based Scandi-

on Oncology and Lund-ba-

sed Alligator Bioscience

want to use their drugs to

develop improved can-

cer treatments that will

increase the value of both

companies. In June 2020,

the biotech companies en-

tered a preclinical collabo-

rative agreement, the goal

of which is improved treatments for cancer patients in the

future. The first preliminary results are expected in the first

half of 2021. The collaboration is expected to give increased

access to expertise in immunology, which is a strong field

in the Øresund Region’s life science environment. Scan-

dion Oncology and Alligator Bioscience are listed on the

Spotlight and Nasdaq Stockholm exchanges, respectively.

The Danish private equity company Sunstone Life Science

Ventures Fund owns 8.1% of Alligator Bioscience’s shares.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

SEDERMERA FONDKOMMISSI-

ON IN MALMÖ INCREASES ITS

PRESENCE IN COPENHAGEN

The financial advisor Sedermera

Fondkommission is expanding with

new offices and a Danish subsidiary

in Copenhagen to strengthen its cor-

porate finance activities in Denmark.

The company’s headquarters are in

Malmö. Since 2014, Sedermera Fond-

kommission has advised 12 Danish life

science companies on going public in

Sweden and Denmark. The company

is part of the Swedish Spotlight Group

AB, which is behind the Swedish

mini stock exchange Spotlight Stock

Market. The group company Spotlight

Group AB also set up Danish offices

and a company list in Copenhagen in

2018. Read more about the two com-

panies on page 120-121.

2 000

BioInnovation Institute expects

to help create new jobs in the

region by 2025 by increasing

startup-funding.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

BIOTECH COMPANIES FROM

COPENHAGEN AND LUND JOIN

TOGETHER IN CANCER RESEARCH

Danish and Swedish medtech create closer bonds to

help companies enter the American market

The Danish-American alliance

MedTech Bridge wants to colla-

borate with the Swedish trade

organisation Swedish Medtech

in the future and thereby help

Danish and Swedish as well as

Finnish medtech companies

enter the US market. Medtech

is Skåne’s largest life science

industry subsector; it employs ca 3100 people according to

the report Life Science in Skåne, which was published by

Øresundsinstituttet in November 2020.

PHOTO: CPH LABS

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

Numerous actors on both the Swedish and Danish sides of the Øresund work full- or part-time to

strengthen collaboration in the life science sector across the strait with networking meetings, po-

litical collaborations, transregional projects, events, investment promotion, investments, marke-

ting, ﬁnancial advice and grants to startups and partnerships. Many of these actors work and run

joint projects together.

Medicon Valley is presented. The report is prepared by

Øresundsinstituttet.

CEO:

Petter Hartman

Chairperson:

Søren Bregenholdt

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Invest in Skåne

Interreg seminar in 2019.

The official trade- and investment promotion agency

for the southernmost part of Sweden. Invest in Skåne is

part of Business Region Skåne, owned by Region Skåne.

Invest in Skåne works to promote and market Skåne

and the Greater Copenhagen Region in order to attract

foreign investments, help technological development and

to encourage international businesses to set up in the

region. Invest in Skåne also helps local businesses enter

the international market. Invest in Skåne highlights the

life sciences as a key industry in Skåne. Together with the

business promotion organisation Copenhagen Capacity,

Invest in Skåne runs a database of the region’s life scien-

ce businesses.

Managing Director:

Ulrika Ringdahl

Chairperson:

Ulrika Nilsson

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Copenhagen Capacity

Organisation that works to strengthen Medicon Valley

and the Greater Copenhagen region by offering advice

free of charge to foreign businesses and investors on the

opportunities, rules and conditions for setting up in the

region. The life science industry is one of Copenhagen

Capacity’s sectors of choice, and they seek to strengthen

it by attracting foreign investments and skilled labourers

from abroad and by marketing the region internationally.

Copenhagen Capacity is working with Medicon Valley

Alliance, Invest in Skåne and others on an Interreg-pro-

ject surveying the transregional microbiome research

between 2019-2022.

Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak

EU’s programme for transregional collaboration.

Between 2014-2020, the programme Øresund-Kat-

tegat-Skagerrak has had at its disposition €127.6mn

with which to support a long list of different projects

in four areas: innovation, employment, green economy

and transportation. Interreg’s secretariat has offices

in Copenhagen, Malmö and Gothenburg. Funds for the

Interreg-projects come from the EU’s European Regional

Development Fund, and half of the project’s budget goes

to financial support. Since 2015, the EU-programme In-

terreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak has granted around

€47mn to joint Danish-Swedish development projects in

the life sciences. That corresponds to ca. 350mn DKK and

ca. 479mn SEK. A total of 18 life science projects received

funding between 2015-2022; ten of these are still active.

Among the active development projects are e.g. DiaUnion

and ReproUnion, which bring together Lund University,

the University of Copenhagen, Region Skåne, the Capital

Region of Denmark, Medicon Valley Alliance, Steno Dia-

betes Center in Copenhagen and others.

Programme director:

Magnus Schönning

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

CEO:

Asbjørn Overgaard Christiansen

Chairperson:

Marianne Philip

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Bi-national private network organisation with around

300 members from the Danish and Swedish life science

sectors. Since its founding in 1997, MVA has worked

to promote collaboration in Medicon Valley by acting

as a platform for transregional projects and alliances

between universities, hospitals, science parks, incu-

bators and businesses. Among MVA’s undertakings are

the Interreg-projects DiaUnion and ReproUnion. The

organisation also facilitates sector-specific, bi-national

networks for knowledge exchange in e.g. microbiome

research and oncology. Every November, MVA holds an

annual meeting at which the industry report State of

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Medicon Valley Alliance (MVA)

Political partnership organisation between 46 Danish and 39

Swedish municipalities and the Capital Region of Denmark,

Region Zealand, Region Skåne and Region Halland. The

collaborative organisation was founded in January 2016 and

replaced the previous political collaboration of the then-Öre-

sund Committee. The objective is to promote growth, attract

more foreign investors and businesses, work to reinforce

international infrastructure and promote a cohesive labour

market. The committee has defined five areas of focus that

are important for future growth and welfare: Green transi-

tion, labour market, infrastructure, digitalisation and the life

sciences. The board consists of 18 members from selected

municipalities and regions.

Managing director:

Tue David Bak

Chairperson:

Carl Johan Sonesson

Greater Copenhagen Committee holding

a summit meeting at Copenhagen City

Hall in 2019.

MVA’s annual meeting in 2017, on

the organisation’s 20-year jubilee.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Øresund actors

Greater Copenhagen Committee

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Nordic Life Science Days,

SwedenBIO

Scandinavia’s largest life science partnering conference,

held in Malmö between 2017-2019 with around 1 200

participants. The event was held digitally in April 2021

due to the corona-virus pandemic. An important aspect

of the 2021 conference was that approx. one-fourth of

the ca. 800 participants were investors, particularly from

abroad. The last time Nordic Life Science Days was held

in Malmö, in 2019, investors made up ca. 8% of the over

1 300 participants; investor representation at the show

thus more than doubled. 28% – the largest portion – of

the participants at Nordic Life Science in 2021 were from

biopharma; 17% were from academia and 8% from med-

tech and digital health.

The partnering conference started in Stockholm in

2013 and is arranged by the trade organisation Sweden-

Lars Rebien Sørensen, chairperson of the board of the Novo

Nordisk Foundation, speaking at the opening ceremony of

BioInnovation Institute (BII) in 2018.

Nordic Life Science Days in Malmö 2019.

BIO. Lasting four days, the conference offers workshops,

business presentations, debates, and one-on-one

meetings between companies, partners and investors.

Co-arrangers include Invest in Skåne, the City of Malmö,

Business Sweden, Healthcare Denmark, Copenhagen

Capacity and others. Sponsors include Novo Holdings,

Medeon, AstraZeneca, HealthCap, Industrifonden and

others.

CEO:

Helena Strigård

Chairperson:

Lars Adlersson

BioInnovation Institute

Independent, international, commercial foundation with a

non-profit purpose at COBIS in Copenhagen whose focus

is on incubation of life science companies in therapeutics,

bioindustrials and healthtech.

Since it was founded in 2018, the Novo Nordisk Foun-

dation has contributed 465mn DKK to support the set-up

and development of the incubator. 68 startups have

received a total of €35mn since it began, among them

Lund Stem Cell Center and Wallenberg Center for Mole-

cular Medicine in Gothenburg. The incubator became an

independent foundation in December 2020 and has since

partnered with Ferring Pharmaceuticals, which has faci-

lities in Malmö and Copenhagen, as well as with Danish

universities and foreign investors.

PHOTO: SAMUEL LAGERCRANTZ

European Spallation Source (ESS)

Multidisciplinary neutron facility currently under construc-

tion in Lund; expected completion in 2023. ESS’ data cen-

tre, located at COBIS in Copenhagen, opened in 2019. The

ESS facility will be the world’s largest and most advanced

neutron source. In the future, the ESS facility will furnish

new knowledge in e.g. materials research and biotech,

which can be used to develop new drugs, materials, fuels

and more. Denmark and Sverige are host countries for the

ESS facility and are covering almost half of the construc-

tion costs, a total of ca. €1.84bn. An additional 11 European

countries are contributing funding for ESS’ construction,

and it is thus a pan-European research infrastructure.

Not far from the ESS facility is Sweden’s national MAX IV

Laboratory, which is part of Lund University.

Director general:

Helmut Schober

Council chairman:

Beatrix Vierkorn-Rudolph

The Future of Swedish Danish

Life Science

Annual international partnering event held at Medicon Vil-

lage in Lund. The conference is arranged by Life Science

Sweden and Kemivärlden, a leading journal in Scandinavia

with content such as R&D, pharma, biotech, labtech, che-

mistry and medtech . Medicon Village and Medicon Valley

Alliance are co-arrangers. The conference combines

presentations, access to partnering meetings and informal

networking. The next conference will be held on 2 Sep-

tember 2021. The conference started in 2012 and brings

together 400-500 decision-makers from around the globe.

People who work in pharma, biotech and medtech are

CEO:

Jens Nielsen

Chairperson:

Sten Scheibye

Namn.

The Future of Swedish Danish Life Science in Lund 2019.

ØRESUND ACTORS IN THE INVESTMENT AND CAPITAL SECTORS

represented alongside interested parties from academia,

the healthcare sector, policy, regulatory authorities and the

finance sector. The topic of the 2021 conference is opportu-

nities in finance, investments and precision medicine.

Managing Director:

Maria Eriksson

A range of actors in the investment and capital

sectors in Medicon Valley focus partially or

completely on the Øresund Region. Among these

actors are the Copenhagen-based venture capi-

tal fund Sunstone Life Science Ventures, which

invests in biotech companies in Zealand and in

Skåne. Founded in 2020, the private equity com-

pany Eir Ventures is based in Copenhagen and

Stockholm and also has investments in Medicon

Valley. Other venture capital funds such as

Danish Novo Seeds and Swedish HealthCap are

also active in the region, as are financial actors

like Nasdaq and Spotlight Group, which makes

it possible for companies to be on different

company lists and marketplaces in Copenhagen

or Stockholm. The Malmö-based subsidiary Se-

dermera Fondkommission is a financial advisor

linked to Spotlight Group. Since 2014, Seder-

mera Fondkommission has advised multiple

Danish life science companies on going public in

Sweden or listing with Spotlight Stock Market’s

Danish division. In 2018, Spotlight Group opened

offices and a mini stock exchange in Copen-

hagen, and Sedermera Fondkommission also

expanded in 2021 with a new Copenhagen office;

read more about all of these actors in Chapter 5.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Student-led non-profit organisation created at the Uni-

versity of Copenhagen in 2014. The organisation works

to bridge the life science industry, students and recent

graduates by e.g. arranging networking meetings, com-

pany visits and summer schools. Synapse has divisions at

the universities in Copenhagen and Aalborg and started a

team in Lund in 2020. In 2018, they were awarded 732 000

DKK from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to continue their

activities; they had received 260 000 from the foundation

the preceding year. Synapse works with e.g. Novo Nordisk

and SmiLe Incubator, and employees from AstraZeneca,

Hackaton at Novozyme’s innovation campus in Kgs.

Lyngby in 2019, arranged by HelloScience and Synapse.

Eir Ventures and Lundbeck Foundation and other have

held presentations. Around 40 volunteers work at Synap-

se, seven of them in Lund.

Chairperson:

Emilie Dalbram

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Synapse – Life Science Connect

Nasdaq Copehagen.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: PERRY NORDENG/ESS

Øresund actors, cont.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

TRADE AND NETWORKING ORGANISATIONS:

• ASCRO

– Swedish association focused on clinical

research and clinical trials

• Cluster Excellence Denmark

- a support function

for clusters and innovative networks in Denmark

co-funded by the Danish Agency for Institutions and

Educational Grants and the regions

• CHI,

Copenhagen Health Innovation – Danish organis-

ation focused on developing new educational and

development activities within healthcare

• Danish Life Science Cluster

– one of 14 new cluster

organisations in Denmark that was highlighted by the

Ministry of Science Innovation and Higher Education

and received funding from the Danish Executive Board

for Business and Growth in October.

• Dansk Biotek

– Danish trade organisation for compa-

nies in biotechnology

• EuropaBio,

the European Association for Bioindustries

– European trade organisation for the biotechnology

industry

• EFPIA,

European Federation of Pharmaceuticals Indu-

stries and Associations – European trade association

for the pharmaceutical industry in Europe

• FOIN,

the Association of Innovative Settings in Den-

mark – Danish trade association for science parks and

innovative settings, formerly Forskerparkforeningen/

The Science Park Organisation

• Healthcare Denmark

– Danish organisation with politi-

cal mandate to market the Danish health care sector

• IFPMA,

International Federation of Pharmaceutical Ma-

nufacturers & Associations - international trade associ-

ation for pharmaceutical companies and associations

• Kemi & Life Science

– Danish trade community and

network for distributors and manufacturers of chemicals

• Lif Danmark

– Trade association for the pharmaceuti-

cal industry

• Lif Sverige

(researching pharmaceutical companies) –

Trade association for manufacturers of pharmaceuticals

• Life Science Law DK

– an independent society that

aims to improve legal conditions for the Danish life

science industry

• Medicoindustrien

– Danish trade association for

companies that produce, sell, or have an interest in

medical equipment

• Pharma Danmark

– trade union for academics

employed in the Danish life science industry

• Swecare

– Swedish member organisation that works

for broad collaboration with the health and healthcare

sectors

• SwedenBIO

– Swedish trade association for the life

science sector

• Swedish Labtech

– Swedish trade association for com-

panies working in diagnostics, laboratory equipment,

analysis and biotechnology

• Swedish Medtech

– Swedish trade association for

medical technology

• SISP,

Swedish Incubators & Science Parks – Swedish

trade association for incubators and science parks

• In addition, there are the broader trade organisations

Dansk Industri (Confederation of Danish Industry) and

Dansk Erhverv (Danish Chamber of Commerce) and Han-

delskammaren (Sweden’s Chamber of Commerce) and

Svenskt Näringsliv (Confederation of Swedish Enterprise).

PUBLIC ACTORS:

• Erhvervsfremmebestyrelse

(The Danish Executive

Board for Business Development and Growth) – a part

of the Danish Business Authority that promotes and

funds decentralized business approaches

• Erhvervsstyrelsen

– Danish business authority that

works to improve companies’ competitive strength

• Innovationsfonden

– Fund from the Danish Ministry

of Higher Education and Science that invests in new

knowledge initiatives

• Läkemedelsverket/Medical Products Agency

– Swedish

authority that tests and approves pharmaceuticals

• Lægemiddelstyrelsen /Danish Medicines Agency

–

Danish authority that tests and approves pharmaceuticals

• Patent- och registreringsverket/Swedish Patent and

Registration Office

– Swedish authority for intellectual

property rights

• Danish Patent and Trademark Office/Patent- og

Varemærkestyrelsen

– Danish authority for intellectu-

al property rights

The Danish government presenting a new life science strategy in

April 2021. From left: Minister of Higher Education and Science

Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen (S), Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke

(S), Minister of Economic and Business Affairs Simon Kollerup (S)

and Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod (S).

MEDIA:

• Altinget

– News site with a website and newsletter on

research, health and more

• Biostock

– News- and analysis service with a focus on

companies in the life science sector and an editorial

board in Lund’s Medicon Village

• Dagens Medicin

– Swedish journal about the health-

Debate at Altinget’s summer meeting in 2020.

Dansk Industri’s ofﬁce building near City Hall Square

in Copenhagen, illuminated with a Swedish ﬂag.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

100

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

101

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

• Styrelsen for Forskning og Innovation

– Danish autho-

rity that works to strengthen research and innovation

• The Government Offices of Sweden’s coordinating Office

for Life Science

– was established in 2018 and is working

among other things with a new life science strategy.

• The Life Science Office at Denmark’s Ministry of

Industry, Business and Financial Affairs

– the govern-

ment office responsible for the implementation of the

Danish national strategy for life science

• Tillväxtverket/ Swedish Agency for Economic and

Regional Growth

– Swedish authority to promote com-

panies’ competitive strength

• Tillväxtanalys/Growth Analysis

– Swedish authority

with tasks such as analysing and evaluating Swedish

growth policies

• Trial Nation

– Danish organisation that offers a single,

national entry point for actors wishing to conduct

clinical trials in Denmark

• Vetenskapsrådet/Swedish Research Council

–

Swedish authority that works to promote Swedish

research

• Vinnova

– Swedish authority that works to improve

opportunities for innovation and research

• Wonderful Copenhagen

– Danish organization

working to attract e.g. life science conferences to the

Medicon Valley region

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

care sector

• Dagens Medicin, Dagens Pharma, Kommunal Sund-

hed and Praktisk Medicin

– Danish journals about the

healthcare sector

• European Biotechnology News

– European journal

about life science

• Greater Copenhagen Life Science Magazine

- Scandi-

navian life science magazine published by the Danish

marketing and advertising agency Nem Media

• Kemivärlden Biotech

– Scandinavian journal for chem-

istry, chemical engineering and biotechnology

• Labiotech.eu

– European news site on the biotechno-

logy industry

• Life Science Sweden

– Journal on the Swedish bio-

technology, medical technology and pharmaceutical

industries

• MedWatch

– Danish news site on the medical and

pharmaceutical industries

• Nordic Life Science News

– journal and news site on

the Nordic life science industry

• Pharma Industry

– Swedish trade journal for the phar-

maceutical industry

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Multiple actors associated with the life science

sector and Medicon Valley

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Medicon Valley’s science parks have no organised, formal collaboration in the life sciences;

instead, collaborations across the Øresund have a project-based character and focus on e.g.

matching skills and incubation growth. Most of the region’s science parks are members of the

Danish-Swedish network organisation Medicon Valley Alliance, which works to promote life

science collaborations in the Øresund Region.

SCIENCE PARKER OG INCUBATORS

INDEN OM LIFE SCIENCE

ON ZEALAND

DTU SCIENCE PARK*

(Lyngby and Hørsholm)

Kristianstad

Hørsholm

Lyngby

København

Lund

Malmö

COBIS BY SYMBION

Founded:

2009

Number of companies:

Approx. 100

Number of people:

Approx. 500

Location:

Copenhagen

Focus:

Life science

Øresund collaboration:

COBIS has had nume-

rous projects and joint experience exchanges with

partners across Øresund, including Invest in Skåne

and Medeon and MINC in Malmö. Some of the col-

laborations have been with Medicon Valley Alliance,

others as part of the Scandinavian project Health-

Tech Nordic; Invest in Skåne and SmiLe Incubator in

Lund are also collaborators in this project.

Morten M. Jensen, CEO:

– Today, COBIS is one of seven locations in the

IN SKÅNE:

IDEON SCIENCE PARK*

(Lund)

SMILE INCUBATOR

(Lund)

COBIS

(Copenhagen)

MEDICON VILLAGE

(Lund)

BIOINNOVATION

INSTITUTE

(Copenhagen)

*Science parks with partial focus on the life

sciences and on other sectors as well.

MEDEON SCIENCE PARK

(Malmö)

KRINOVA SCIENCE PARK*

(Kristianstad)

DTU SCIENCE PARK

Founded:

2004

Number of companies:

300

Number of people:

4 300

Location:

Hørsholm and Lyngby

Focus:

Deep tech, life science, biotech and med-

tech comprise around 40% of the science park.

Øresund collaboration:

DTU Science Park has

had project-oriented collaborations with MINC in

Malmö and Ideon in Lund. In 2020 it was part of

an Interreg-project on Science City Lyngby with

Lund Municipality, Ideon and others. At present,

DTU Science Park has no active collaborations

with any science parks in Skåne, but are in conti-

nuos dialoque with the various actors in the Skåne

Steen Donner, CEO:

– At DTU Science Park we are

always open to collaborations

across national borders, and

we have established multiple

alliances with strong collabo-

rative partners in Europe and

the USA, primarily to support our startups. We know

that we have very good, talented colleagues on the

other side of the strait with whom we can colla-

borate. If such collaborations – despite a number

of attempts – have yet to be firmly established, it’s

simply due to circumstances. The timing needs to be

right; the shared interests need to be right; and the

project needs to be in an area on which both parties

are focused at that particular point in time; the re-

sources need to be in place for both parties to carry

out the collaboration, and finally, the project’s scope

needs to be large enough so that it’s interesting for

both parties. Unfortunately, these conditions haven’t

all been met at the same time yet, but we have not

abandoned our wish to strengthen collaboration

across the Øresund.

BIOINNOVATION INSTITUTE

Founded:

2017. BioInnovation Institute Foundation

(BII) was established as a commercial foundation

with a non-profit purpose in December 2020.

Number of companies:

Total number of employees at COBIS, where BII

is located:

Approx. 500

Location:

COBIS, Copenhagen

Focus:

Bioindustrials, therapeutics, healthtech

Øresund collaboration:

BII is a member of Medicon Valley Alliance and

has continual dialogues with incubators, univer-

sities, science parks and other on the Danish and

Swedish sides of the Øresund. BII has an indu-

Jens Nielsen, CEO:

– Bringing research out of the universities and

onto the market for the benefit of society is a long

journey, and working together across national bor-

ders is a must. In the past, we visited a number of

Nordic innovation initiatives in order to understand

how they work and to create network relationships

that can facilitate development in the area as a life

science innovation hub. In the future, we want to

work to secure the establishment of several solid

companies that will continue to enrich science

parks and incubators on both sides of the Øresund.

102

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: BIOINNOVATION INSTITUTE

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

startup ecosystem

strial collaboration with e.g.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals,

whose facilities are located

in Copenhagen and Malmö.

In 2020, BII funded research

at the Wallenberg Centre for

Molecular Medicine at Lund

Stem Cell Center.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

103

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

Collaborations between science parks in the

Øresund Region are project-based

Symbion community with

approx. 650 startups distribu-

ted throughout Copenhagen.

With so many clients with

diverse needs it is crucial

that we continuously develop

and strengthen our business

offer. A central parameter in

this is establishing international relations, because

we know that the majority of our clients are active

in a global arena and seek out clients, partners

and/or funding all over the world. Over the years,

COBIS and Symbion have supported that demand

with a long list of collaborations with science

parks, incubators, funding sources and other

actors in the ecosystem for startups on the other

side of the Øresund. Sweden is an interesting mar-

ket for collaboration because the culture, labour

market and business environment are very similar

to those of their Danish counterparts. For many of

our clients, Sweden is thus the first natural choice

for an export market. Access to capital via the stock

exchange in Sweden is also more active than in

Denmark, and that has led several of our clients

to seek funding in the Swedish ecosystem. And

that’s one of many areas where collaboration with

Swedish actors plays a central role.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

MEDICON VILLAGE

Founded:

2012

Number of companies:

Approx. 170

Number of people:

Approx. 2 600

Location:

Lund

Focus:

Pharmaceuticals, medtech, and biotech

Øresund collaboration:

Medicon Village collaborates

with Medicon Valley Alliance and the seed accele-

rator Accelerace in Copenhagen. COBIS also has a

strategic partnership with Accelerace, which runs the

mentorship programme NOME; Accelerace receives

support from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and

Medicon Village is one of seven Nordic partnership

organisations. Medicon Village thus has a collabora-

tion with the Novo Nordisk Foundation via NOME.

Kerstin Jakobsson, CEO*:

– It’s important that all

of the innovation-support

organisations in Scandinavia

work together to help entre-

preneurs and development

companies so that even

more successful companies

can be developed and make

their mark on the international market. If we can

cluster our successful companies in Scandina-

via in different segments as an indication or a

technological platform, we can be even better

at attracting international capital and expertise

to the region. With that said, collaboration in

the Øresund Region is extremely important; we

have the proximity to each other – there’s just a

bridge between us... although the distance over

the bridge seems longer at this moment in time.

We already need to prepare for the time after

the pandemic now, when we can meet in person

again; in the meantime, we need to make sure not

to lose contact.

IDEON SCIENCE PARK

Founded:

1983

Number of companies:

Approx. 400

Number of people:

Approx. 10 000

Location:

Lund

Focus:

Healthtech/medtech and some biotech.

30% of the companies are active in the life scien-

ces. Ideon also focuses on ’smart cities’, ’trans-

portation of the future’, and ’smart materials’.

Øresund collaboration:

Ideon collaborates with

Danish medtech companies via the network

Medtech Network, which is run by Medicon Valley

Alliance. Ideon also collaborates with Copenhagen

Capacity on student-matching activities for Ideon’s

companies. Furthermore,

Ideon has a collaboration

with the headquarters of the

UN’s global unit for project

implementation UNOPS

in Copenhagen; UNOPS’

innovation centre is located

on Ideon’s premises. Ideon

has a continuing dialogue

with CBS, DTU and Bloxhub and wants to increase

its collaborations.

Mia Rolf, CEO*:

– We aren’t fully integrated yet, which is a sha-

me. We may not be as cool as Copenhagen as a

city, but our deep tech knowledge within various

areas like medtech, foodtech, proptech, Iot, AI,

clean energy, mobility and more combined with

our entrepreneurial skills puts us and Sweden in

the very top of the sustainable innovation league.

And we are open to interregional partnerships. I

think this combined region has a lot to offer both

growth companies and international talents.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

* Kerstin Jakobsson was appointed CEO of Kongsberg Beam Technology AS, a medtech company in Oslo Cancer Cluster Norway,

earlier this year. Kerstin Jakobsson has been part of the management team of Medicon Village and deputy CEO since the start in 2012

and CEO of Medicon Village Innovation AB since 2018

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

* Mia Rolf will take the post as the director of marketing and communications at Wihlborgs Fastigheter AB by 1 August 2021 at

the latest. Wihlborgs is a property developer specialising in commercial properties in the Øresund Region. Mia Rolf has been CEO

of Ideon Science Park in Lund since 2016.

SMILE INCUBATOR

Founded:

2007

Number of companies:

25-30

Number of people:

Approx. 350

Location:

Lund

Focus:

Biotech, pharma, medtech, and e-health

Øresund collaboration:

SmiLe Incubator has had

collaborative projects including events and boot

camps with COBIS, DTU and CBS, and is also

associated with Health Tech Hub and BioInnova-

tion Institute in Copenhagen and with Erhvervs-

hus Sjælland (Business Hub Zealand) for support

and development of startups. In addition, SmiLe

Incubator has had companies that were accepted

in the mentorship programme NOME, which is

funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Ebba Fåhraeus, CEO:

– Collaboration with other

actors across the Øresund

is extremely important. We

like running transborder

projects, and doing that

requires good relationships.

I believe that it pays off; we

have different networks on

both sides of the Øresund and can share each

others’ networks, and above all companies can

establish contacts that they otherwise wouldn’t

have had the opportunity to.

We can complement one another in terms of

different specialisation areas, and there might

also be expertise on one side that’s important for

a company in the network on the other side. The-

re are a large number of pharma companies in

Denmark, and their specific therapeutic areas are

based on expertise from the region, for example

in Lund; tapping into that is pertinent for startups

in Skåne. Lund is strong in immunoncology and

cancer in general, so collaboration in those areas

is relevant, and SmiLe also has advanced labs and

equipment to which companies have access.

panies become members

of MVA. Medeon has

previously had collaborative

projects with COBIS and

Biopeople; these are not

currently active.

Ulf. G. Andersson, CEO:

– Collaboration between

science parks and incubators across the Øresund

is important, and it will grow more even more

important for strengthening Medicon Valley’s in-

ternational competitiveness as time goes on. It’s

vital that such cooperation is sustainable in the

long-term, and that it is focused on the life sci-

ence companies’ needs rather than short-term,

project-funded, top-down planning and events.

PHOTO: SMILE INCUBATOR

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

MEDEON SCIENCE PARK & INCUBATOR

Founded:

1985

Number of companies:

Approx. 60

Number of people:

Approx. 400-450

Location:

Malmö

Focus:

Pharma, medtech, biotech, and health care

Øresund collaboration:

Medeon collaborates

with Medicon Valley Alliance, and Medeon-com-

KRINOVA INCUBATOR & SCIENCE PARK

The science park Krinova is in Kristianstad,

northwest Skåne, and focuses on food, environ-

ment, and health; because of sector overlap,

these areas of focus are partially or entirely

within the life science sector.

Krinova is owned by Kristianstad Municipality,

its subsidiary Kristianstads Industribyggnads AB

and Högskolan Kristianstad Holding AB. Krinova

has collaborated across the Øresund with the

Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Universi-

ty College Absalon, and others.

104

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

105

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

“The things we can do better together working

across the Øresund are things we should pursue”

26 public and private organisations have joined forces to found the Danish Life

Science Cluster with headquarters in Copenhagen. While the new cluster is prio-

ritising more extensive collaboration and associations between life science actors

in Denmark first and foremost, the chair of the board also welcomes trans-Øre-

sund collaborations.

Danish Life Science Cluster is one of 14 new

business clusters in Denmark highlighted by the

Danish Executive Board for Business Development

and Growth in 2020 in line with new legislation on

business promotion from 2019. The objective is use

business clusters to strengthen Danish innovation,

green transition, and financial group cohesiveness.

The organisation wants to start by prioritising more

developed collaborations between Danish life science

actors, but external collaborations will also be on the

agenda, says Kim Kjøller, chairman of the board at

Danish Life Science Cluster.

At his day job, he is CEO of the Copenhagen-based

biotech company Union Therapeutics. From 2015-

2020 he was head of research and development at the

pharmaceutical company LEO Pharma.

– We have historical collaborations in the Øresund

Region, and we will definitely continue to have them.

The collaborations are both on the commercial and on

the academia fronts. I think we should open a mutual

invitation and say: the things that we can do better

together working across the Øresund are things we

should pursue, says Kim Kjøller, noting that the stra-

tegical processes regarding external collaborations will

start when Danish Life Science Cluster’s new director,

Diana Arsovic Nielsen, takes the helm on 1 July 2021.

She is leaving behind a position as director of the

Centre for Regional Development at the Capital

Region of Denmark, and she was previously head

of innovation for the Municipality of Copenhagen,

among other things.

In addition to being open to transregional collabo-

ration, says Kim Kjøller, Danish Life Science Cluster

will contribute positively to the Danish life science

sector in various ways: among the cluster organisation’s

goals are more joint coordination and greater know-

ledge exchange and visibility between industry and the

universities; this in turn will result in improved patient

treatment, as well as more growth opportunities and

more jobs in Denmark for life science companies.

106

Novo Nordisk Foundation funded a super microscope

in Lund in 2018 – next year it will be ready for use

When the Novo Nordisk Foundation granted ca €35mn to set up ”the world’s

most powerful protein microscope” in Lund four years ago, it was the founda-

tion’s largest investment in southern Sweden to date. The microscope will be

operational in 2022, and the investment itself is part of the foundation’s strate-

gic initiative ”Copenhagen Bioscience Cluster”.

The world’s most powerful ”protein microscope”,

located at the Swedish, national research lab MAX

IV in Lund, should be ready for use in late 2022.

Funding for the microscope, called MicroMAX,

came in 2018 from Denmark’s – and one of the

world’s – wealthiest foundations, the Novo Nord-

isk Foundation.

The foundation granted 225mn DKK – equal to

ca €35mn –for the microscope, which enables prote-

ins to be studied in greater detail than ever before and

thus also offers a new base for the development of

new medicines and more.

Novo Nordisk Foundation’s grant will extend

over 14 years. It has preliminarily covered the costs

of the four years of construction of MicroMAX, and

will also cover ten years of operational costs for the

microscope in Lund.

– The grant to MAX IV is the Novo Nordisk Foun-

dation’s largest grant to southern Sweden (the Medicon

Valley region) to date, says Dagnia Looms, senior vice

president of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

The foundation’s involvement in the MAX IV-lab

in Lund is part of a broader strategic initiative that

the Novo Nordisk Foundation calls ”Copenhagen

Bioscience Cluster”. The goal is to create a cluster

of world-class research structures and infrastructure

in the Capital Region of Denmark and in Skåne, in

southern Sweden.

The initiative has been ongoing for the past 8-10

years, and in that time the Novo Nordisk Founda-

tion has granted over 6,5 billion DKK (€875mn) to

establish and expand the cluster on both sides of the

Øresund.

When the microscope MicroMAX in Lund

is operational next year, it will thus truly be part

of the Copenhagen Bioscience Cluster. Accor-

ding to Dagnia Looms, the many investments

and initiatives aim to increase the international

visibility of the region’s research and innovation,

to attract international talents and star researchers

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Previously, the Danish

life science innovation

system comprised e.g. five

small cluster organi-

sations: Copenhagen

Health Cluster, Life

Science Innovation North

Denmark, MedTech

Kim

Innovation Consortium,

Kjøller.

Welfare Tech and BioPe-

ople. These five regional cluster organisations have

now ceased to be individually operating units and have

merged into a single national organisation, Danish Life

Science Cluster. According to Kim Kjøller, this will

make it easier for life science actors to find with the

right collaborator – both in Denmark and abroad.

– It’s about improving the way we make use of each

other and the joint institutions in the collaboration.

We have fantastic expertise at the universities, and

small and medium-sized companies aren’t even neces-

sarily aware of its existence, says Kim Kjøller.

DANISH LIFE SCIENCE

CLUSTER

• Represents ca 500 small and medium-sized

companies in the sector.

• Received a total of 13mn DKK from the Danish

Executive Board for Business and Growth and

21mn DKK from the Ministry of Higher Education

and Science in 2020.

• Ca 30 people will work at Danish Life Scien-

ce Cluster, which will have regional offices in

Denmark’s four largest cities and headquarters

in Copenhagen.

• The University of Copenhagen, the Danish

Chamber of Commerce, Confederation of Danish

Industry, Dansk Biotek and Medicoindustrien are

among the cluster’s 26 partners.

to the region, stimu-

late cross-pollination

between university

environments, hospi-

tals and businesses,

and to contribute to

a knowledge-based

community.

Dagnia

– The major focus

Looms.

of the foundation’s stra-

tegic initiatives in the

current strategic phase has been on Denmark, with

increasing emphasis on international collaboration

and collaborative projects with international partners.

The largest allocations made have been to partners in

the USA, Sweden and England, says Dagnia Looms.

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell

Biology, DanStem, in Copenhagen, with around

250 employees, is also part of the ”Copenhagen

Bioscience Cluster”. The centre is headed by the

Swede Professor Henrik Semb.

The new director of the Novo Nordisk Founda-

tion, Mads Krogsgaard, who was Novo Nordisk’s

research director for many years, announced this

May that stem cell research will be a major area for

the foundation in its new 2030-strategy. The Novo

Nordisk Foundation plans to use the coming years

to complete the strategic process whilst the Micro-

MAX-microscope in Lund reaches completion.

PHOTO: DANISH LIFE SCIENCE CLUSTER

NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

Foundation with corporate interests. Its capital is

managed by its subsidiary Novo Holdings, which

is the largest shareholder of the listed compa-

nies Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S. The

foundation employs more than 200 people.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

107

PHOTO: NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021

ACTORS AND ACTIVITIES

MVA SEES THE GREATER COPENHAGEN REGION AS

A TEST BED FOR DANISH-SWEDISH INNOVATION IN

THE LIFE SCIENCES

The Greater Copenhagen Region should be a test bed for more innovative collaboration in the life sci-

ences between Denmark and Sweden, says Petter Hartman, administrative director of Medicon Valley

Alliance, who will become CEO of Medicon Village Innovation AB in Lund in November. To achieve that,

there should be concrete pilot projects for the beneﬁt of patients as well as the industry in both countri-

es. For that to happen however, there’s a need for increased resources and political determination.

the Øresund Region, and joint projects that deal with

health data.

– I see good potential to create synergies across the

border in those areas. As far as health data goes, the

fact that our systems are so similar and contain such

volumes of information means that if we can find

ways to collaborate there, it will be extremely positive

for both Swedish and Danish life science, says Petter

Hartman.

Border obstacles hit the labour market on

both sides of the Øresund

Unfortunately, the past year with the coronavirus-pan-

demic has also shown that joint coordination in

Øresund Region is far from functional, and the open

society has been facing yet another challenge, on top

of previous years’ closed border and the migrant crisis,

according to Petter Hartman.

– When a crisis hits, the pressure is often felt in

border regions, he says.

– We have to handle crisis situations better. Border

regions get shabby treatment on a national level, and

that has to change if border regions are to be motors

for growth, he says. He emphasises that the consequ-

ences can be dire for Medicon Valley, as it will become

more difficult to reap the advantages of the shared,

transregional labour market and promote Greater

Copenhagen as an integrated metropolis.

Border obstacles on the labour market are pro-

blematic for life science businesses in and around

Copenhagen, where many Swedes are employed, as

well as for biotech companies in Malmö and Lund,

which are dependent on attracting key actors from e.g.

larger scale Danish pharmaceutical companies, says

Petter Hartman.

He has, however, been pleased to see the innova-

tive force in Medicon Valley during the pandemic,

where more than 200 research projects related to

Covid-19 have been started, and he is happy that the

life science sector as an industry is stable against the

ups and downs of the market. That was clear from a

survey conducted by Øresundsinstituttet in the spring

of 2020 in which 125 life science businesses in Skåne

were asked questions as part of the project Greater

Copenhagen Life Science Analysis Initiative. 80% of

the companies interviewed reported that it had not

been necessary to dismiss employees at the beginning

of the pandemic.

Petter Hartman hopes that in 2021, they and other

transborder actors in the region can continue to take

steps toward a stronger collaboration on academic edu-

cation between Copenhagen and Skåne.

He welcomes the establishment of the new Danish

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

collaboration across the Øresund. The award was deve-

How can the trans-Øresund life science sector be

loped by the city of Malmö and Øresundsinstituttet.

strengthened? According to Petter Hartman, CEO of

Petter Hartman adds that the transregional projects

the Danish-Swedish network organisation Medicon

MVA runs, for example DiaUnion or ReproUnion, are

Valley Alliance (MVA), there are several answers to

not meant to only be relevant for MVA’s 300 mem-

that question. The important thing is walking the walk

bers. They should enrich the region’s research capacity

and allocating financial resources to concrete projects

more broadly and benefit patients as actors from the

across the Øresund.

Danish and Swedish sectors come together to develop

– I believe that getting concrete collaborations on

joint biobanks, new treatments,

their feet is the best recipe for

strengthening integration in

”When a crisis hits, the

transborder screening program-

mes, or run clinical studies on

the long-term. Opportunities

both sides of the Øresund.

pressure is often felt

to meet aren’t enough, even

According to

if seeing each other at events

in the border regions.”

man, in additionPetter Hart-

to strengthe-

and sharing experiences is

ning relationships between

a good start. When people

researchers and the life science industry, transregional

work together – when we let our various competences

projects also demonstrate that the Øresund Region is

cross-pollinate – we can take that extra step, he says.

a place where complex ideas and pilot studies can be

MVA was founded almost 25 years ago. It was at

tested and developed by actors in the sector.

the time when Ørestad was established, the Øresund

– The single most important role that Medicon

Bridge was nearing completion, and a group of experts

Valley and Greater Copenhagen have is to be a hub for

strategically pointed out the greater Copenhagen area

experiments, a place to put solutions to the test and

as a centre of medical research and development.

bring together the best of both countries, says Petter

In the past five years as MVA’s CEO, Petter

Hartman. He adds:

Hartman has prioritised concrete regional collabora-

– Denmark is a tiny country. Sweden is a relatively

tion more highly. As a result, the organisation is now

tiny country. Our volume is greater together, and I

running five transregional projects with universities,

believe it gives us a better chance of increasing our

hospitals, companies and political interest organi-

attractiveness internationally. In that context, the Øre-

sations in the Øresund Region. MVA’s projects are

sund Region can be seen as the place to find and test

funded in part by the EU’s Interreg fund, as well as by

solutions to shared issues or try out new models for

the Novo Nordisk Foundation and others.

collaboration between the public and private sectors.

– Over the past five or six years, we’ve successfully

And if it succeeds in Medicon Valley, the lessons can

transformed the organisation and become a platform

be passed on and scaled up to a Nordic and perhaps

for collaboration that facilitates collaborations on both

even an international level. That’s how I believe the

sides of the strait and attracts funding for research and

Øresund Region should be used – as a frontrunner for

development, Petter Hartman says.

transborder collaboration where it’s pertinent.

The region as a hub for experiments

As Petter Hartman sees it, the areas in which more

transborder collaboration will be advantageous in the

This February, MVA’s efforts led to the organisation

future are related to research commercialisation, coor-

being selected as the winner of the first Malmö Greater

dination of clinical studies, international marketing of

Copenhagen Business Award for its work promoting

108

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

Petter Hartman.

Life Science Cluster and hopes that the organisation

with its 26 actors will be able to simplify the innova-

tion system with complementary activities.

In addition, MVA wants to advocate a model for

how life science projects wishing to be active on both

sides of the Øresund can access public funding and thus

avoid being hindered by requirements that financial

support be used exclusively in Sweden or Denmark.

– If we succeeded in getting national fund structu-

res with public resources to support initiatives meant

for both Sweden and Denmark, it would be very, very

positive, says Petter Hartman.

MEDICON VALLEY ALLIANCE

• Non-profit membership organisation in the Da-

nish-Swedish life science cluster Medicon Valley.

• Founded in 1997, the organisation works to

promote the integration of Danish and Swedish

life science in the Øresund Region.

• MVA’s members include more than 300 actors

from the sector, among them universities, hospi-

tals, life science businesses, regional governme-

nts and service providers in the Øresund Region.

• The organisation facilitates network groups

for oncology, medtech, R&D and more, and runs

transregional projects in fertility and diabetes.

109

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PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

INVESTMENTS

Differing capital structures in Medicon Valley

mean differing funding conditions

Access to risk capital in Medicon Valley has improved in general in recent years, according to a

number of investment companies and life science businesses with Danish-Swedish ownership. That

has a positive effect on funding conditions in the region on the whole. A major difference across the

Øresund remains that the stock market is more accessible in Sweden, while actors from the sector

maintain that access to venture capital is better in Denmark. Although there are numerous listed

companies in Skåne, the total market value of the listed companies is signiﬁcantly higher in Zealand.

When it comes to capital structure, one of the

greatest differences in the Danish-Swedish Medicon

Valley cluster is that there are far more listed life

science companies in Skåne compared to the number

in Zealand. 71 companies were identified as having

headquarters in Skåne and listings in Stockholm, and

20 life science companies were identified as having

headquarters in Zealand and listings in Copenhagen.

In addition, there are 12 Danish life science compa-

nies listed in Stockholm.

This bears witness to the generally more active

stock market in Sweden; this is in part due to lower

taxation on shares, which makes it more attractive for

private individuals to invest.

As an example, five life science companies in Skåne

have gone public in the spring and summer of 2021

to date; on the Danish side of the strait however, no

company has gone public yet this year. Furthermore,

a total of around 700 companies – in the life sciences

and in other sectors – are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm,

whilst around 170 companies in all sectors are listed on

Nasdaq Copenhagen. When it comes to Spotlight Stock

Market, a total of 158 companies in the life sciences

and in other sectors are listed in Stockholm, whilst five

companies in the sector across the Øresund are listed on

Spotlight Stock Market’s mini exchange in Copenhagen.

Although a number of Danish life science compa-

nies chose to list in Copenhagen in 2020, going via

the stock exchange is more convenient for life science

companies in Skåne. There is a particularly high con-

centration of biotech- and pharma companies in the

Malmö-Lund area.

INVESTMENTS, OWNERSHIP

AND LISTINGS

Many listings in Skåne are linked to fewer

venture capital opportunities

Sweden’s more active stock exchange has also been an

advantage for Danish life science companies, which

have sought capital via Nasdaq or Spotlight Stock Mar-

ket in Stockholm since 2014. The Swedish investment

company Sedermera Fondkommission has headquar-

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

ters in Malmö and has advised 12 Danish life science

companies on going public in Sweden. Like its parent

company Spotlight Group did in 2018, the company

has now set up offices and a physical presence in Copen-

hagen as well. A result has been closer financial links in

the Øresund Region – read more on page 120-121.

Sometimes however, the more lucrative stock market

path in Sweden is a necessity for funding life science in

Skåne, the reason being that unlike in Zealand, there

are fewer options for continued funding by professional

national and foreign investors, according to a number of

life science companies and investment companies with a

Danish-Swedish stance – read more on page 129-134.

The same points were made in the report Life

Science in Skåne from 2020, which was prepared

by Øresundsinstituttet. 20 predominantly small

biotech- and medtech companies in Skåne expres-

sed in written and spoken interviews that access to

risk capital is a must.

Despite there being more than three times as many

listed life science companies in Skåne, the total market

value of the group of listed life science companies in

Zealand is significantly greater. This highlights another

structural difference within the Danish-Swedish

Medicon Valley cluster regarding company size, with

beacon companies such as the listed Novo Nordisk

and H. Lundbeck. These global companies contribute

seed- and venture-funding to Danish life science via

commercial foundations. There are no foundations of

that calibre in Skåne, which leads to an imbalance.

However, Danish and Swedish companies in

Medicon Valley benefit in general from internatio-

nal investors growing interest in the region as they

look for new investment opportunities, say Danish

and Swedish investment companies – read more on

page 124-129. The Medicon Valley ecosystem has

matured, and according to a number of companies

with Danish-Swedish ownership in the region, that

has largely improved the opportunities for start-up

funding – read more on page 129-134.

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INVESTMENTS

NUMBER OF LISTED COMPANIES IN DENMARK AND SWEDEN

Across sectors

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

MARKET CAP IN MEDICON VALLEY

Euro in billions

250

200

150

In the life science sector

708

226,56

665

Since 2014, 13 life science companies

from Denmark have gone public in

Sweden, 12 of which are still listed – on

Nasdaq and Spotlight Stock Market in

Stockholm, respectively. The companies

initially raised ca 665mn SEK in capital, or

ca €65mn. Share emissions following the

IPO have increased the amount of capital

raised by the company further. Sederme-

ra Fondkomssion in Malmö has helped

multiple Danish life science companies

list – read more on page 120-121.

169

158

100

12,46

71 life science

companies with

headquarters in

Skåne (listed in

Sweden)

Nasdaq

Stockholm

Nasdaq

Spotlight

Copenhagen Stock Market S

Stockholm*

Headquarters Headquarters

Danish

Headquarters in Headquarters in

in Skåne

companies

Skåne – listed in Zealand – listed companies

in Zealand

–

Denmark listed in Sweden

–

Sweden

listed in

Sweden

Denmark

0,83

20 life science

The 12

12 Danish

The

Danish

companies with life science

companies with

life science

headquarters in companies

listed

headquarters in

companies

Zealand (listed listed in Sweden

Zealand (listed in in Sweden

in Denmark)

Denmark)

Source: Nasdaq and Spotlight Stock Market. *10 companies from Spotlight NEXT are added to Spotlight Stock Market in Stockholm. Spotlight Next is for

companies that want greater internal control. Note that five companies are listed on Spotlight Stock Market in Copenhagen

20 LIFE SCIENCE COMPANIES WITH HEADQUARTERS IN ZEALAND

– LISTED IN DENMARK

Company name

13 DANISH COMPANIES HAVE LISTED IN SWEDEN SINCE 2014,

12 OF WHICH ARE STILL LISTED

Company name

Subsector

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Healthtech

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Exchange/

marketplace

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock

Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock

Market

HQ site

Bagsværd

Humlebæk

Copenhagen

Bagsværd

Ballerup

Hørsholm

Ballerup

Smørum

Valby

Hørsholm

Hellerup

Allerød

Søborg

Copenhagen

Hellerup

Birkerød

Copenhagen

Virum

København

Listing

date

1974

1983

2000

1869

2010

1992

1996

1999

2005

1998

2006

2010

2017

2004

2018

2020

Market cap in €;

3 May 2020

110 460 611 994

27 079 187 850

19 897 956 846

13 570 409 969

10 520 876 376

10 358 560 322

10 177 742 727

10 000 764 506

5 116 499 789

3 623 016 040

2 374 212 266

1 553 920 114

1 204 831 618

274 026 828

165 812 002

95 828 249

45 591 669

18 189 275

13 200 924

8 133 584

€226 559 372 949

Subsector

Biotech/pharma

Healthtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Exchange/

marketplace

Spotlight

Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight

Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight

Stock Market

Spotlight

Stock Market

Nasdaq

HQ site

Lund/Holte

Glostrup

Copenhagen

Hørsholm

Copenhagen

Helsingborg/

Copenhgen

Lund/

Hørsholm

Copenhagen

Malmö

Hellerup

Hørsholm

Aarhus

Ansager

Listing

date

2016

2014

2019

2016

2018

2020

2016

2017

2016

2015

2017

2020

2015

Market cap in

€; 3 May 2020

200 539 431

141 706 269

114 961 520

108 721 462

72 377 343

53 852 187

34 651 459

32 049 812

25 802 006

21 436 145

11 240 128

8 145 686

Capital app-

rox. raised

at IPO

32mn SEK

17 mn SEK

22 mn SEK

18 mn SEK

26 mn SEK

55 mn SEK

20 mn SEK

18 mn SEK

125 mn SEK

20 mn SEK

42 mn SEK

Novo Nordisk B A/S

Coloplast B A/S

Genmab A/S

Novozymes B A/S

GN Store Nord (GN Hearing)

Chr. Hansen Holding A/S

Ambu A/S

Demant A/S

H. Lundbeck A/S

ALK Abelló B A/S

Bavarian Nordic A/S

ChemoMetec A/S

Zealand Pharma A/S

Orphazyme A/S

Bioporto A/S

ViroGates A/S

Curasight A/S

Monsenso A/S

Audientes A/S

Cessatech A/S

SynAct Pharma AB

Saniona AB*

FluoGuide A/S*

Expres2ion Biotech Holding AB

Scandion Oncology A/S*

Qlife Holding AB

RhoVac AB

2curex AB

Acarix AB

Allarity Therapeutics A/S

(formerly Oncology Venture A/S)*

Initiator Pharma

DanCann Pharma A/S

Neuvolution (delisting)

€825 483 449

665 mn SEK

Source: Nasdaq, Spotlight Stock Market, Nordic Growth Market and information from the companies. Currency rates based on Denmark’s National-

bank. Note that market value indicates the respective share class for trade. Companies can offer multiple share classes, just as a company may have a

number of unlisted shares.

Novo was listed in 1974 under the name Novo Industri A/S. Novo and Nordisk later merged in 1989

Neuvolution was sold to

Amgen for 1.6bn SEK in 2019. Note that ‘Zealand’ refers to the Capital Region of Denmark. The figures in the above table for capital raised with an IPO are

rounded off. Capital raised with later emissions is not included. Note that even if the companies are classified as Danish companies, some have partial

headquarters in Skåne. Note that Össur, Onxeo and Stenocare are also listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen, but do not have headquarters in Zealand. *Saniona,

FluoGuide, Scandion Oncology and Allarity Therapeutics were originally listed on Spotlight Stock Market but have moved to Nasdaq Stockholm.

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INVESTMENTS

71 LIFE SCIENCE COMPANIES WITH HEADQUARTERS IN SKÅNE

– LISTED IN SWEDEN

Company name

Subsector

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Other

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Healthtech

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Exchange/

marketplace

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nordic Growth Market

(NGM)

Nasdaq

Nordic Growth Market

(NGM)

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Listing expected

6 July 2021

Listing expected

6 July 2021

Listing expected

12 July 2021

HQ site

Malmö

Lund

Malmö

Lund

Malmö

Lund

Helsing-

borg

Lund

Malmö

Lund

Malmö

Listing

date

2016

2008

2009

2016

2019

2018

2020

2018

2019

2018

2016

2017

2015

2006

2015

2016

2015

2010

2021

2009

2021

2016

2020

2014

2020

2018

2010

2001

2021

Market cap in €;

3 May 2020

24 504 957

24 069 965

23 314 179

22 844 722

22 638 650

22 348 521

21 730 060

18 895 308

16 233 986

16 183 519

15 506 940

15 120 946

14 629 914

14 139 299

11 986 647

10 087 101

9 931 765

9 605 753

9 161 598

7 867 154

7 828 618

6 560 631

6 265 009

5 885 237

5 651 923

5 499 666

4 213 059

3 537 861

2 752 582

1 236 344

Cyxone AB

Market cap in €;

3 May 2020

2 043 447 600

2 013 359 448

1 152 169 719

1 060 610 809

848 255 177

730 682 761

545 124 067

496 671 272

427 770 760

337 996 291

295 534 491

270 859 283

259 534 445

158 168 531

142 833 528

125 618 578

123 015 850

102 255 734

89 445 772

86 693 943

77 290 921

73 555 390

65 558 052

55 466 249

47 603 670

47 350 183

46 345 808

44 612 294

35 280 358

33 518 142

33 385 428

32 799 948

32 090 435

31 823 454

30 744 241

29 567 523

26 878 255

24 545 467

PILA PHARMA AB

WNTresearch AB

Pharmiva AB

Ziccum AB

Coegin Pharma AB

Carbiotix AB

Combigene AB

Enorama Pharma AB

BibbInstruments AB

Prebona Healthcare AB

Medicpen AB

Vibrosense Dynamics AB

Aptahem AB

Invent Medic Sweden AB

AcuCort AB

Abliva AB

Clinical Laserthermia Systems AB

ser. B

Xintela AB

Selectimmune Pharma AB

Lumito AB

Subsector

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Foodtech

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Healthtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Other

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

CMO

Medtech

Biotech/pharma

Medtech

Exchange/

marketplace

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

Nordic Growth Market

(NGM)

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

Spotlight Stock Market

Nasdaq

HQ site

Malmö

Torekov

Lund

Malmö

Lund

Malmö

Lund

Malmö

Lund

Malmö

Lund

Malmö

Lund

Malmö

Lund

Listing

date

2017

1984

2015

2016

2007

2004

1999

2017

2015

2006

2001

2015

2011

1993

2013

2019

2020

1999

2018

2015

2014

2011

2016

2009

2018

2020

2014

2013

2014

1998

2012

2017

2020

2021

2020

2019

Arjo AB ser. B

Nolato AB

Camurus AB

Swedencare AB

CellaVision AB

Hansa Biopharma AB

Probi AB

Midsona AB

Bone Support Holding AB

Cantargia AB

Genovis AB

BioInvent International AB

Immunovia AB

Enzymatica AB

Doro AB

Eql Pharma AB

Ascelia Pharma AB

Aegirbio AB

Glycorex Transplantation AB

Spectracure AB

Hamlet Pharma AB

Optifreeze AB (Opticept

Technologies AB)

BrainCool AB

Axichem AB

Alligator Bioscience AB

Dignitana AB

Iconovo AB

Magle Chemoswed AB

Phase Holographic Imaging Phi AB

Guard Therapeutics International AB

Follicum AB

Active Biotech AB

Respiratorius AB

SenzaGen AB

Bioextrax AB

Spago Nanomedical AB

Acousort AB

Prostalund AB

Spermosense AB

Sensodetect AB

Duearity AB

Scandinavian Chemotech AB B

Idogen AB

Alteco Medical AB

GPX Medical AB

PolarCool AB

Pharmalundensis AB

European Institute Of Science AB

Amniotics AB

Diagonal Bio AB

€12 458 695 790

Source: Nasdaq, Spotlight Stock Market, Nordic Growth Market and information from the companies. Currency rates based on Denmark’s Nationalbank.

Note that market value indicates the respective share class for trade. Companies can offer multiple share classes, just as a company may have a number

of unlisted shares.

Spermosense was first listed on 5 May 2021; market value and currency exchange are calculated for that day rather than 3 May 2021

Duearity was first listed on 11 May 2021; market value and currency exchange are calculated for that day rather than 3 May 2021

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INVESTMENTS

€35

bn is how much the Novo Nordisk Foundation granted

Lund University and MAX IV in 2018 to develop the

world’s strongest ”protein microscope”. It should be

ready for use in 2022. The grant is the foundation’s

largest in southern Sweden to date.

PHOTO: SPOTLIGHT

THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDA-

TION SUPPORTS RESEARCH ON

BOTH SIDES OF THE ØRESUND

Each year, the Novo Nordisk Founda-

tion’s Research Leader Programme

awards grants to researchers in

the natural sciences. In addition to

researchers at Danish universities,

researchers at Malmö University,

Lund University, Uppsala University,

the University of Gothenburg and Ka-

rolinska Institute also received grants

in 2020 and 2021. Professor Char-

lotte Ling from Lund University, who

specialises in diabetes, for example,

received a 10mn DKK grant in 2021.

LARGEST SERIES A INVEST-

MENT IN DANISH BIOTECH:

DANISH AND SWEDISH VEN-

TURE FUND RAISED

380mn DKK, equal to €51mn. The capital was

invested in the Danish biotech company Adcendo by

a consortium comprising five investment compa-

nies – among them Danish Novo Seeds and Swedish

HealthCap – in May 2021. The investment has made

history: it is the largest so-called series A investment

ever in a Danish biotech company. A series A invest-

ment refers to a company’s first significant round of

venture capital financing from established capital

funds following a startup-capital period. Adcendo

was founded in 2017 as a spin-out from research at

the University of Copenhagen and Rigshospitalet.

Read more about the company on page 130.

HOW HAS THE OPENING OF A

SPOTLIGHT’S COPENHAGEN

OFFICE IN 2018 BENEFITTED

MEDICON VALLEY’S LIFE SCI-

ENCE SECTOR TO DATE?

– It is my experience that both Danish

and Swedish life science companies

and investors have profited from this

and that we see an increased cross

border flow. Six Danish healthcare

companies – Curasight, Cessatech,

FluoGuide, Stenocare, DanCann Phar-

ma and Scandion Oncology – have

listed since medio 2018 and raised

growth capital – a total of approxima-

tely 370mn DKK, says Katrine Hoff,

Head of Danish Market, Spotlight

Stock Market.

* Stenocare has since moved from Spotlight

Stock Market to Nasdaq in Denmark in 2020.

FluoGuide and Scandion Oncology moved

from Spotlight Stock Market to Nasdaq

Sweden in 2021.

€450

Bn – that’s how much the investment company Nordic

Capital has invested in Denmark’s oldest pharma com-

pany LEO Pharma. Nordic Capital has offices in e.g.

Stockholm and Copenhagen. After 35 years, the LEO

Foundation is no longer the sole owner of LEO Phar-

ma; Nordic Capital has an owner’s share of max 25%.

LEO Pharma’s global headquarters are in Ballerup

near Copenhagen, and it has facilities in Malmö.

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

BRITISH PRIVATE EQUITY COMPA-

NY INVESTS IN BIOTECH STARTUP,

BYPASSES REGIONAL INVESTORS

The British venture capital

fund Arix announced in

March 2021 that it had

invested ca. 20mn DKK in

the Copenhagen-based

biotech company Twelve

Bio. The investment is

notable, as a national or

Stefano Stella, co-founder

regional anchor investor in

of Twelve Bio.

Medicon Valley is usually

necessary before life sci-

ence venture funds from abroad start to grow interested

and confident enough to invest. Twelve Bio was founded

in 2019 as a spin-out from Novo Nordisk Foundation’s

protein research centre at the University of Copenhagen.

The company researches in crispr-technology and has

offices at COBIS in Copenhagen.

ØRESUND - ØRESUNDSINSTITUTTET GCLSAI • June 2021

PHOTO: ANTON WILLEMANN

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

New Swedish investment company

wants to improve southern Sweden’s

access to seed capital with €19mn

SmiLe Inject Capital AB is a new

Swedish investment company, created

in the spring of 2021. Over the next two

years, it aims to invest up to €19mn in

10-15 life science startups that have

been growing in Lund’s SmiLe Incubator.

Behind SmiLe Inject Capital AB are the

national Swedish investment company

Saminvest, 11 Swedish investors and

Smile Incubator.

Malmö’s third-largest life science

company, PolyPeptide Laboratories AB,

has gotten the green light to triple its

production capacity; up to 1000 kg of

pharmaceutical substances can now

be manufactured in Malmö annually.

PolyPeptide expects that more employ-

ees will thus need to be recruited to

Malmö, where the company already

has around 300 associated employees.

Its parent company, PolyPeptide Group,

was listed in Switzerland in April 2021

to accelerate growth of the company,

which employs over 900 people around

the globe. The listing implied a market

capitalisation of 2.12bn Swiss francs.

PolyPeptide’s historic roots reach back

to Ferring Pharmaceuticals, which was

founded in Malmö in 1950. PolyPepti-

de is still owned, via a foundation, by

Frederik Paulsen Jr, son of Ferring’s

founded Frederik Paulsen.

1.2

bn SEK is the start capital for the new, Swedish

investment company Segulah Medical Accelera-

tion, which aims to invest in medtech compa-

nies in Medicon Valley and in Europe.

116

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117

PHOTO: NEWS ØRESUND

MALMÖ’S LARGEST LIFE SCIEN-

CE COMPANY CAN TRIPLE ITS

PRODUCTION CAPACITY – AND IS

NOW LISTED IN SWITZERLAND

BioInnovation Institute becomes a foundation, and the

Novo Nordisk Foundation pledges ten years of funding

For the next ten years, BioInn-

ovation Institute in Copenhagen

has been pledged 350mn DKK

annually from the Novo Nordisk

Foundation. A prerequisite is that

BioInnovation Institute’s positive

development continues. Since

2017, more than 68 research

projects and startups from Den-

mark and other Nordic countries – including Skåne – have

received support via BII for the development of new life

science innovations and solutions in pharma, bioindustry

and healthtech.

ERU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 376: Ny analyse fra Medicon Valley Alliance og Øresundsinstituttet "Life science across the Øresund" præsenteret 22. juni 2021