News

: MVA HIGHLIGHT: Cheaper and faster drug development!
by Niels Gerner Larsen, Project Manager, Medicon Valley Academy



Is it possible to cut costs in the drug development process? Is it possible to speed up the process from pre-clinic to phase II?

There are many hurdles in product formulation or design, safety and efficacy testing, GMP production, applications to ethics committees and regulatory authorities, and contracts with investigators and possibly CRO’s before you even get started in the clinic.

The forthcoming Medicon Valley Drug Development Guide will put focus on cost and time effectiveness in the drug development process. By including experiences among specialists and companies in Medicon Valley, the aim of this publication is to make Medicon Valley biotech and medtech companies even better prepared for the clinical development process than their competitors in other bioregions in the world.

We have seen an enormous interest among competent companies and individuals in Medicon Valley to support us with relevant knowledge for the publication. Still, we have three weeks to catch up input from actors we still not have been in contact with.

Scantox and Pipeline Biotech have already economically supported Medicon Valley Drug Development Guide substantially. We are very grateful for that. However, we may need additional economic contributions. Medicon Valley Drug Development Guide is a unique publication within drug development, and I strongly recommend companies involved in such development to support the publication either via a sponsorship or by ordering an advertisement.

Medicon Valley Drug Development Guide will be published in May/June 2005.


: NEWS INDEX

• HR network meeting: What can the Swedish Labour Market Administration offer companies and organisations in Medicon Valley? - 27 January
• MVA start-up event #2: How to attract seed and start-up capital - 7 February
• Career Options in Bioscience - 8 February
• Small Talk on Big Issues: Nanoscience & Nanotechnologies - risks and opportunities - 9 February
• MVA Biostatistics Network Course: Clinical trial simulation in drug development - 7-9 March
• Medicon Valley Academy seeks new Managing Director
• Medicon Valley Academy moves to new offices in Ørestad City, Copenhagen
• The 12th European Conference on Biotechnology: Bringing Genomes to Life - 21-24 August
• New initiative brings Lund in front of innovative Sweden 
• The Danish government launches new action plan to strengthen the venture capital market in Denmark
• DKK 100 million in new capital for Zealand Pharma (Denmark)
• DakoCytomation (Denmark) and Corixa (USA) announce two new licensing agreements
• Register for participation in the Scandinavian pavilion on BIO in Philadelphia, USA / 19-22 June 2005
• Call for tenders to construct and operate Biotechnology Science Park in Copenhagen
• CMC Biopharmaceuticals (Denmark) completes a EUR 14 million financing round
• VINNOVA funds Swedish incubators with SEK 50 million/year for three years
• Research collaboration between Bioneer and Chr. Hansen (Denmark)
• BioInvent International AB (Sweden) and ThromboGenics expand long term collaboration
• LEO Pharma A/S (Denmark) and Alliance Pharmaceutical reach licensing agreement on Oxygent
  

: MVA NEWS

HR network meeting: What can the Swedish Labour Market Administration offer companies and organisations in Medicon Valley?
27 January 2005 / Position Skåne / Malmö / Sweden
The Swedish Labour Market Administration will inform about their website system and how you, as an employer or Human Resource manager, can use it to e.g. publish recruitment ads and much more for free.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1332.htm

MVA start-up event #2 - How to attract seed and start-up capital
7 February 2005 / Ørestad / Copenhagen / Denmark
This time MVA highlight how to attract seed and start-up capital. Three presentations from seed and start-up investors will be followed by short company-to-company presentations from the participating start-up companies.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1348.htm

Career Options in Bioscience
8 February 2005 / Lund University / Sweden
Future Faculty at the Medical Faculty of Lund University and Medicon Valley Academy invites young researchers and research group leaders to participate in a half-day conference concerning the career options in the Medicon Valley region.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1173.htm

Small Talk on Big Issues - Nanoscience & Nanotechnologies - risks and opportunities
9 February 2005 / Lund University / Sweden
The British Embassies in Sweden and Denmark in co-operation with the Biomedical Centre of Lund University, Medicon Valley Academy, Nordiska Forskningsnätet, Pronano AB and the association Vetenskap och Allmänhet invites you to a half-day discussion workshop, about risks and opportunities with Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1327.htm

MVA Biostatistics Network Course: Clinical trial simulation in drug development
7-9 March 2005 / Lund / Sweden
The course is an introduction to the field of drug simulation. The course will cover topics like how modeling and simulation can contribute to drug development, simulation in drug development-good practice, simulation strategies, planning a CTS project, interpretation of simulation results, different softwares used in CTS and practical hands-on.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1135.htm

Medicon Valley Academy seeks new Managing Director
Application deadline: 15 February 2005
Read more here (in Danish) www.mva.org/composite-1353.htm

Medicon Valley Academy, Øresund University, and Øresund Science Region's platforms in Denmark move to new offices in Ørestad City, Copenhagen
Medicon Valley Academy, Øresund IT Academy, Øresund Food Network, Øresund Environment Academy and the Øresund University secretariat have moved to new offices on the 1 January 2005 in Ørestad City, Copenhagen.
Read more here (in Danish and Swedish) www.mva.org/composite-1324.htm

The 12th European Conference on Biotechnology - Bringing Genomes to Life
21 - 24 August 2005 / Copenhagen / Denmark
The 12th European Congress on Biotechnology (ECB12) will address cutting edge research in the fields of modern biology and biotechnology under the theme Bringing Genomes to Life. The scientific programme will include symposia on: Genomics, Proteomics and Protein Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, Pharma Biotechnology, Industrial Biotechnology, Food Biotechnology, and Environmental Biotechnology. ECB12 is organised on behalf of The European Federation of Biotechnology by Danish Biotechnology Forum, Medicon Valley Academy and the Danish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1290.htm


: MEDICON VALLEY NEWS

The Danish government launches new action plan to strengthen the venture capital market in Denmark
One of the initiatives presented is a partly privatisation of Vaekstfonden - the financial organisation that contributes to the promotion of Danish business and trade.
Read more here (in Danish) www.mva.org/composite-1355.htm

New initiative brings Lund in front of innovative Sweden
Groundbreaking collaboration between Lund University and Teknikbrostiftelsen in Lund will double the amount of knowledge based companies.
Read more here (in Swedish) www.mva.org/composite-1352.htm

DKK 100 million in new capital for Zealand Pharma
Zealand Pharma (Denmark) closed their latest financing round after raising DKK 100 million (USD 18 million). Arranged in two tranches the funding enables the continuation of Zealands' clinical development programme.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1344.htm

DakoCytomation and Corixa announce two new licensing agreements
DakoCytomation A/S (Denmark), the leading global provider of in vitro diagnostic systems for Anatomic Pathologists, today announced it entered into two license agreements with Corixa Corporation (USA), a developer of immunotherapeutics.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1345.htm

Call for tenders to construct and operate Biotechnology Science Park in Copenhagen
The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Greater Copenhagen Authority (HUR) wish to call for tenders to construct and operate a Biotechnology Science Park in Copenhagen.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1343.htm

Register for participation in the Scandinavian pavilion on BIO in Philadelphia, USA / 19-22 June 2005
Copenhagen Capacity and Position Skåne, together representing Medicon Valley, have taken the initiative to the project "The Scandinavian Pavilion" as a starting point for a strong exposure of the Scandinavian biotech and pharma industry in Philadelphia this summer.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1356.htm

CMC Biopharmaceuticals completes a EUR 14 million financing round, introducing new investors
CMC Biopharmaceuticals A/S, a fast-growing Danish Contract Manufacturing Organisation (CMO) providing services to the global Biologics Pharmaceutical Industry, announced that it has completed a EUR 14 million (DKK 106 million) financing round.
Read more here (in Danish) www.mva.org/composite-1342.htm

VINNOVA funds Swedish incubators with SEK 50 million/year for three years
VINNOVA has part funded, in cooperation with Teknikbrostiftelserna, the 12 largest incubators in Sweden with a total of SEK 50 million a year, for three years. There will be a maximum of SEK 4 million to each incubator.
Read more here (in Swedish) www.mva.org/composite-1340.htm

Research collaboration between Bioneer and Chr. Hansen
Danish Bioneer and Chr. Hansen have received an Innovation grant from the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries. The grant will be used to develop novel methods to document probiotic effects of lactic acid bacteria.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1338.htm

BioInvent International AB and ThromboGenics Ltd. expand long term collaboration
BioInvent International AB (Sweden) and ThromboGenics Ltd. announced an expansion of their long-term collaborative research and licensing agreement, originally initiated in September.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1330.htm

LEO Pharma A/S and Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp reach licensing agreement on Oxygent
LEO Pharma A/S and Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. through its wholly owned subsidiary PFC Therapeutics, LLC, have announced that an agreement has been reached between LEO Pharma A/S and PFC Therapeutics to enter into a License Agreement.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1349.htm


: FUTURE EVENTS - see all events

Kick-off for the Swedish PhD programme FUNCFOOD
4 February 2005 / Lund / Sweden
Half-day seminar presenting the interdisciplinary FUNCFOOD PhD Programme - organised by Functional Food Science Centre in Lund and Region Skåne.
Read more here (in Swedish) www.mva.org/composite-1347.htm

Antibody-based cancer drugs
15 March 2005 / Copenhagen / Denmark
This international one-day conference will examine the development of antibody therapeutic approaches to deliver individualised cancer drugs in the future.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1336.htm

Tissue engineered blood vessels
23 - 24 April 2005 / Gothenburg / Sweden
Two-day international meeting with presentations on the subject of tissue engineered blood vessels, the extracellular matrix, and cell stress.
Read more here (in English) www.mva.org/composite-1321.htm


: NEW MVA MEMBERS - see complete membership list

CROel AB - www.croel.se - clinical research partner with expertise in clinical services, clinical project management, medical writing and staff training. Research specialities in smoking cessation, respiratory and uro-genital.

Novozymes A/S - www.novozymes.com - biotech based world leader in enzymes and microorganisms. Novozymes are involved with more than 40 different industries and have at least 700 different products.

Celltrix AB - www.celltrix.se - produces gelatine based beads to reduce skin deformities after surgery.

Zelmic technologies AB - www.zelmic.se - a drug delivery company which a specialisation in topical delivery products based on in-house technologies.

WP Development AB - www.watsonpharm.com - has evolved into a specialty pharmaceutical company, focused on developing, manufacturing and marketing brand and generic pharmaceutical products utilizing various drug delivery technologies. These technologies include solid dosage form, oral controlled release, transdermal, and oral transmucosal delivery systems.