2020-10-19
Where are we right now with Swedish ATMP manufacture, research and industry?
As one of the first tasks of Sweden’s ATMP Innovation Milieu a baseline report of the Swedish ATMP landscape has been performed through partner MSC Nordics. This report focusses on ATMP research, companies, funding and manufacturing and is necessary to be able to measure the impact of the ATMP Innovation Milieu and/or growth of the Swedish ATMP industry over the next 5 years. The analysis includes – Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Spain.
The following is a summary of highlights from the report. Keep in mind that the classification of ATMP is not always applicable to the general use of the terms ‘gene therapy’ or ‘cell therapy’ so in some cases ‘ATMP relevant’ will be used to avoid losing important information held by those working on the interfaces of ATMP regulations. You can find the full report on the Innovation Milieu project page; https://atmpsweden.se//atmp-innovation-environment/vdh-projects/
Where is Sweden leading within ATMP?
ATMP companies!
Sweden ranks first in European funding awarded to advanced therapy developing companies between 2014-2019, with the following companies all receiving significant investments;
Asgard Therapeutics AB – GTMP for solid tumour immunotherapy
Combigene AB – GTMP for epilepsy or lipodystrophy
Sinfonia Biotherapeutics AB – sCTMP for GBA1 associated Parkinsons disease
Ilya Pharma AB – GTMP for treating wounds in skin and mucosa
Verigraft AB – TEP for personalised tissue-engineered transplants
This is a great example of successful translation of Swedish ATMP research to commercial potential. Sweden was in the top 3 countries based on the number of identified therapeutic ATMP companies and HQ location of ATMP companies, behind the UK and Germany. Considering this ranking is not population corrected, Sweden is performing well in the ATMP SME space.
In total, 47 active ATMP projects driven by Swedish SMEs were identified, of which 30 were in the pre-clinical phase and the rest in Clinical Phase I or Phase II. 55% of of the projects were within the immunotherapy field and half of the projects in this space were being run by Immunicum AB or Lokon Pharma AB. The Swedish SMEs NextCell AB and Immunicum AB are in clinical Phase II testing.
You can find more about Swedish ATMP companies and links to their homepages on our ATMP map. https://atmpsweden.se//resources/atmp-map/
Research
Sweden is renowned for a solid foundation of high-quality research and in ATMP it maintains this status. Sweden is top 2 in total annual publications within ATMP, ATMP related publications in the last 10 years and ATMP relevant researcher density per population, in all cases runner up to Denmark. In a Europe wide analysis the Karolinska Institutet came out in the top 5 centres with research affiliations within ATMP in Europe, with top contenders being University College London, University of Oxford, Hannover Medical School, Leiden University Medical Center and University of Vienna. The highest number of ATMP affiliated researchers in Sweden are found at Karolinska Institutet, Uppsala University, Lund University and University of Gothenburg.
Find out more about our ATMP researchers on our ATMP map. https://atmpsweden.se//resources/atmp-map/
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Find the full ATMP baseline report on the Innovation Milieu project page; https://atmpsweden.se//atmp-innovation-environment/vdh-projects/