Life science has become an important industry for the Swedish economy. In the first half of 2022 alone, Swedish pharmaceutical exports amounted to approximately SEK 70 billion, an increase of almost 40 percent compared to the first half of 2021. A large part of Sweden's success in life science is the emergence of industry clusters and innovation hubs for start-ups. Read moreBioStock dives deep into Uppsala's life science sector below.
Collaborations and initiatives
Life science has long had a strong position in the Uppsala region. Its growth is of course closely linked to research conducted at Uppsala University, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Academic Hospital.
To support development, a number of different initiatives have been created within life science. STUNS – The Foundation for Collaboration between the Universities of Uppsala, Business and Public Organizations – has been operating in the region since 1985. There are also organizations here that support new companies such as Almi, Uppsala Innovation Center (UIC), Connect Uppsala, Scilifelab and Bioprocess Innovation Hub.
Here you can also find Test Center, a national testbed for bioproduction, funded by Vinnova and Cytiva to secure the growth of the life science industry and its manufacturing capacity.
Uppsala today has three business parks within life science: Green Innovation Park, Uppsala Business Park and Uppsala Science ParkThe largest industrial cluster is Uppsala Business Park, which is located in an area in Eastern Uppsala that previously belonged to Pharmacia. Uppsala Business Park has ambitious plans to grow further and the area is now being expanded to be able to accommodate 15 employees within 15 years. Read more.
More than 100 life science companies in Uppsala
With more than 100 companies with a combined turnover of over SEK 33 billion, Uppsala's life science sector is the region's largest growth industry.
Here you will find both early-stage companies as well as internationally successful companies that GE Healthcare, Cytiva, Recipharm, Fresenius Kabi, Phadia (owned by Thermo Fisher Scientific), Galderma Nordic Q-Med, Biotage and Novavox.
BioStock recently reported that the biotech company Cytiva sales increased by 50 percent during the pandemic. The company has invested in increased production and opened a new facility this summer. Read more about it in BioStock's interview with Cecilia Sjöstedt, site leader at Cytiva's facility in Uppsala. Read the interview here.
Also the dermatology company galderma have recently broken ground for a factory in the region in which they have invested 2 billion kronor.
The Norwegian Immuno-Oncology Company Ultimovacs, whose patented technology is based on preclinical and clinical research, also has an office in Uppsala as a result of an acquisition of Immune needs cancer virus project. The company's CEO Carlos de Sousa recently commented to BioStock that the company is well positioned to reach significant clinical development milestones next year. Read the interview.
Growth companies show their strength
BioStock follows the news flow in the life science industry in the Nordics and below we describe the status of some of the Uppsala-based companies that we have reported on during the year.
Uppsala-based company Klaria develops pharmaceuticals with its patented alginate film platform, which safely and effectively delivers drugs via the oral cavity. The company continues to show its mettle and has three ongoing development agreements with international partners. BioStock recently interviewed Klaria's CEO Jesper Wiklund about collaborations and the business model. Read more.
Also the medical technology company Pharmacologist sees increased global demand for its products and services for quality control of pharmaceutical formulations in healthcare. BioStock spoke with the CEO Mats Hogberg about growth, focus on market expansion and cost control. Read the interview.
Emplicure has had an eventful start to the fall with a change of CEO and the start of a clinical pharmacokinetic study with the candidate Empli03 which is being developed for the treatment of chronic pain. Hakan Engqvist, the company's newly appointed CEO, told BioStock about the latest developments. Read the interview.
Uppsala Company Smell develops and markets the instrument Miris Human Milk Analyzer (Miris HMA), which is the only market-approved analytical instrument in the world for the analysis of human milk. The company has shown sales growth during the year and increased turnover by a full 133 percent during the third quarter. Read more about the company's outlook in BioStocks interview with Miri's CEO Camilla Myhre Sandberg.
Medical technology company UsDsign reported a 96 percent increase in sales in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2021, which caused the stock to surge. The company, which is one of the investment companies Karolinska Developments (KD) portfolio company, develops and manufactures regenerative implants and patient-specific solutions for the treatment of bone defects, designed to promote bone growth in the spine and improve healing of, for example, severe craniofacial defects.
Uppsala-based Dicot is in the process of developing the candidate LIB-01 which after a recent ex vivo study is believed to be the next generation of potency drugs. BioStock spoke with Dicot's CEO last fall Elin Trampe to hear more about the company's development. Watch the interview here.
Drug delivery company SUFFER has a broad product portfolio with several projects in clinical development that use proprietary and versatile technologies NanoZolid solves problems in many indication areas. The company participated in BioStock Life Science Fall Summit.
With its drug delivery platform Uni-Qleaver develops the Uppsala company QuiaPEG improved and patentable versions of already approved drugs. CEO Marcus Bosson visited BioStock's studio in connection with it and told us more about the company's plans. Read mer.
Good conditions for continued growth
BioStock's analysis of former cluster collaborations and some of the life science companies in Uppsala shows that there are good conditions for continued growth of the sector in the region.
BioStock has also written about similar clusters in Medicon Valley, the term for life science in the Öresund region, as well as in Stockholm Region and Umeå.