BioStock met industry leaders at LSX
This week, BioStock attended LSX Nordic in Copenhagen, a congress dedicated to showcasing innovation, cultivating investment, and fostering partnerships in Northern Europe’s life science ecosystem. Watch our interviews from the conference floor, where we engaged with industry experts.
The LSX Nordic Congress brings together life science and healthcare companies with global investors, and potential strategic partners to drive the growth, development, and internationalisation of Nordic and Baltic innovations. Its mission is to enhance investment in the region, while cultivating strategic partnerships and collaboration with key global stakeholders.
– Pan-European investors are the backbone of our investor network. Still, we continue to take measures to attract a larger portion of US and Chinese capital and introduce them to European life science innovation, Josh Dance, managing Director at LSX, tells BioStock. View the full interview here.
Networking on the conference floor
BioStock set out to meet with some of the high rollers. One example is Xspray Pharma. BioStock’s Natasha Bank sat down with the company CEO Per Andersson, to discuss their oncology pipeline and proprietary hybrid drug technology. Aiming for the largest segment in the field of oncology, Xspray taps into a market valued at 33 BUSD in the US alone (2021) and aims to launch the first candidate, Dysonac, in 2025. Watch the full interview here.
Sprint Bioscience, another Scandinavian-based oncology company, was among the attendees. BioStock talked to CEO Johan Emilsson about the current market climate, the conditions for preclinical partnering, and the development of the TREX-1 programme.
– We are targeting the largest market for licensing opportunities, says CEO Johan Emilsson to BioStock.
Recently, an article in Nature concluded that, during the period 2015-2022, 73 per cent of all licensing deals in the oncology space were for preclinical projects. According to Sprint Bioscience, they receive continuous signals confirming that the appetite for innovative research at an early stage is significant. Watch our interview here.
Women driving lifestyle changes
We also bumped into Sana Alajmovic, co-founder and CEO of health tech company Sigrid Therapeutics. She explained the company´s approach to combating chronic lifestyle diseases – which seems to be top of everyone’s minds these days.
During our conversation, Sana shared insights into the company’s innovative SiPore technology, which utilises engineered silica particles to alter food digestion and improve metabolic health. Sigrid is dedicated to transforming the prevention and treatment of conditions like obesity and diabetes.
– Our female consumers are our best advocates. Once they have tried our product, they tell their friends and buy it for their men, says Sana Alajmovic, who then had to run off to partake in a panel discussion on women’s health.
Finance – the gateway to untapped possibilities
BioStock also got the opportunity to speak to a runway of institutional investors. Among these were Paul Little from Lundbeckfonden, who expanded on their investment strategy in the life sciences sector. Paul highlighted the importance of responsible investment and how Lundbeckfonden integrates sustainability into its decision-making process. By viewing sustainability as a quality assurance factor, their investments warrant a long-term positive impact on healthcare and the environment. He also mentioned that a prerequisite for a large-ticket investment for the fund is a high unmet medical need, while they do not discriminate against any level of company or project maturity. View the full interview here.
We also had the pleasure of speaking with Stephan Christgau from Eir Ventures, who finds the lack of venture capital as one of the major constraints of the Nordic ecosystem. At the same time, it is no secret that he himself benefit from the many attractive investment opportunities. In spite of receiving several hundreds of applications yearly, the fund has only made 20 investments over their 4-year life span. Being able to be selective among a large set of high-quality innovations allows for a solid portfolio for funds such as Eir Ventures. Watch the full-length interview here.
Watch all interviews
The 2024 edition was the sixth iteration of the LSX Nordic Congress. BioStock left the event in high spirits, inspired by the insights gained from both all and old connections met on site. BioStock left the event in high spirits, inspired by the insights gained all new and old connections met on site. Please find all of BioStock’s interviews from the congress floor below.
Mehdi Ainouche, Senior Principal at JEITO Capital.
Stephan Christgau, Founding Partner of Eir Ventures.
Josh Dance, Managing Director at LSX.
Sana Alajmovic, CEO of Sigrid Therapeutics.
Paul Little, Operating Partner of Lundbeckfonden.
Per Andersson, CEO of Xspray Pharma.
Johan Emilsson, CEO of Sprint Bioscience
Stine Friis, Director of R&D and BD at Evaxion Biotech A/S
Giovanni Rizzo, Partner at Indaco BIO Fund
Neil Anderson, Senior Director at Science2Medicine iNNvest
Alex Leech at Sofinnova Partners
BioStock Media Partner Team
- Natasha Bank, Reporter & Business Developer
- Felix Borrebaeck, Production Coordinator & Business Developer
- Jonas Söderström, CEO & Onsite Editorial Lead
- David Björkén, Creative Director & Videographer
- Linus Flink Elmfors, Editor & CBO