Medicon Valley Review 2011

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Medicon Valley was awarded The Hermès Prize for Innovation at the 4th national meeting of the “Club des Directeurs de l’Innovation de Paris”; the result of excellent cooperation between public and private organizations on both sides of the Öresund. During the second half of the year we have had a continuous stream of new tenants for the impressive and exciting initiative, Ideon Medicon Village.

The year ended with Sunstone Capital announcing its intentions of making a USD 130 million investment in novel biotech start-ups during 2012. This coincides with the establishment of Copenhagen Spin-outs, an EU- and Copenhagen Region-funded organization that will work in collaboration with industry to aid in the commercialization of research results for the development of more spin-outs from academic research institutions.


MAJOR DEALS IN MEDICON VALLEY
- CAMURUS ENTERS INTO COLLABORATION, OPTION AND LICENCE AGREEMENT WITH NOVARTIS (DECEMBER)
Camurus AB granted Novartis an exclusive option to license the FluidCrystal® Injection depot technology to develop, manufacture and commercialize Camurus’ octreotide product CAM2029 and related unnamed products. Novartis will pay Camurus a non-refundable option fee of USD 10 million. Camurus will fund, perform and retain control over the clinical development of CAM2029 until exercise of the licence option. In total, Camurus is eligible to pay in excess of USD 700 million and entitled to running royalties on global product sales. [Read more]

- VIROPHARMA COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF DUOCORT PHARMA (NOVEMBER)
ViroPharma Inc. completed its acquisition of DuoCort Pharma AB, a private Swedish company focused on improving glucocorticoid replacement therapy. The acquisition of Duocort Pharma further expands ViroPharma's orphan disease product pipeline. ViroPharma has paid an upfront closing cost of USD 34 million, and there are contingent milestone payments of up to USD 130 million associated with manufacturing, sales thresholds and territory expansion. Completion follows European Marketing Authorization and confirmation of Orphan Drug designation for DuoCort’s Plenadren. [Read more]

- SANTARIS PHARMA SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH PFIZER FOR LOCKED NUCLEIC ACID (APRIL)
Santaris Pharma A/S and Pfizer, Inc. expanded their collaboration agreement for the development and commercialization of RNA-targeted medicines using Santaris's Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) drug platform. Pfizer will pay USD 14 million for access to Santaris LNA technology for the development of designer RNA-targeted drugs. Santaris is eligible to receive milestone payments of up to USD 600 million as well as royalties on sales of products that may be developed for up to 10 new RNA targets selected by Pfizer. [Read more]

- SYMPHOGEN RAISES €100 MILLION IN PRIVATE EQUITY ROUND (JANUARY)
Symphogen turned heads in January when the developer raised USD 131 million - the largest VC round ever raised by a European biotech. Together, Novo A/S and Essex Woodlands contributed 70% of the investment. Symphogen intends to use the proceeds to accelerate advancement of its lead clinical oncology product Sym004, as well as its other clinical and preclinical oncology opportunities, both for proprietary pursuit and partnering. [Read more]


NEW COMPANIES AND INSTITUTIONS IN MEDICON VALLEY
We have also welcomed several new companies to the Öresund region, e.g.:
- Arena Instrumentation, which originated in the UK and offers a variety of engineering and technical services such as maintenance, validation, and technical support, opened offices in both Copenhagen and Malmö.
- PRA International, a global Contract Research Organisation company headquartered in the US, opened an office in Lund, which will be the main hub for their Nordic services (monitoring, project management and regulatory).
- The Danish Stem Cell Center (DanStem) was founded in January. With € 60 million in funding, several members from one of Europe's leading research groups in stem cell research, which focuses on developing new stem-cell-based therapies for diabetes and cancer, are relocating to the center. [Read more]

As a result of AstraZeneca leaving the region, employees of the multi-national company developed the network Supernova, which today comprises about 30 companies with expertise in areas ranging from pharmaceutical development and management to laboratory work and other services to the life science industry.


IDEON MEDICON VILLAGE
At the beginning of 2012, Ideon Medicon Village will open on AstraZeneca’s former site in Lund, creating a new site for research, innovation and business. The Life Science Village will primarily host around 500 people working in the battle against cancer, including:
- a cancer research centre run by Lund University, including translational research groups such as CREATE Health and BioCARE focusing on identifying biomarkers
- the regional cancer centre linked to the regional university hospital
- the BioBank initiative run by Region Skåne (Southern Sweden’s Regional Council).

The overall aim of Ideon Medicon Village is to create value for human health and wellbeing. The village will also include the Lund Life Science Incubator and the headquarters of the European Spallation Source (ESS), a partnership of 17 European nations building the world's leading facility for neutron research. [Read more about Ideon Medicon Village]


INCREASE IN PRODUCTION CAPACITY IN MEDICON VALLEY
Danish pharmaceutical exports are estimated to have reached USD 11 billion in 2011, a growth of 20% which will secure their position as Denmark’s largest export. CMO capacity expansions mirror the pharmaceutical market and production capacity has seen considerable growth in the Öresund region:
- CMC Biologics is adding a 2,000 litre single-use bioreactor to its Copenhagen manufacturing facility. [Read More]
- Biogen Idec is expanding its Hillerod facility and hiring 120 staff in preparation for the production of Tysabri® for the non-US market. [Read More]
- Novo Nordisk is investing USD 170 million in a new factory for haemophilia products in Kalundborg. [Read More]
- Bavarian Nordic received a USD 25 million milestone payment after scaling up for the industrial production of Imvamune® [Read More]

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