Nordic collaboration key to bringing advanced therapies to patients

Lund, Sweden – How can the Nordics ensure that world-leading research in cell and gene therapy reaches patients faster? This question brought 150 researchers, clinicians, companies, and ecosystem actors to Lund for the conference Finding the Path to the Patient – ATMP Development in Skåne and Beyond.

The conference was organised within the EU-funded ATMP Path2Patient project, highlighting the Skåne and Øresund region’s growing role in advanced therapies.

The message was clear: without early collaboration between research, manufacturing, and clinical practice, promising innovations risk stalling before reaching patients. Early support in manufacturing and scalability is essential to avoid costly delays. This is also a focus of the ATMP Path2Patient project, which aims to strengthen coordination in the development chain, and partners in Lund now see readiness for expanding collaboration at the Nordic level.

Translation, not discovery, is the main bottleneck
One of the keynote speakers, Anna Pasetto, Director of the Center for Advanced Cell Therapy at Oslo University Hospital, noted that while more than 2000 ATMP clinical trials are ongoing globally, only a small fraction reaches the late stages in clinics. Most approved therapies so far are autologous treatments for blood cancers.

“I foresee a promising second wave, driven by new technologies, which may also enable therapies for solid tumours,” she said.

Anna Pasetto emphasised that the key bottleneck lies in translation from academia to GMP settings.

“What we really need now are affordable, commercially viable ATMPs accessible to millions of patients, but we are not there yet,” she added, also highlighting the need for long-term funding.

Øresund region and Southern Sweden highlighted as a future Nordic hub
Speakers called for closer integration between academia, innovation support organisations, and healthcare. Initiatives such as the Pre-GMP facility at Lund University, the Skåne University Hospital’s ATMP Center, CCRM Nordic, and Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator illustrate strong regional capacity.

As the host of the event and project manager for the ATMP Path2Patient project, Thomas Gunnarsson from LU Innovation reflected on the significance of the day.

“This conference has demonstrated both strong momentum and a clear willingness across the community to work together to strengthen ATMP development in Skåne and beyond,” he concluded.

The project runs for three years by LU Innovation, SmiLe Venture Hub, Medicon Village Innovation, the ATMP facility at Lund University (LU-ATMP), and Region Skåne’s ATMP Center.

 

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