Season’s Greetings and Top Ten Articles of 2025

2025 has been a challenging year for the Nordic life science industry, not least to due to a changing geopolitical landscape. The life science industry is facing a new landscape for trade, market entry, collaboration, crisis preparedness and even for carrying out science in different countries.

But, we have also seen many Nordic companies and researchers making great progress, sealing important business deals, and announcing positive updates and results.

Below we have listed the ten most popular articles and columns as well as the most read news stories on our site this year – reflecting both the current financial and geopolitical landscape and our local challenges and progress here in the Nordic region.

Nordic Life Science will be back in January 2026 to provide you with the latest news from our exciting life science industry!

Glædelig jul! Hyvää joulua! Gleðileg jól! God Jul! Merry Christmas!

/The NLS Team

Top Ten Most Popular Articles & Columns 2025

1. Denmark, Sweden, Greater Copenhagen, and the European axis of innovation

European Map of regional innovation index: The regional figures of the European Innovation Scoreboard unveil a European axis of innovation ranging from the Finnish capital of Helsinki through Sweden and the most innovative cross-border region in Europe, the Greater Copenhagen region, to the southern part of the UK.

“If we adopt a more collaborative mindset, join forces and further strengthen our collaboration with the support of both regional and national governments, industry and academia, Denmark and Sweden could not only continue to be innovation drivers and help realize the Greater Copenhagen region’s own potential, but together we could also position ourselves for a place in the driving seat when it comes to the more strategic European ambitions.”

2.  #WAAW: Fighting AMR: Nordic efforts

Evelina Vågesjö, co-founder and CEO, Ilya Pharma, and Marianne Holm, VP, Infectious Diseases, Novo Nordisk Foundation

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the world’s most severe global health threats but there is still hope, including several Nordic innovative solutions.

3. Western Sweden’s tight-knit life science cluster

GoCo Health Innovation City’s signature building GoCo House opened in February 2023. Illustration: Soul/Semrén & Månsson

Gothenburg, the beating heart of Sweden’s western life science cluster, is home to some 600 life science companies and 10,000 employees in the industry. The cluster prides itself on strong ties between academia, industry, and healthcare. 

4. Sweden’s State Epidemiologist resigns and criticizes the Public Health Agency

Magnus Gisslén. Photo: Gunnar Jönsson/University of Gothenburg

Magnus Gisslén took up the position as State Epidemiologist in September 2023 and has now chosen to terminate his employment. In posts on LinkedIn, Gisslén published four videos stating that the Public Health Agency of Sweden has serious problems, including lack of medical expertise in management and poor leadership.

5. Basel: Small in size – Large in life science

Photo: Beat Ernst

The northwestern corner of Switzerland offers a unique life science ecosystem, with a great mix of startups and global big pharma in close by.

6. Trump’s tariffs might be the push that helps us go from resilience to antifragility

Jessica Martinsson, Managing Director, SwedenBIO. Photo: Eva Garmendia

“Many times in life, as in politics and business, bad events lead to painful change and, eventually, a better situation. While the Trump administration’s erratic tariff war has rattled the European life science industry, it might ultimately be the calamity that brings about a more resilient industry in the end.”

7. Anders Tuv: Connecting the dots & Driving progress

Anders Tuv

Anders Tuv’s varied background as an investor, founder, and company builder has taken him to the very center of the multidisciplinary nature of creating a life science company. As Managing Director at Radforsk Invest he truly enjoys shaping strategies and helping startups implement and realize innovations.

8. Norway must seize the opportunity of the RNA revolution

“Norway can deliver on the EU’s ambitious life science strategy and contribute to health preparedness by building national capacity for RNA formulation and scale-up.” 

9. “Adaptability and originality are as important as expertise”

Ester Sklarsky, Principal, Sound Bioventures

Imagine your job involves meeting with entrepreneurs and researchers who are passionate about developing drugs that could transform or save lives, and realizing you could be part of that future. That is just another “day at the office” for Ester Sklarsky, who has been a principal for the Swedish venture capital firm Sound Bioventures for the past three and a half years.

10. There is no science without talent

Francesco Bez, Innovation Manager, Medicon Village Innovation (Photo: Kristian Waldeck) and Sarah Lidé, Deputy CEO of Medicon Village Innovation

“By facilitating professional networks in areas such as clinical trials, regulatory affairs, and pharmacovigilance, we enable specialists to exchange knowledge and update skills, creating a living system of lifelong learning.”