Companies

Alder Therapeutics aims to provide therapies derived from pluripotent stem cells to benefit patients with incurable diseases, starting with the eye disease retinitis pigmentosa. Using the AlderEdge™ methodology, the company is developing two game-changing allogeneic stem cell therapies. The lead program, ALD01, is a mutation-agnostic treatment for a form of the hereditary eye disease retinitis pigmentosa, and the second is a treatment for heart failure. Both candidates are supported by promising, high-quality preclinical data and the eye programme is expected to be ready to enter first-in-human trials in the coming years. Alder Therapeutics is a Swedish biotech company based on discoveries and IP generated by, and licensed from, Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore and the Swedish biotechnology company BioLamina.

Amarna Therapeutics is developing transformative, potentially curative gene therapies for both rare and prevalent diseases without triggering a problematic immune response. These pioneering gene therapies are based on a simian polyomavirus (SV40) that humans are immunologically naïve to. Amarna has created a proprietary production cell line (SuperVero™) that, for the first time, allows the production of SV40-derived vectors suitable for therapeutic use. Combining SuperVero™ with its genetically engineered viral vector, Nimvec™, Amarna has developed a fully integrated gene therapy platform unique in its intrinsic capability to deliver transgenes without eliciting immune responses to the vector or the transgene product. The focus of the team is to show proof-of-concept of its platform and initial candidate AM510 by demonstrating its tolerisation approach to treating type 1 diabetes.

AnaCardio is developing novel inotropic agents with a unique mode of action based on the ghrelin signaling pathway. Unlike current therapies, AnaCardio’s treatment enhances cardiomyocyte contractility and force, thereby increasing cardiac output and potentially improving organ function. This may lead to greater functional capacity, quality of life, and reduced risk of hospitalisation and mortality. The company successfully completed a Phase Ib/IIa trial in 2025. AnaCardio’s treatment concept arises from groundbreaking research from the Karolinska Institute and Professor Lars Lund, the company’s founder.

Atrogi is a clinical stage company developing a first-in-class drug for the oral treatment of type 2 diabetes, based on Professor Tore Bengtsson’s research at Stockholm University. Atrogi’s technology platform, is based on an innovative concept of stimulating the β2-adrenergic receptor to address various metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, and muscle-wasting conditions. The company’s lead asset, ATR-258, has successfully completed a Phase I safety study involving both healthy volunteers and individuals with type 2 diabetes. This first-in-class, once-daily oral treatment will offer significant advantages in patient adherence and convenience compared to injectable therapies.

Bonsai Biotherapeutics is developing breakthrough drug candidates that restore the immune system’s tolerance to the proteins mistakenly attacked in MG and ANCA vasculitis. The drug candidates consist of modified versions of the targeted proteins produced in a biological manufacturing process. The company’s most advanced therapeutic candidate, TOL2 for myasthenia gravis, is expected to enter a placebo-controlled clinical trial in MG patients in 2025.

Buzzard Pharmaceuticals is developing a powerful interleukin-1 inhibitor, Isunakinra, for the treatment of solid tumours in conjunction with a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor. Isunakinra is a chimeric protein that binds to IL1R1, effectively inhibiting signalling with high potency. The rights to the drug were obtained from Eleven Biotherapeutics in 2017, and the drug was repositioned from ophthalmology to oncology. Isunakinra is currently undergoing Phase 1/2 trials involving patients with solid tumours at the Baylor Research Institute in Dallas, Texas.

Egetis Therapeutics is developing Emcitate® (tiratricol), a drug candidate with the potential to become the first approved treatment for patients with MCT8 deficiency. The European Commission approved Emcitate® in 2025, and the company initiated a new drug application (NDA) in the US following the completion of the ReTRIAC trial. The company is also developing Aladote® (calmangafodipir), a first-in-class treatment aimed at preventing acute liver damage from paracetamol overdose, with Orphan Drug Designation in the US and in the EU. Egetis is preparing for a pivotal Phase 2b/3 trial with the candidate.

Empros Pharma is developing EMP16, an oral weight-loss medication that combines the established weight-loss and diabetes drugs orlistat and acarbose with a novel controlled-release formulation to prevent fat and carbohydrate absorption, acting locally in the gut, as opposed to systemically like most other drugs. The goal is to create a safe oral first-line treatment for this rapidly growing patient group, with additional opportunities in weight maintenance, in combination with other drugs, as well as in the OTC setting (over-the-counter). In 2024, Empros Pharma announced positive topline data from a Phase 2b trial that achieved its primary endpoint, demonstrating more significant weight loss than Orlistat alone. In 2025, the company obtained results from the POEM study, demonstrated an improved tolerability profile in patients taking EMP16 together with dietary support.

EpiEndo Pharmaceuticals is developing a novel oral first-in-class therapeutic, glasmacinal (previously EP395), to reduce exacerbations of COPD. It is well known that one class of antibiotics (macrolides) has unique anti-inflammatory properties, in addition to its antimicrobial effects. EpiEndo harnesses this, removing the antibiotic properties that would otherwise increase the risk of antimicrobial resistance when used chronically, to develop a new class of anti-inflammatory ‘Barriolides’. Glasmacinal successfully completed a Phase 2a trial in 2024.

Geneos Therapeutics, a US-based clinical stage biotherapeutics company believes that the company’s personalized therapeutic cancer vaccines (PTCVs) may serve an important role in new immunotherapeutic paradigms for cancer. The company’s approach, using its proprietary GT-EPIC™ platform, is to target neoantigens (abnormal mutations produced by cancer cells) from individual patient tumors to develop novel and uniquely personalized treatments for cancer. They are targeting solid tumours, initially liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC). There is an ongoing phase Ib/IIa trial in second-line HCC patients, with initial encouraging results, including a number of complete responses pointing towards a potential cure in a patient group known for its poor prognosis.

KAHR Medical has created a proprietary Multifunctional Immune Recruitment Protein (MIRP) platform to develop next-generation treatments for both solid and haematological cancers. The company’s drug candidates utilise various methods to synergistically disable cancer defences and activate a targeted response involving both innate and adaptive immunity. KAHR’s lead product, DSP107, is a first-in-class CD47x41BB targeting agent currently undergoing clinical development for patients with solid tumours (such as microsatellite stable colorectal cancer), with several ongoing clinical and preclinical programs.

Lipum is developing a biological anti-inflammatory drug candidate SOL-116 that features a novel mechanism of action targeting BSSL. The company is initially focused on treating rheumatoid arthritis while also exploring other inflammatory diseases with significant unmet medical needs, such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. Lipum is preparing to enter Phase II with SOL-116 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Mendus develops off-the-shelf, allogeneic immunotherapies, enabling the immune system to summon an active, long-lasting immunity against tumour cells. By stimulating dendritic cells, a key cell type in the immune system, Mendus’ immunotherapies have the potential to improve long-term survival for cancer patients. The company’s lead candidate vididencel is currently being evaluated in several clinical trials, targeting acute myeloid leukaemia and ovarian cancer, and the company will include chronic myeloid leukaemia as an additional indication.

Microbiotica specialises in the development of live biotherapeutic products, targeting cancer and inflammatory bowel disease. The company’s technology rests on a purpose-built microbiome profiling platform backed by clinical data that identifies specific bacterial strains that may have clinical benefit in well-defined patient populations. The company’s lead candidates include MB097 (consortium of nine bacterial strains), a co-therapy designed to enhance immune checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma, and MB310 (consortium of eight bacterial strains), a monotherapy targeting ulcerative colitis. The company is currently running two independent clinical Phase 1b trials to evaluate the safety and initial signals of efficacy.

Prokarium is a UK-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, pioneering the field of microbial immunotherapy. Prokarium’s most advanced therapeutic agent ZH9 is a modified bacterium that acts as an immunotherapy currently being evaluated in a multicenter Phase I clinical trial in NMIBC patients in the US. The study initially aims to demonstrate safety, and if successful, advance to characterise the clinical efficacy of ZH9 in a pre-planned expansion cohort.

Strike Pharma is developing a modular technology platform for targeted delivery of nanoparticles. It has broad potential within multiple areas including cancer immunotherapy and targeted gene therapy. Strike is developing a lead in vivo CAR-T candidate that delivers a CD19 CAR to T cells based on a CD3 targeting antibody.

Vitara Biomedical is developing the next generation care for preterm infants. Using the company’s biopod, Vitara Biomedical aims to provide neonatal intensive care units at hospitals with a revolutionary technology, mimicking a mother’s womb to improve natural development of neonates. This could bridge preterm infants to a development stage where the lungs are developed enough to function independently. Vitara is currently in the preclinical phase, aiming to initiate clinical testing in the coming years.

Xspray Pharma develops improved formulations of marketed PKIs using its innovative HyNap technology, resulting in highly soluble amorphous product candidates with the potential to improve treatment outcomes. The company’s lead candidate, Dasynoc, demonstrates a therapeutic effect comparable to its crystalline equivalent at a 30% lower dose, highlighting the potential of the company’s technology. Xspray aims to enter the market as a competitor to established blockbuster drugs as soon as the drug substance patents expire, bypassing secondary patents. Over the coming five years, 23 PKI-drug substance patents are expected to expire, creating a substantial market opportunity.

A3P Biomedical is a Swedish commercial stage diagnostics company for early detection of prostate cancer. They have developed the Stockholm3 test, a blood test that combines protein markers, genetic markers and clinical data with a proprietary algorithm in order to detect aggressive prostate cancer. Their test is on the market and has been included in the Swedish national guidelines. Stockholm3 has been developed by scientists at Karolinska Institutet and validated in clinical studies including more than 75,000 men, with over 25 publications in leading scientific journals such as The Lancet Oncology and European Urology. Patients benefit from a more precise test (increasing sensitivity and specificity) and healthcare providers can reduce the direct costs by 17 to 28 percent, decreasing unneccesary biopsies and MRIs. It is also being trialled in an organised screening programme by Region Värmland for men ages 50-75.

Cobra Biologics was a leading international advanced therapy CDMO with GMP approved facilities in both Sweden and the UK, sold to Cognate BioServices in 2019, which was subsequently acquired by Charles River Laboratories in 2021.

Cormorant Pharmaceuticals was a privately held, biopharmaceutical company founded by Maarten de Château and Urban Paulsson. Based on mounting research pointing to IL-8 being an important driver of malignant tumors, HuMax-IL8 (a fully human monoclonal antibody) was acquired from Genmab A/S and taken into development by Cormorant. Cormorant was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2016.

Wilson Therapeutics was a biopharmaceutical company, based in Stockholm, Sweden, developing novel therapies for patients with rare copper-mediated disorders. Wilson Therapeutics' product, WTX101, was in Phase 3 development as a novel treatment for Wilson disease when it was acquired by Alexion in 2018.