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| GE Healthcare Director Per Foss appointed CEO |
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HUNT Biosciences, the commercial arm of the HUNT Study and associated biobank today announced the appointment of former GE Healthcare director Per Foss as its new CEO. The company provides pharmaceutical and healthcare companies with biomarker discovery and validation services. These are based on the unique HUNT Study, which for the past 25 years has gathered blood samples from the general population of the Nord-Trøndelag region together with detailed phenotype and environmental data. Foss joins just as recruitment for the third phase, HUNT III has closed, again with an astonishing high inclusion rate of 60%. This will bring the total recruitment number of unique individuals to 135,000 and reinforce the core strengths in key public health areas such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obstructive lung disease, osteoporosis and mental health. More than 60 % of the participants have been screened twice, 25 % have participated in all three surveys.
"For both pharmaceutical and biotech companies, HUNT Biosciences is ideally positioned to devise biomarker strategies across a wide range of key disease areas," says Foss. "The unique combination of biomedical and phenotypic information collected over the past 25 years from a general population rather than specific cohort promises rapid and effective biomarker discovery and validation."
The HUNT Study operates as a satellite to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Per Ivar Maudal, Executive Director for innovation and industrial relations at NTNU and chairman of the board of HUNT Biosciences, welcomes the appointment:
"For academic researchers HUNT already provides data on a large number of diseases observed in this general population. It has been validated by more than 45 completed PhD-degrees and several hundred ongoing or completed research projects with particular emphasis on major disease areas such as type II diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular, kidney and lung diseases, We believe HUNT Biosciences provides an efficient and ethical vehicle for industry to access this data and can lead to the development of new diagnostics and therapeutics for benefit of both the Norwegian and international healthcare systems."
Notes to editors
The HUNT Study and its associated biobank represent a regional cohort of more than 100.000 individuals and is part of CONOR, the Cohort of Norway. In addition to professionally stored genetic samples, the HUNT Study comprises more than 3000 clinical variables including 800 environmental exposure variables collected since the early 1980s. This unique resource operates as a satellite to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ( NTNU) in Trondheim and is situated in a new, specially designed National Biobank building with state-of-the-art infrastructure, storing samples from 250 000 CONOR participants. The Norwegian authorities have earned the population’s trust through a well-established framework and rigorous routines for protection of personal information. Based on this trust and the unique system of unambiguous personal identification numbers, the HUNT Study offers integration of biobank data with other national registries on clinical information and medical end-points, as well as genealogical and family linkage information.
Genetics
DNA from about 250.000 individuals (CONOR) and 15.000 RNA samples Immortalized cells for cell line production from 50.000 individuals Genetic expression analysis from tumor biopsies can also be provided from selected HUNT participants.
Phenotype
Precise information on health status and extensive lifestyle data Cross-linkage to local clinical endpoints and national registries: "Medical Birth". "Cause of Death", "Prescription Registry", "Cancer Registry" and other validated clinical endpoint registries on myocardial infarction, venous tromboembolism, stroke and factures based on local hospital records.
Environment
Coverage of more than 800 exposure variables
Prospective information due to long observation period
The HUNT Study is also an integrated part of three EU projects in FP 6 and FP 7 and its role in EU funded medical research is expected to be further extended and deepened in the Framework 7 programs. HUNT cooperates actively with a number of European biobanks, and the COBOR consortium signed a bilateral national agreement with UK Biobank in 2005, including the development of integrated solutions for data management and automated sample handling. |
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| HUNT Biosciences gets additional funding |
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The General Assembly of HUNT Biosciences have on October 15 agreed to invest additional NOK 9 mill in the company. The investment is made by the current owners; NTNU, Helse Midt-Norge and North Trøndelag County and will allow the company to initiate projects with industry partners in the area of Pharmacogenomics and health economy. |
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| Collaboration with Tissue Solutions |
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HUNT Biosciences Signs Collaboration Agreement with Tissue Solutions
Levanger, April 14, 2010.HUNT Biosciences AS, the specialized biomarker discovery and validation company, today announced that it had signed a collaboration agreement with Tissue Solutions Ltd, a leading international supplier of biological samples for the pharmaceutical and diagnostics industry.
The collaboration aims to promote the value of the unique HUNT Study, which for the past 25 years has gathered blood samples from the general population of the Nord-Trøndelag region in mid-Norway together with detailed phonotype and environmental data.
According to Per Foss, CEO of HUNT: “We believe that the unique combination of biomedical and phenotypic information that has been collected over the past 25 years from a general population rather than a specific disease cohort can help accelerate biomarker discovery and validation. Furthermore, working from a general population base gives core strengths in a whole range of key public health areas such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obstructive lung disease, osteoporosis and mental health. Already HUNT samples are widely used in academic research, and through this collaboration with Tissue Solutions we aim to significantly increase our pharma and diagnostic industry customer base.
Tissue Solutions Ltd recently won Young Scottish Life Science Company of the Year and according to CEO Dr Anne Cooreman, their success in rapidly building up a high quality international client list has been based on being able to offer a single point to access the entire range of human biological materials for research and development needs: “We are delighted with this agreement with HUNT Biosciences which is a natural extension to our services. Having access to population biobank samples means for example that we can provide samples that predate onset of disease. We are sure both existing and new customers will share our excitement.”
This agreement follows the recent Norwegian report referring to HUNT Biosciences as a role model for a proposed future national Norwegian Biobank Company. Foss also believes this collaboration with Tissue Solutions and Scotland could provide a major focal point for high quality, ethical tissue provision on the worldwide stage.
Notes to editors
The HUNT Study and its associated biobank represent a regional cohort of more than 100.000 individuals and is part of CONOR, the Cohort of Norway. In addition to professionally stored genetic samples, the HUNT Study comprises more than 3000 clinical variables including 800 environmental exposure variables collected since the early 1980s. This unique resource operates as a satellite to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ( NTNU) in Trondheim and is situated in a new, specially designed National Biobank building with state-of-the-art infrastructure, storing samples from 250 000 CONOR participants. The Norwegian authorities have earned the population’s trust through a well-established framework and rigorous routines for protection of personal information. Based on this trust and the unique system of unambiguous personal identification numbers, the HUNT Study offers integration of biobank data with other national registries on clinical information and medical end-points, as well as genealogical and family linkage information.
Genetics:
DNA from about 250.000 individuals (CONOR) and 15.000 RNA samples
Immortalized cells for cell line production from 50.000 individuals
Genetic expression analysis from tumor biopsies can also be provided from selected HUNT participants
Phenotype:
Precise information on health status and extensive lifestyle data
Cross-linkage to local clinical endpoints and national registries:
“Medical Birth”. “Cause of Death”, Prescription Registry“, “Cancer Registry” and other validated clinical endpoint registries on myocardial infarction, venous tromboembolism, stroke and factures based on local hospital records
Environment:
Coverage of more than 800 exposure variables
Prospective information due to long observation period.
The HUNT Study is also an integrated part of three EU projects in FP 6 and FP 7 and its role in EU funded medical research is expected to be further extended and deepened in the Framework 7 programs. HUNT cooperates actively with a number of European biobanks, and the CONOR consortium signed a bilateral national agreement with UK Biobank in 2005, including the development of integrated solutions for data management and automated sample handling. |
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| The proposed National Biobank company |
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HUNT Biosciences – role model for a proposed National Biobank company in Norway
In a report released the 5th of January 2010 the Research Council of Norway (RCN) refers to HUNT Biosciences as a role model for a proposed future national Biobank Company. The report was ordered by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Ministry of Health and Care Services.
Large amounts of biological material and patient data has been collected and systemized by Norwegian hospitals, research institutions, and governmental health authorities. It started all the way back in 1943 and has resulted in almost 2000 research based biobanks and close to 200 clinical biobanks by the end of 2009. These biorepositories and associated clinical annotations are believed to comprise a significant potential for development of diagnostics, prognostics and therapeutics in the era of personalized medicine.
HUNT Biosciences holds an exclusive commercial license to the considerable population biobank material collected by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) since 1984. The proposed National Biobank company will probably obtain a similar license for the complete biobank material in Norway comprising millions of samples and corresponding data. HUNT Biosciences is owned by NTNU, the Central Norway Regional Health Authority, and the North Trøndelag County.
HUNT Biosciences is very excited about this latest development, and look forward to share more news regarding the realization of the national Biobank Company.
Further information in Norwegian only:
The proposal made by the National Research Committee (in Norwegian)
News from Aftenposten (in Norwegian)
News from the Functional Genome Platform – FUGE (in Norwegian)
News from the Norwegian science web (in Norwegian)
Notes to editors
The HUNT Study and its associated biobank represent a regional cohort of more than 100.000 individuals and is part of CONOR, the Cohort of Norway. In addition to professionally stored genetic samples, the HUNT Study comprises more than 3000 clinical variables including 800 environmental exposure variables collected since the early 1980s. This unique resource operates as a satellite to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ( NTNU) in Trondheim and is situated in a new, specially designed National Biobank building with state-of-the-art infrastructure, storing samples from 250 000 CONOR participants. The Norwegian authorities have earned the population’s trust through a well-established framework and rigorous routines for protection of personal information. Based on this trust and the unique system of unambiguous personal identification numbers, the HUNT Study offers integration of biobank data with other national registries on clinical information and medical end-points, as well as genealogical and family linkage information.
Genetics
DNA from about 250.000 individuals (CONOR) and 15.000 RNA samples Immortalized cells for cell line production from 50.000 individuals Genetic expression analysis from tumor biopsies can also be provided from selected HUNT participants.
Phenotype
Precise information on health status and extensive lifestyle data Cross-linkage to local clinical endpoints and national registries: "Medical Birth". "Cause of Death", "Prescription Registry", "Cancer Registry" and other validated clinical endpoint registries on myocardial infarction, venous tromboembolism, stroke and factures based on local hospital records.
Environment
Coverage of more than 800 exposure variables
Prospective information due to long observation period |
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| Håkon Haaheim appointed BDO |
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Technology transfer specialists step up as business development officer with HUNT Biosciences.
HUNT Biosciences, the commercial arm of the HUNT Study and associated biobank today announced the appointment of former Special Adviser Håkon Haaheim as its new BDO responsible for collaboration projects with pharmaceutical and life science industry. Haaheim has been working with development of molecular diagnostics in the field of microbiology since 1991. He also has a long track record of technology transfer and has been in charge of innovation activity at the University Hospital of North Norway since 2005.
HUNT Biosciences offers access to HUNT Databank, a fully established Norwegian population-based prospective biobank, leveraging more than 25 years of medical records and biological samples, representing a regional cohort of close to 100.000 individuals. In addition to genetic samples, HUNT Databank comprises more than 800 exposure variables and nearly 3000 different variables per individual. Haaheim points to HUNT as uni Biosciences provides pharmaceutical and healthcare companies with biomarker discovery and validation services. These are based on the unique HUNT Study, which for the past 25 years has gathered blood samples from the general population of the Nord-Trøndelag region together with detailed phenotype and environmental data. Foss joins just as recruitment for the third phase, HUNT III has closed, again with an astonishing high inclusion rate of 60%. This will bring the total recruitment number of unique individuals to 135,000 and reinforce the core strengths in key public health areas such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obstructive lung disease, osteoporosis and mental health. More than 60 % of the participants have been screened twice, 25 % have participated in all three surveys.
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HUNT Biosciences AS 09.09 |
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Corporate and Media Inquiries |
Per A Foss, CEO, HUNT Biosciences AS
Mobile: +47 95124048
Email: per.a.foss@huntbiosciences.com |
Notes to editors
The HUNT Study and its associated biobank represent a regional cohort of more than 100.000 individuals and is part of CONOR, the Cohort of Norway. In addition to professionally stored genetic samples, the HUNT Study comprises more than 3000 clinical variables including 800 environmental exposure variables collected since the early 1980s. This unique resource operates as a satellite to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ( NTNU) in Trondheim and is situated in a new, specially designed National Biobank building with state-of-the-art infrastructure, storing samples from 250 000 CONOR participants. The Norwegian authorities have earned the population’s trust through a well-established framework and rigorous routines for protection of personal information. Based on this trust and the unique system of unambiguous personal identification numbers, the HUNT Study offers integration of biobank data with other national registries on clinical information and medical end-points, as well as genealogical and family linkage information.
Genetics
DNA from about 250.000 individuals (CONOR) and 15.000 RNA samples Immortalized cells for cell line production from 50.000 individuals Genetic expression analysis from tumor biopsies can also be provided from selected HUNT participants.
Phenotype
Precise information on health status and extensive lifestyle data Cross-linkage to local clinical endpoints and national registries: "Medical Birth". "Cause of Death", "Prescription Registry", "Cancer Registry" and other validated clinical endpoint registries on myocardial infarction, venous tromboembolism, stroke and factures based on local hospital records.
Environment
Coverage of more than 800 exposure variables
Prospective information due to long observation period
The HUNT Study is also an integrated part of three EU projects in FP 6 and FP 7 and its role in EU funded medical research is expected to be further extended and deepened in the Framework 7 programs. HUNT cooperates actively with a number of European biobanks, and the COBOR consortium signed a bilateral national agreement with UK Biobank in 2005, including the development of integrated solutions for data management and automated sample handling.
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| NTNU and HUNT Biosciences sign agreement |
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On March 17th HUNT Biosciences and NTNU signed an agreement regarding use of data and samples from The North Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). HUNT Biosciences, according to the agreement, has access to HUNT material for specific project applications.
HUNT Biosciences was established in 2007 to commercialize results from HUNT. The first study was conducted in the years from 1984 to 1986 (HUNT 1) and the most recent study was concluded in 2008 (HUNT 3).
The company is jointly owned by NTNU, Helse Midt-Norge and North Trøndelag County. The company is ideologically scientific and social in nature, and, together with its owners, will focus on contributing to increased research funding, initiating new health studies and stimulating health related initiatives in the region. |
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