The Swedish Government has pledged what will be its largest ever investment in life sciences, amounting to $320 million over the next three years (2013-2016). Of this, some $100 million will be invested in SciLifeLab, more than doubling the Government’s current funding for the center, which combines a state-of-the-art research infrastructure with expertise in translational medicine.

The remaining $220 million of Swedish Government money will be invested in drug discovery, clinical research, antibiotic research, aging-related studies, and the use of patient registries. Most of the funding will be invested into the Stockholm-Uppsala region of Sweden, which is home over 50% of the country’s life science industry.

Governmental funding should represent a major draw for life science in the region, which has suffered something of a recent hiccup, as a result of the loss earlier this year of 1,200 primarily scientific employees at AstraZeneca’s Södertälje site, and another 600 jobs in Stockholm-Uppsala last year when St Jude Medical announced that that it was closing its research and development unit as well as its pacemaker manufacturing site.

“In our recently published report, we pointed out the ambitious future plans for further strengthening the life science sector in Stockholm-Uppsala, thereby ensuring that the region remains a truly global life science cluster,” comments Stockholm-Uppsala Life Sciences’ CEO Ola Bjorkman. “In particular the investment in SciLifeLab, with its cutting-edge research infrastructure combined with parallel investments in drug discovery, clinical research, and the use of patient registers, opens new avenues for developing more personalized and outcome-orientated healthcare.”

The report can be accessed at http://suls.se/static/uploads/2012/09/Facts-and-figures-on-Swedens-number-one-life-science-region-2012.pdf

Previous articleManufacturing Deals Signed for Pathogen-Free Plasma
Next articleNHGRI Reorganizes with Genomics Research Expansion in Mind