- Thanks to NorTrials’ embassy meetings, we have brought trials to Norway.

So says Georg Lindefjeld, Medical Advisor at Daiichi Sankyo.

This article was written before Georg Lindefjeld passed away. The family and the management of Daiichi Sankyo have given permission for the interview to be published.

- We have now brought six clinical trials to Norway, even though we are a small company. Despite our size, we have many products under development, particularly within oncology, and it has been a strategic priority for us to try to bring as many of our trials as possible to the Nordic region. We are in strong competition with the rest of Europe and the world at large. But thanks to - among others - NorTrials and meetings with the head of the NorTrials cancer centre, Åslaug Helland, and other Norwegian clinicians, we have been very successful, says Lindefjeld.

Human encounters are the key

He says that the success factor is human encounters.

- My colleagues and I in Norway set up meetings between representatives from our headquarters and Norwegian clinicians – at various arenas such as ESMO, ASCO and other congresses. Here NorTrials has also played an important role by organising embassy meetings in connection with major conferences where my leaders and Norwegian clinicians can meet face to face. I have worked at Daiichi Sankyo for almost four years and have attended three of these embassy meetings. These meetings have directly contributed to bringing some of our trials to Norway, says Lindefjeld.

The embassy meetings are a collaboration between Innovation Norway, the Norwegian embassy in the respective country, as well as LMI and Melanor. The purpose is to bring together Norwegian clinicians and international industry representatives, and thereby facilitate closer contact.

Good attitude – and a national plan

In addition to human encounters, there are several other factors that Lindefjeld believes are important for succeeding in attracting more industry-sponsored trials to Norway.

- It is important that Norwegian clinicians are outgoing and willing to make contact with industry, and that they have a genuine wish to collaborate. Do feel free to contact us local company representatives to set up meetings with our global teams in connection with meetings and conferences. And it has been important for me to be able to show my global leaders that Norway has a comprehensive national plan to increase the number of clinical trials – that there is a deliberate and desired direction from the authorities, hospitals and industry to achieve this together, he says.

A decisive meeting

A meeting between his global team and Åslaug Helland and Kjetil Taskén was decisive for Norway being chosen as a site in one of the trials.

- The management then gained insight into the Norwegian CONNECT and IMPRESS model. They were impressed by the set-up, where you can in principle recruit from the entire country. This became an important first step in bringing a phase 2 trial to Norway. At other NorTrials embassy meetings, we have also put people in other therapy areas and departments in contact with each other. We have then had follow-up meetings at the congresses afterwards, where we continue the discussions. Bringing study sites in place is a long process that often takes a year, so you have to work both short term and long term, says Lindefjeld.

Crucial to have industry staff in Norway

The company he works for has around 17,000 employees globally, 40 in the Nordic region and three in Norway.

- I am the medical department in Daiichi Sankyo in Norway, says Lindefjeld.

- How crucial is it that you are present in Norway with your own employees?

- Having local representatives who can facilitate contact into European and global study teams is absolutely crucial. Norway does not sell itself, he says.

Åslaug Helland can confirm that both physical meetings and Norwegian presence are important for attracting trials to Norway.

- We are very focused on close collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry and on working together to bring trials to Norwegian patients. To bring trials to Norway, we are dependent on people in the Nordic offices, like Georg Lindefjeld, who work together with us and facilitate meetings between us and those who lead the industry trials, Helland says.

Pleased that the effort is bearing fruit

Signe Fretland, head of the NorTrials coordinating unit, is pleased that the embassy meetings have produced concrete results and greatly appreciates the efforts of local company representatives and Norwegian clinicians.

- Many people put in a great deal of effort to make sure the meetings are carried out and that conditions are in place for the parties to meet, so the fact that there are concrete examples of studies that have come to Norway because of this gives us motivation to continue this meeting activity, says Fretland.

NorTrials has so far organised elleven embassy meetings in connection with international congresses such as ESMO, ESC, ECTRIMS, ESOC, AD/PD and SIOP.

“One door in” has also delivered results

For companies that do not know any clinicians in Norway and do not know whom they should contact to find out whether Norway is relevant as a site for a particular trial, the NorTrials feasibility portal is the way in. The portal is an electronic form where industry can submit its trial enquiries, which are then sent to the receiving units in the hospitals that follow up locally. The NorTrials coordinating unit functions as a link and facilitator for contact between industry and hospitals. Once contact has been established, the further dialogue will take place without NorTrials being involved – with certain exceptions.

The portal has been operational since August 2022, and as of 1 September 2025, 139 enquiries have been received, divided between 107 drug trials, five non-interventional trials and 22 medical device trials.

- Around 20 percent of the enquiries that come through the portal are allocated to Norway once the feasibility process has been completed. Considering that the CRO, on behalf of the sponsor, or the sponsor itself, often casts a wide net in the first phase of feasibility, I think this is a good result, says Fretland.

- It is important to be aware that in most cases it is only an early mapping when the enquiry comes to the hospital, and that you can therefore have a low threshold for saying yes at the first stage.

About Daiichi Sankyo

Daiichi Sankyo is a Japanese pharmaceutical company with roots back to 1899, when Sankyo was established to develop modern medicines based on scientific breakthroughs. In 2005, the company merged with Daiichi Pharmaceutical, and today’s Daiichi Sankyo Group was established. Today, Daiichi Sankyo is a global biopharmaceutical company with a particular focus on cancer treatment.

The text was translated from Norwegian using Perplexity, and quality checked and edited by Eline Feiring.