Tal
Stockholm 25 augusti 2011
Göran Hägglund, Socialminister

Tal på engelska av Göran Hägglund i samband med invigningen av Swedish American Life Science Summit 2011

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

Thank you for the invitation. I am happy to be here today to speak at the opening of the seventh Swedish American Life Science Summit. We are honored that this initiative takes place here in Stockholm. The Life Science sector is a key sector in most countries today, Sweden and the US certainly not an exception. It is a critical foundation for long-term growth and innovation in industry and society.

In Sweden, Life Science stands for about 20% of our net export, thus having great financial and political importance for our society. But its not just important for the industry, it also plays an important role in the innovation system, research funding and not least the development of healthcare.

For me, as a minister, the Life Science sector's significance for healthcare is of major interest. A strong Life Science sector in Sweden is important for the development of new pharmaceuticals and medical treatments. By improving treatments and working methods, we can increase and improve health and wellbeing for the individual patient. This being the fundamental purpose of healthcare. Life Science affects and is affected by many different factors. Therefore actions to improve the conditions for the sector needs to be taken within several different fields.

I would like to present to you some of the Government´s policies in this matter. What initiatives that have been taken and what will be of importance in our future work. To maintain a strong Life Science sector in Sweden we need favorable general conditions for enterprise growth such as access to venture capital, simplification of rules and issues relating to patents. We need to make it attractive for companies to establish their activities, act and grow in Sweden.

For companies to plan and perform clinical trials in Sweden we need good conditions for this. I believe that much more can be done to improve the coordination of clinical trials on both regional and national level. To encourage the development of new treatments and pharmaceuticals we need regulatory systems that supports this process.

The National Quality Registers, that we have in Sweden, are an important asset, not just for the healthcare but also for the industry and research community. By using the registers in a more efficient way we can improve the way that we measure and follow up treatments and methods. The importance of a strong and competitive medical research should not be underestimated when it comes to attract Life-Science industry to invest in Sweden.

Within the Government the Ministry of Health is working closely together with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Enterprise in developing and improving policy in this area. So, what do we actually do from the Government's side? Let me mention some of the most important initiatives: This very morning the Government decided on the first National Pharmaceutical Strategy, a long term plan for more efficient use of pharmaceuticals. The strategy ranges over the entire pharmaceutical value chain from research and innovation to monitoring of the effects in clinical practice. The strategy places great emphasis on patient safety and also on minimizing the risks of negative impact of pharmaceuticals on the environment.

Other important goals for the strategy is to enhance cost effective use of medicines and to ensure that patients all over the country get's pharmaceutical therapy in an equal and evidence based way. This spring the Government also presented an initiative to fund Test Beds for Innovation of new products and services within health- and elderly care. This is to test and develop new technologies, services and working methods in cooperation between the industry and the healthcare sector. We believe that this will help to strengthen the innovation capacity within healthcare at the same time as improving the industry's competitiveness.

To make better use of good and practical ideas from people working in the healthcare sector the Government also has allocated funding to so called "Innovation Gates". These "gates" will support the development of good ideas into innovations and to help commercialize them into products and services. We have also appointed a National Coordinator for the future development of the National Quality Registers. The coordinator should develop proposals for the future organization of the registers and also look into the cooperation with the industry.

The Government is currently working on a National Innovation Strategy that will be presented in the fall of 2012. The strategy aims to improve the general innovation climate in Sweden and to create good conditions for employment and growth. This will hopefully have a positive impact on the Life Science sector. Sweden holds a strong international position in medical and clinical research, as one of the countries in the world with the highest spending on research as a percentage of the GDP. However the international competition is increasing and many other countries are performing better than we are. To maintain our strong position we need to continue to invest in research.

But, this is not enough. We also need to make sure that research results come to use in the every day practice in healthcare much faster and to a much greater extent than that is the case today. We need to close the gap between what is done and what needs to be done. This Government has had an important role in facilitating the development of national databases for benchmarking where you can compare results from different caregivers. These benchmarking data cover many dimensions of healthcare delivery - ranging from medical results to costs and patient information.

These tools enables healthcare providers to compare themselves with others and use the results in their continuous improvement work. It also enables patients and public to take part of important quality data. We strongly believe that this is a way of increasing quality and safety in healthcare and to bridge the gap between what is done and what needs to be done.

I know that cancer is one of the topics on your agenda during this conference. Swedish cancer care is already very good, by international standards, but we still have major future challenges. If we do not act now, the number of people with cancer might be doubled in the year of 2030. Therefore we have developed a National Cancer Strategy involving the healthcare providers and other stakeholders.

The goals for the Cancer Strategy are to reduce the risks of cancer, to improve the quality of care for patients with cancer and to reduce regional and socioeconomic disparities in survival. The Strategy includes a number of development projects for a more patient focused cancer care, efforts to reduce smoking, developing national clinical guidelines and mapping of various screening activities.

Six Regional Cancer Centers (RCC) will serve as knowledge centers in this process. The aim is to create conditions for high-quality care for patients throughout the country, as well as creating the best conditions for cancer research of high international quality.

A part from cancer we also have other challenges. Sweden, as many other countries, is facing a demographic situation with an ageing population that will put great pressure on our welfare systems. This is a major challenge, not only for the healthcare sector but the society as a whole. I believe that research and innovation are important tools also when tackling this challenge. When systems are put under pressure we need to improve the performance, we need to get more out of every krona or dollar spent.

With a good collaboration between healthcare and the life science industry I believe that there are opportunities to improve the competitiveness of the industry at the same time.

In the fall of 2008 this Government presented a Research and Innovation Bill. Medical research was one of three strategic areas that received a major increase in funding. As a matter of fact, the funding allocated in that bill was larger than all previous research bills put together. A new Research and Innovation Bill is to presented in the fall of 2012. We have started working on this Bill and I can assure you that Life Science will be a prioritized field from the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. With these words I wish you two interesting days and the best of luck with your important work.

Thank you