AKIGAI

🎉 Celebrating 20 Years of Supporting Innovation: EMA Small Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) Regulation Roundtable 📣 Join us on 17 October 2025 for a special roundtable hosted by EMA to mark the 20th anniversary of the SME Regulation. Since 2005, the SME Regulation has helped small and medium-sized enterprises bring innovative medicines to market by offering financial and administrative support through EMA’s SME Office. This event will bring together: 🟦 EU policymakers, including representatives from the European Commission and European Medicines Regulatory Network 🟦 Public and private investors 🟦 Life science incubators 🟦 Industry organisations Together, we’ll reflect on the achievements of the SME Regulation and explore future opportunities to support SMEs and innovation in the pharmaceutical and MedTech sectors. 📺 Watch the event live: https://lnkd.in/d4n4VHga

Is the first neuropathic pain treatment to be approved in 20 years from Norway? 🇳🇴    The field of neuropathic pain has been staling for quite some time now. Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a rare but severe neuropathic pain condition and it is yet to have a treatment approved. 🧠    AKIGAI is trying to change the narrative with its EGFR inhibitor. Current treatments, typically opioids, anti-epileptics, or antidepressants, bring meaningful relief to only a fraction of patients and often come with side effects that limit long-term use. 💊 The Norway-based company is set to start a phase 3 trial in 2026, find out more in the article below! 👇 https://lnkd.in/dEBf23mv    #neuropathicpain #CRPS #clinicaltrials #lifesciences #norwaybiotech #medicalinnovation Christian Kersten, MD PhD Marte Cameron, MD PhD

What if a cancer drug accidentally cracked the code on chronic pain? The biggest medical revolutions don’t always start where you expect. In our latest Spark Time! episode, we sit down with Christian Kersten, MD PhD and Marte Cameron, MD PhD, founders of AKIGAI, to unpack the remarkable discovery that an EGFR inhibitor could silence neuropathic pain where other treatments have failed. We cover: 💎 The first patient story that turned everything upside down 💎 How EGFR in damaged nerves opens a brand-new frontier for non-opioid pain therapy 💎 Why most drugs leave patients stranded in pain 💎 Akigai’s bold plan to bring relief to millions This is science at its most human: accidental, urgent, and full of possibility. If you are an investor or potential partner looking to back the next breakthrough in non-opioid pain treatment, this is a story you cannot afford to miss. https://lnkd.in/erUHmesi

What if a cancer drug accidentally cracked the code on chronic pain? The biggest medical revolutions don’t always start where you expect. In our latest Spark Time! episode, we sit down with Christian Kersten, MD PhD and Marte Cameron, MD PhD, founders of AKIGAI, to unpack the remarkable discovery that an EGFR inhibitor could silence neuropathic pain where other treatments have failed. We cover: 💎 The first patient story that turned everything upside down 💎 How EGFR in damaged nerves opens a brand-new frontier for non-opioid pain therapy 💎 Why most drugs leave patients stranded in pain 💎 Akigai’s bold plan to bring relief to millions This is science at its most human: accidental, urgent, and full of possibility. If you are an investor or potential partner looking to back the next breakthrough in non-opioid pain treatment, this is a story you cannot afford to miss. https://lnkd.in/erUHmesi

Our accelerator program is coming up! Would you like to work with Startuplab and myself, and are you like Katja Vetvik, MD, PhD or Christian Kersten, MD PhD? I would be thrilled if you have ambitions of building a category leading company, if you based on tech (which gives you a long-term compatitive advanteg) aim to change an industry. Katja is building Thelper with the aim of providing quite revolutionary cancer treatment and saving lives (you will hear much more about Thelper in a while) - and Christian has come a long way with AKIGAI, removing neuropathic pain from a very big and desperate patient group. In addition - they are superb people to work with while always maintaining very high ambitions. Now what about you? We do this accelerator with our friends at DNB and Vipps - but regardless of industry you are welcome to apply! Many of us have built companies or advised hundreds of founders over many years - and I look forward to finding out if you are next one up. Startuplab was created by founders for founders - and most of our capital comes from our founder network - this is a very unique community for ambitious tech founders. What we offer: 💸 Up to 4MNOK in investment 🤝 Expert coaching 🚀 Backing from DNB, Vipps & Norway’s strongest startup community Applications close September 14th! If you’re building big, apply today 👉 https://lnkd.in/drMiKDMx Maria Archontoulis Jørgen Veiby Rasmus Aage Tidemand Figenschou Petter Lee-Johannessen Per Kristian Næss-Fladset Nissik Juell Victoria Somdalen Lise Fulland Iris Krigsvoll Auran

AKIGAI Welcomes Strategic Investment Partner! AKIGAI has secured a strategic partnership with investor Brynjar Forbergskog in a 20 MNOK funding round. We are privileged to have Brynjar join our mission: “To make an EGFR-inhibitor available to as many neuropathic pain patients as possible, as quickly as possible.” Brynjar Forbergskog brings experience and a strong track record in the Biotech segment. His support will play a key role in advancing AKIGAI’s preparations for a Phase III clinical trial in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). CRPS is widely regarded as one of the most severe and debilitating pain conditions. To date, no drug has ever received FDA or EMA approval for this indication. However, we have seen frequent, dramatic and sustained effects from EGFR-inhibitors in CRPS patients. Our development candidate (AKI-007) has been granted orphan drug designation by both the FDA and EMA, reinforcing the promise of our approach.