Sweden

The main funding sources for stem cell research in Sweden are the Swedish Research Council, the Foundation for Strategic Research and private foundations such as the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Cancer Society and international organisations such as the Michael J Fox Foundation, which also award significant funds to Swedish researchers.

The specific stem cell research programme is co-funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and the Swedish Diabetic Foundation. This amounts to 75m Kr (approx £5.5m) for the period 2003-2008. The first phase (2003-2005) distributed 20m Kr (approx £1.48m) to 9 projects & 2 networks. The second phase (2006-2008) has just been announced for projects & networks investigating:

• Determination of culture conditions to induce the proliferation and differentiation of stem cells into various precursor cell types
  
• Study of the regulation of cell differentiation and development that have implications for human stem cells or beta cell development
• Identification of the genes expressed, and the temporal order of gene expression during development of beta cells, nerve cells, muscle cells, or other differentiated cell types
• Study of mechanisms to protect transplanted or newly-formed tissues from immune attack
• Study of the ethical and legal aspects of human embryonic stem cell research

Most research funding distributed by the Swedish Research Council however is allocated principally through grants to individual researchers based on peer review & scientific excellence. Funds allocated by the Swedish Research Council to researchers for projects involving stem cell research (not including the above Stem Cell Research Programme) are:

2003 - 13.43m Kr (£0.99m)
2004 - 15m Kr (£1.1m)
2005 - 16.35m Kr (£1.21m)

It should be noted that these figures probably err on the side of caution with regard to total funding. The Swedish Research Council allocates additional funding under schemes for "Excellent Researchers" and "Research Leaders" based purely on the basis of international excellence in any field (not by subject area), hence the difficulties in categorising the funding for stem cell research.

Foundation for Strategic Research is a non-governmental funding body, but funding still comes from "public" sources. It has the freedom to develop longer-term (e.g.10 year) funding projects and has a number of interesting projects focusing on supporting individual researchers, or particular "Centres of Excellence". Again it is hard to get a figure for "stem cell research" but projects known to include stem cell research include two Strategic Research Centres (Karolinksa Institute & Lund University), at least one "individual research leaders'" grant and at least one Bio-X multidisciplinary (a bio-partner and an "x" partner), "high risk, high-potential" grant - totalling 137.5m SEK/ £10.2m (2003-2008). The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation has funded two significant projects on functional genetics amounting to 179.3m Kr (£13.28m) in 2004 (869m Kr or £64.4m for the total period 2000-2005). How much of this was specifically stem cell research is unclear. Additionally, the Michael J Fox Foundation has regularly awarded significant grants to Swedish researchers. An additional project, "Swedish Brain Power" has 100m Kr (£7.4m) from 2003-2008 for "an R&D platform for early diagnosis and new therapeutic principles of neurodegenerative disorders." This project involves 73 partners across Sweden working with various aspects of neurodegenerative diseases, including epidemiology, clinical diagnostics, clinical trials, occupational therapy and IT research amongst other areas.

During 2005, a new research funding bill and a biotechnology strategy have both highlighted medical research & healthcare as areas of strategic research importance for Sweden, both because of the leading work currently undertaken in these areas, and the potential they have for future economic growth. There has also been an increase in the focus on international excellence, where stem cell research is one such area. The 2005 Research Funding bill allocated an additional 400m Kr (£29.6m) for medical research for the period 2005-2008. Annual government spending on all fields of medical research in 2004 was 4153m Kr (£307.6m). Medical science, including stem cell research, are areas which have been, and will continue to be prioritised by the Swedish government.

Sweden is one of the world's leaders in spending on R&D as a percentage of GDP. In 2003's OECD Scoreboard, Sweden spent 4.3% of GDP on R&D. Publicly-funded R&D in Sweden hovers around 1% of GDP. Sweden is a leading biotechnology nation, especially when taking into account the size of its economy & population (9m), and has Europe's 4th largest biotech industry, after UK, Germany and France. Swedish medical research regularly comes high up tables of number of publications per capita, and was top of The Lancet's clinical medicine citation index in 2004.

Whilst concern is being expressed internally that Sweden is starting to fall behind in comparison to its international competitors in R&D generally, stem cell research remains a key strength and priority area for science & technology in Sweden.

Sweden's decision to permit all stem cell research deemed relevant for patient care and the 2001 US decision to only allow embryonal stem cell research on existing lines put the spotlight on Sweden - more than a third of the existing lines were in Swedish laboratories. Building on this and in-country expertise, Sweden is a major player when it comes to stem cell research.

Areas of research excellence include embryonic and adult stem cell, cell replacement therapy, neurobiology & neurodegenerative diseases, hematopoietic stem cells, Parkinson's, MS, Alzheimers, stroke and diabetes.

Research on fertilised eggs has been permitted since 1991, in order to improve conditions for IVF treatment. Research only permitted in the first 14 days after fertilisation, after which the fertilised egg must be destroyed. This legislation determines that a fertilised egg which has been subject to research may not be implanted in a woman's body, nor may the purpose of the research be to create inheritable genetic changes. A law on the Ethics of Research involving Humans (including human tissue) came into effect on 01 January 2004, outlining a national ethical review system (previously in place as guidelines) for any research involving humans. According to this legislation, research is only be permitted if it is undertaken with respect for human dignity.

In addition to the above, a law came into effect on 01 April 2005 specifically allowing research on fertilised eggs for purposes other than IVF treatment, on the condition that it has undergone an ethical review as outlined above. This Act also specifically allows therapeutic cloning (somatic cell nuclear transfer) for research purposes, under the same conditions/limitations as research on fertilised eggs. This is primarily to enable research to investigate the use of stem cells to develop treatments for illnesses. Most of this research has previously been done on surplus eggs from completed IVF treatments, with consent of the donors. This legislation also now allows the donation of unfertilised eggs for research purposes again, if donor consent is obtained.

Swedish society is in general open & trusting of its governing authorities, and of science and scientists. The proposal for the legislation allowing embryonic stem cell research was covered in the press in a factual manner throughout 2004, focusing on the potential treatments & the leading position of Swedish research and its importance for economic growth. Eurobarometer surveys indicate that Swedes are generally positive to the possibilities of biotechnology, particularly in healthcare, and this is reflected for example in their willingness to be involved in clinical trials.

Sweden is well accustomed to working with the UK and is a partner in the International Stem Cell Forum. Leading Swedish academic & industrial partners are involved in the EU EuroStemCell project being co-ordinated by the University of Edinburgh. The British Embassy in Stockholm has also been involved in a number of projects.

There is however an increasing focus on looking further afield - Asia, US & India - for research partners. The Government has placed considerable emphasis on encouraging investment and collaboration in this field, and the feeling that Sweden has to "think big" in order to maintain its place on the international field means that researchers are being encouraged to look further than Europe for partners & collaborations. The Swedish trade office and Invest in Sweden Agency in San Francisco recently held a "Stem Cell Seminar" (similar to that organised by the British Consulate General) and took out a team of leading researchers, with the hope of finding more financing & collaborations. Additionally, universities (in particular the Karolinska Institute) are actively targeting Asia for collaborations, and have been setting up joint PhD/post-doc programmes and exchanges.

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