About Us

LOAd therapy for different types of cancer

Lokon Pharma

Lokon Pharma is a Swedish biotech company in the forefront of developing immunostimulatory gene therapy for cancer based on oncolytic viruses. Innovative gene engineering, solid expertise in cancer biology and immunology, as well as a genuine curiosity in life science to expand Lokon’s pipeline towards groundbreaking new therapeutics for patients with high unmet medical need.

Lokon Pharma is a wholly owned subsidiary of nxt2b, a leading venture capital company in Sweden that focuses on growth equity investments in healthcare, medical devices and specialty pharmaceutical companies.
Address
Bredgränd 14
SE-753 20 Uppsala
Sweden
Email
info@lokonpharma.com

Board & Management

Angelica Loskog
Chief Executive Officer/Chief Scientific Officer, Board of Directors
Angelica Loskog
Chief Executive Officer/Chief Scientific Officer, Board of Directors

Angelica has >20 years immune oncology experience (Uppsala University and Baylor College of Medicine). She has a PhD in Medical Sciences from Uppsala University and is currently adjunct as a Professor of immunotherapy. She is an advisor to NEXTTOBE and is a board member of several of their portfolio companies.

Erika Kjellberg Eriksson
Chair of the Board
Erika Kjellberg Eriksson
Chair of the Board

Erika been working in the life science sector for >25 years. She has a BSc in Ba and Econ from Uppsala university and started her career as an auditor at Ernst & Young. She is currently the CEO of NEXTTOBE and is a board member of their portfolio companies. Previously, she was vice-president and CFO of Q-Med and a CEO and CFO at Biophausia.

Åsa Holmgren
Head of Regulatory Affaires
Åsa Holmgren
Head of Regulatory Affaires

Åsa is specialized in strategic international regulatory affairs and drug development. She has gained more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry in projects ranging from first-time-in-man to several products reaching international marketing authorization. Åsa has held leadership positions as Medivir, Orexo, Astra Zeneca R&D, Pharmacia & Upjohn, and Roche AB. Åsa received her MSc in Pharmacy from Uppsala University.

Justyna Leja Jarblad
Head of Clinical Development
Justyna Leja Jarblad
Head of Clinical Development

Justyna has a solid background in drug development and the immune-oncology field, and holds a PhD in Medical Sciences from Uppsala University. She has experience as a Sponsor representative for academic and pharma trials. Further, she is a co-founder of the first, successful crowd funding campaign “iCANCER”, held a position of BIO-X project manager and was the Chief Operating Officer of Immuneed.

Sara Häggblad
Head of Chemical Manufacturing Control
Sara Häggblad
Head of Chemical Manufacturing Control

Sara is an experienced scientist within the academia, and in the health care industry including GE Healthcare (now Cytiva). She holds a Msc in Biotechnology and a PhD in Medical Sciences at Uppsala University, Sweden. She has extensive knowledge and hands-on experience of process development for large-scale production and purification of viral vectors.

Titti Björnström
Head of Quality Assurance & Quality Control
Titti Björnström
Head of Quality Assurance & Quality Control

Titti holds a Master of Science in Chemistry (Biochemistry) at Uppsala University, Sweden. She has previously worked at Thermo Fisher Scientific and have extended experience of bioreagent manufacturing for medical device including process controls and has solid experience in the quality field and Lean Production.

Linda Sandin
Head of Data Science and Operations
Linda Sandin
Head of Data Science and Operations

Linda holds a MSc in Biology and a PhD in Medical Sciences, at Uppsala University, Sweden. She has a strong background in the immune oncology field both from academia, biotech and health care industry including positions at Synovo GmbH in Germany and Astra Zeneca in Cambridge.

Emma Eriksson
Head of Research & Development
Emma Eriksson
Head of Research & Development

Emma holds a Msc in Biomedicine and a PhD in Medical Sciences from Uppsala University, Sweden. She has extensive knowledge and >10 years hands-on experience of genetical engineering, adenovirus manufacture, evaluation of immunotherapies as well as analytical method development.

Malin Bernhardsson
Administration
Malin Bernhardsson
Administration

Malin has more than 20 years of experience within administration and economics in various companies in Sweden, both in life science and government operations, including Q-Med AB, Olink Proteomics AB, and the Swedish Prison and Probation Service.

Advisors

Andrew Thomas
Scientific, Strategic and M&A Advisor
Andrew Thomas
Scientific, Strategic and M&A Advisor

Andrew held a number of senior positions within Roche R&D in the Pharmaceutical industry over a period of 20 years prior to managing two Venture and Growth Investment Funds. Andrew studied Chemistry at the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge.

Mohammad Alimohammadi
Medical Advisor
Mohammad Alimohammadi
Medical Advisor

Mohammad is an MD and holds a PhD in molecular medicine from Uppsala University in Sweden. He is the founder and CEO of a dermatology clinic in Uppsala, the founder of a specialized care center in Gävle and the founder of Aknejouren. Mohammad is a medical consultant to Galderma, CTC Clinical Trial Consultants, LIF Insurance among others. He has extensive experience of clinical trials with focus on protocol design and pharmacovigilance.

Ingrid Glimelius
Medical Advisor
Ingrid Glimelius
Medical Advisor

Ingrid is an MD, PhD and professor with extensive experience as a senior consultant in Oncology at the Department of Oncology at Uppsala University Hospital. She did her postdoctoral studies at Karolinska Institute within cancer epidemiology and pharmacovigilance. Today she conducts trials both with a clinical, preclinical and epidemiological focus at Uppsala University Hospital/Uppsala University. 

Malcolm K Brenner
Medical and Scientific Advisor
Malcolm K Brenner
Medical and Scientific Advisor

Malcolm is an MD, PhD and the Founding Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), Texas Children's Hospital and Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX. He serves as a Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and of Medicine at BCM. Brenner received his medical degree and subsequent PhD from the University of Cambridge, England. 

Bengt Ågerup
Scientific Advisor
Bengt Ågerup
Scientific Advisor

Bengt holds a PhD in Physiology from Uppsala University and is the founder of the venture capital company nxt2b. He has held senior positions within Pharmacia and Biomatrix and started the company Q-Med. Q-Med, now Galderma owned, is the world leading company for dermal injectable fillers. Bengt is a former Board Member of the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research and the former Chairman of Stockholm Uppsala Life Science.

History

“It was back in the year 1999, on my birthday April 5, that I noted that animals treated with immunostimulatory gene therapy were tumor free. As a naïve Master student, I thought: Yes, I am curing cancer! Little did I know what ride I had ahead of me to stand where I stand today.”

Angelica Loskog, inventor of the LOAd platform and CEO/CSO of Lokon Pharma, cherish that moment more than 20 years ago. “I was determined to bring immunostimulatory gene therapy to the patients and I still am”. The gene vehicles back then have evolved into so called oncolytic viruses (OV) that besides delivering a gene cargo, can selectively replicate and kill tumor cells in a process called oncolysis.

The gene cargo in her platform can be mixed and matched to fit a certain tumor type or biological target. The first product in clinical development is LOAd703 that has the theoretical potential to work on any cancer.

“We were the first OV company to test more than one immunostimulatory gene in humans. I was convinced that there were benefits of combining TMZ-CD40L and 4-1BBL that could not be ignored. Considering the promising results in one of the worst cancers, pancreatic cancer, the regulatory challenge was worth it.

I am pleased to work with such a skilled, experienced, and dedicated team that believed in me and in LOAd703. Together, we have taken an idea born at the Uppsala University all the way through early phase trials. We have made a difference for patients with cancer.”
2015

EMA & FDA orphan drug designation: LOAd703 treatment for pancreatic cancer

LOAd703 publication in Clinical Cancer Research

LOKON001: first patient enrolled using LOAd703 + chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer

2017
2018

LOKON002: First patient enrolled using LOAd703 + chemotherapy for selected solid tumors

Patent approved for LOAd703 virus family LOAd713 publication in Journal of Immunology

2019
2020

Roche collaboration - LOKON003: LOAd703 + atezolizumab in melanoma

Roche collaboration - LOKON001 arm 2: LOAd703 + chemo + atezolizumab

LOAd732: data release at AACR

LOKON001: Arm 1 data release at ASCO

LOKON002: biomarker data released at CICON

2022