Life Science Consultancy Firm Joins Gothenburg Science Park
Pharma Relations' CEO Fredrik Anjou and Aina Illiano, who will head the company's operations in Gothenburg
PharmaRelations, a fast-growing life science consultancy company, has opened its first office in Gothenburg as it continues its expansion in Sweden and the Nordics. The team in Gothenburg is expected to grow rapidly.
Founded in Stockholm in 1997, the company now has offices in all Scandinavian capitals. In recent years it has experienced strong growth and currently has around 250 employees.
“We see ourselves as a full-service partner to the Nordic life science scene. Our services range from everything from doing the recruitments for companies that need that, to making sure that they get the right knowledge through consultants, or sometimes temporary staffing as well,” says Fredrik Anjou, CEO of PharmaRelations.
With clients ranging from small start-ups to large global companies, PharmaRelations has seen turnover grow by around 30 per cent each year, for most of the past decade. The growth has been seen in all Scandinavian markets, in particular in Sweden and Denmark, and across all business units.
The company hopes to continue growing and has identified Gothenburg as a market with good potential.
“When we expanded into the Medicon Valley area [in southern Sweden and Denmark], we realized there is a big market there. So we asked ourselves why aren’t we in the other clusters of Sweden? Then it was quite simple to choose Gothenburg,” says Fredrik Anjou.
Gothenburg is an important hub for Sweden’s life science sector. The region is home to northern Europe’s largest university hospital and one of AstraZeneca’s three globally strategic R&D centres. Gothenburg is also the leading centre for clinical trials in Sweden.
“Over the years, we have had consultants in the region. There is more to Gothenburg besides AstraZeneca. There is also a strong medtech cluster. During the last couple of years we’ve been working more and more with medtech. So that was also a reason [to open an office here],” says Fredrik Anjou.
Joining Sahlgrenska Science Park
PharmaRelations recently moved into an office at Sahlgrenska Science Park, one of Gothenburg’s three science parks, where around 85 growth companies within life science are located.
“We are very happy to join the community. There are many interesting companies located at Sahlgrenska Science Park and we look forward to bringing in our expertise,” says Aina Illiano, who will head the Gothenburg operations.
Initially, PharmaRelations will start with a small team in Gothenburg. The company is optimistic about its growth possibilities in the region.
“We are setting up local offices because we need the local expertise in each geographic area. I wouldn’t be surprised if we grew to a team of 50 in Gothenburg, within a few years,” says Fredrik Anjou.
To help facilitate the investment in Gothenburg, PharmaRelations has been in contact with Business Region Göteborg.
“A former colleague from AstraZeneca suggested I should get in touch with Iris Öhrn [investment advisor for life at Business Region Göteborg]. The contact we've had so far has been amazing and extremely professional. She has provided us with lots and lots of connections. She wants to make sure we are within the cluster and feeling welcome. She is actually the one who connected us with Sahlgrenska Science Park, as we didn’t know it was a possibility for us to be in that office,” says Aina Illiano.
