Antaros Medical's Kerstin Heurling: Driving Innovation in Clinical Imaging

Antaros Medical is a Swedish company delivering imaging solutions for clinical trials to provide their clients with key insights into their drug development programmes. With their global clientele ranging from smaller pharma biotechs to industry giants in Big Pharma, Antaros Medical delivers advanced imaging solutions that few others can offer.

Kerstin Heurling, an engineer with a PhD in medicine, shares her insights and opinions on several exciting developments currently unfolding within the life sciences. For example, she notes a shift towards more efficient clinical trial practices with adaptive science. Driven by a history where mistakes within the field motivated stricter regulations, which in turn made the processes incredibly inefficient, adaptive science characterized by flexible structures without compromising data integrity is emerging as a methodology for these practices. Additionally, she highlights the continued growing interest in the metabolic field and the exploration of novel treatments, such as the repurposing of diabetes medication for obesity. This means that many are now working on improving treatments as well as expanding areas for treatments. Imaging can play a big role in digging deeper into these medications. Another field where imaging can have an important role is the field of gene therapy which is brimming with potential, promising groundbreaking advancements in the near future.

- We really look forward to supporting the area of gene therapy with our expertise at Antaros Medical; that’s where we can contribute our piece of the puzzle, says Heurling.

Looking ahead five years, Heurling envisions a life science industry where clinical imaging trials have become more common, not the least within the metabolic field. With many new treatments underway it will be important to investigate different organ effects as well as to understand how treatments work in different patient populations. Here, tools like imaging will support the field with key answers around the effects of these drugs.

- Historically, treatment has focused on symptom relief. However, now and moving forward, there is a shift happening towards curing rather than treating, opening up new avenues for the pharmaceutical industry and the patients, states Heurling. One area where the research interest is high is fibrosis, the common end stage of many diseases. We can support the development of anti-fibrotic treatment with imaging as a biomarker to assess the level of fibrosis before and after treatment in clinical trials.

For all these developments within life science to move forward, there is and must be a collaborative process. Heurling emphasizes the critical importance of collaboration within the work of Antaros Medical, where partnerships extend to universities and pharmaceutical companies in the development of cutting-edge imaging techniques.

- One notable collaboration we are working on revolves around advanced renal imaging, where we are one of the few in the world to perform this in clinical trials. This project was started together withAstraZeneca and researchers from Sahlgrenska University Hospital, explains Heurling.

Similarly, these types of collaborations have been done within other areas such as liver diseases.

- These collaborations are vital in understanding different diseases and how imaging can play a part in supporting novel treatments to the patients, continues Heurling.

While collaboration remains pivotal, Heurling acknowledges challenges in knowledge sharing within the industry, urging greater openness and cooperation among stakeholders.

- We as an industry should be open to collaborate and share knowledge. I believe that we could then be more open with each other, and all parties could still benefit from the collaboration from their different points of view and expertise, explains Heurling.

At Antaros Medical, they work with many biotech start-ups in America and would like to see the Swedish ones having the same opportunities. She sees potential for Antaros Medical to collaborate and support these businesses by serving as a bridge, connecting key opinion leaders with burgeoning biotech companies, which in turn would drive biotech innovation forward.

Antaros Medical’s collaborative mindset and work process makes them an important contributor to the GoCo community. To Heurling, GoCo Health Innovation City stands out for its unique blend of resources, with a strong presence of industry giants like AstraZeneca and Mölnlycke Health Care, alongside esteemed academic institutions like Sahlgrenska University Hospital. GoCo represents more than just a location — it is a vibrant hub with opportunities for collaboration, recruitment, and growth. Heurling anticipates the area to continue growing into a thriving ecosystem where partnerships flourish, innovation happens, and a dynamic, supportive community is being fostered.

- To me, GoCo is characterized by collaboration, growth, and an inspiring culture and environment that positively impacts our work, concludes Heurling.