Progress through innovation

ACD Pharma is a Norwegian R&D company that develops biocontrol products based on bacteriophages. Our research teams are located at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås as well as our dedicated bacteriophage lab in Lofoten.

ACD Pharma was originally established to develop biocontrol products for the aquaculture industry. However, groundbreaking results and the development of new technology from its work on bacteriophages have demonstrated how advances made in one sector can be extended in another.

In 2018, ACD Pharma launched Custus®YRS as the world’s first bacteriophage product for use in aquaculture. The preceding research efforts has provided a technological platform that can be used to develop bacteriophage products for combating bacteria harmful to both animals and people.

ACD Pharma currently collaborates with a number of pharmaceutical and scientific teams on utilising bacteriophages as tools in the fight against antibiotic resistance. The research is concentrated on strategies and methods for preventing and treating bacterial infections in people with the aid of bacteriophages.
Since 2019, ACD Pharma, the UiT Arctic University of Norway, the University Hospital of North Norway (UNN), Stavanger University Hospital, the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, the Karolinska Institute and a number of other international medical teams have been working together on the Kleb-Gap research project.

This aims to utilise bacteriophages against Klebsiella pneumoniae, a bacterium which can cause pneumonia and hospital infections. Finding new defences against it has been identified as critical by the World Health Organisation (WHO) because of growing antibiotic resistance.

Our work directed towards the aquaculture sector remains an important business area for ACD Pharma, where several biocontrol products like Custus®YRS are being developed. These products are used to treat the production water during operations that typically lead to increased prevalence of bacteria in the water, thus increasing the chance of infections and later outbreaks of disease.

COO

Simon Brink

+47 409 10 379

simon.brink@nordly.no

Brink is a graduate in economy from UCL in Denmark. He has 9 years of experience from international banking, he has been involved in the establishment of several large companies and holds several board positions. Brink was hired as COO of ACD Pharma in march 2021 too lead the company through commercialisation and the establishment of the company´s bacteriophage factory in Lofoten.

Director of Research & Developement

Yang Shen

+41 (0) 76 792 7148

yang.shen@acdpharma.com

Yang Shen is an internationally recognized expert in the phage community, known for his 16+ years’ experience in research and development of phage-based antimicrobials as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. He began his academic career at University of Maryland College Park, then continued as a high-power scientist and group leader at ETH Zurich, where he led groundbreaking projects in diagnostic phage toolkit development for foodborne pathogens and unravelling phage targeting mechanisms in atomic resolution, and lead optimization for pre-clinical development.

PhD, R&D Manager

Christel Andreassen

+47 919 17 949

christel.andreassen@acdpharma.com

Andreassen has a background from Tufts University in Boston, where she, as Associate Director of Biomedical Engineering, established TUCCA, a Centre of Excellence for interdisciplinary research and development. Prior to this, she spent three years as a doctoral researcher at Nofima, where she researched sustainable production of proteins and bioactive peptides for use in biological production. She holds a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo and a master’s degree in molecular and cancer biology from the university’s Faculty of Biosciences.

MSc, Laboratory Manager

Eirik Bårdsen

+47 930 86 486

eirik.baardsen@acdpharma.com

Bårdsen has been with ACD Pharma since graduating as a microbiologist in 2013. He is a “jack of all trades” in the laboratory, with the emphasis on testing new methods and isolating new bacteriophages.
Bårdsen holds an MSc in microbiology, having studied at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.

PhD, Senior Development Scientist

Øyvind Kileng

+47 450 39 370

oyvind.kileng@acdpharma.com

Kileng studied molecular biology at The University of Bergen and did his PhD at UiT The Arctic University of Norway on the interaction between the immune system in Atlantic salmon and the ISA virus. As a post doctor at Nofima he researched similar interactions between the immune system in Atlantic cod and the Nodavirus.

PhD, R&D Scientist

Célia Pas

celia.pas@acdpharma.com

Célia Pas is a Scientist in the R&D department at Leknes. She specializes in bacteriophage-based technologies, with a particular focus on novel therapeutic strategies to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Pas earned both her Master’s and doctorate degrees from Ghent University, where she conducted her PhD research at the Laboratory of Applied Biotechnology. Her work explored synthetic and bioengineered approaches to optimize bacteriophages and phage tail-like bacteriocins as precision tools against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

MSc, Research Engineer

Ingrid Støtvig

+47 995 75 672

andreas.damgaard@acdpharma.com

Ingrid Støtvig joined the ACD Pharma research team in 2022. She has a Master of Science in biomedicine from UiT The Arctic University of Norway. She is knowledgeable in molecular methods and applied medical genetics.

MSc, Laboratory Engineer

Sabuj Hosen

sabuj.hosen@acdpharma.com

Md Sabuj Hosen is a Lab Engineer in the R&D department at Leknes, specializing in phage biology and molecular techniques. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology from Jessore University of Science and Technology in Bangladesh and a Master of Science in Molecular Environmental Biology from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway. With strong expertise in molecular and phage research, he works on the development and optimization of laboratory processes and contributes to research-driven innovation in the development of bacteriophage-based products.

MSc, Research Engineer

Hannah Winther Solbakk

+47 958 44 743

hannah.solbakk@acdpharma.com

Hannah has a Master of Science in biotechnology from The Norwegian University of Life Sciences and worked for Oslo University Hospital before joining ACD Pharma in december 2022. She is experienced in several molecular-biologic og biochemical methods.

MSc, Research Engineer

Andreas S. Damgaard

+45 291 79 463

andreas.damgaard@acdpharma.com

Damgaard has a Master of Science in Biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Southern Denmark. He has worked on multiple projects focusing on both bacteriophage isolation, bacteriophage characterisation and bacterial defence mechanisms against bacteriophage infections. He joined ACD Pharma as a research engineer in August 2023, and works on the screening process, analysis, and development of bacteriophage-based products.