Straight Dope on Medicine: Finland

Author

Scott Ganser
February 20, 2024

Finland

They couldn’t be happier. Literally. I mean it. Finland has gained the number 1 position as the “happiest in the word,” for six years straight.

Hopefully it’s not drugs.

The happiness experts claim that it isn’t, that it is actually based on six factors: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perception of corruption.[i] Finland has a rich and vibrant culture that emphasizes and practices togetherness and community. People really look out for one another.

This is a stark contrast to the rugged individualism and pioneer spirit of the west.

Which brings us to the Finnish National Anthem:

The physical beauty of Finland is stunning. It might merit a visit some time.

Rovaniemi, capitol of Finnish Lapland

Northern Lights adventure in Finland

One of the draws is the Finnish healthcare system. It is a decentralized and publicly funded system that provides universal coverage for all residents. The system is divided into three levels: municipal, regional, and national. The municipalities are responsible for primary care, the regions for specialized care, and the national level for policymaking and regulation. Residents can also access private health care services, which compliment the public ones. To access the healthcare system, residents need a Kela Card, which proves their eligibility for social security and health insurance, or an EHIC Card, which covers emergency care within the EU.[ii]

Finns begin life in a box.[iii]

For 75 years, Finland's expectant mothers have been given a box by the state. It's like a starter kit of clothes, sheets and toys that can even be used as a bed. And some say it helped Finland achieve one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates.

It's a tradition that dates back to the 1930s and it's designed to give all children in Finland, no matter what background they're from, an equal start in life.

The maternity package - a gift from the government - is available to all expectant mothers.

It contains bodysuits, a sleeping bag, outdoor gear, bathing products for the baby, as well as nappies, bedding and a small mattress.

It also might be that Finns are wired.

Finns are the biggest coffee drinkers in the world. This amount to 12 kg of coffee every year, or 8 cups per day.[iv] Finland is the only country in the world where it is stated in some collective labor agreement that there should be two 15 minute COFFEE breaks in a workday.[v] “Kahvi” (coffee in Finnish) means light roasted filter coffee.  There are even in Finnish language such words as "aamukahvi" (morning coffee), "päiväkahvi" (day coffee), "iltakahvi" (evening coffee) and of course "saunakahvi" (sauna coffee).

If you invite someone to your home in Finland, it is a custom that you have to offer them coffee. It might be rude to refuse someone’s offer, especially if it is from an older person. Don’t mind the small cup because you will be offered “santsikuppi” (another round of coffee) and you don’t want to refuse that either, but you need to state “Ehkäpä vain puoli kuppia” (maybe just a half a cup). If you take another full cup, you will be offered more coffee as long as you will just take the half cup. Also in some more traditional families, the hostess isn’t allowed to drink coffee before the guest doesn't want more of those full cups.

"Kuksa" is the one and only outdoors coffee cup

Odd Facts about Finland

  • Highest consumption of milk in the world. Finland ranks as #1 in the consumption of milk per person, around a whopping one liter per day. ...

  • Most heavy metal bands per capita. ...

  • The inventor of text message is Finnish. ...

  • There are so many weird sports.

Like what? You may ask.

Wife-carrying World Championship

World Championship in Mosquito Hunting.

A (very) brief history

Finland’s first known inhabitants wandered over some 10,000 years ago. Many centuries later, the area that comprises current day Finland would conquer by the predecessors of today’s Swedes and Russians. In 1809, Finland became an autonomous part of the Russian Empire, but it gained full independence in 1917. Finland was also the first European country to allow women to vote in 1906. During World War II, Finland retained its independence, and it has taken a neutral stance in geopolitics ever since. Today, Finland is part of the European Union, or EU. Visit the Finnish National Museum in Helsinki to learn more about Finland’s history.[vi] 

Finns don’t know how to dress for conditions.

Credits: Harri Tarvainen

It still might be drugs.

I am jesting.

Finnish Santa doesn’t use Rein Deer.

Finland has the Angry Birds. The Finnish game developer Rovio. conquered the world in 2009 with their first mobile game, Angry Birds. The company sold around 6.5 million units in the first six months, which was the beginning of a magical business story.[vii]

The Rovio headquarters are in Espoo's Keilaranta, 20 minutes from Helsinki city center by public transport. They also have offices in Stockholm, Shanghai and Los Angeles. The company is very international: it employs almost 400 people from over 40 different countries.

What about bleeding edge science?

Finland, being so small, is not a powerhouse.

One way that Finland is making a difference is in spying. Or, if you are into euphemisms, persistent world surveillance. IcEye is the firm laying the groundwork for viewing the Earth from space on a semi-constant basis.

IcEye uses fridge-sized satellites (they have 3) to do time-lapse photography of the earth with high resolution. They can watch ice melt, ships organize, dams failing, and perhaps even predict earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Faron Pharmaceuticals 

Faron Pharmaceuticals is a drug discovery company that focuses on targeting endothelial receptors. These are proteins found on blood vessels that play a role in tuning the immune response. The company is currently developing two small molecule drug candidates with the potential to address a wide range of conditions, including respiratory diseases, multi-organ failure, cancer, and infectious diseases. The most advanced program has completed phase III trials in acute respiratory distress syndrome.[viii]

Faron is reprogramming macrophages and myeloid cells to fight cancer. Bexmarlimab is a humanized anti-Clever 1 antibody, hence the mab in  its name. It primes the immune system to attack tumors. Bex is potentially applicable to a wide variety of hematologic diseases and solid tumors. It has already shown clinical benefit as a single agent to about 200 patients with advanced solid tumors refractory to PD-1 blockade (MATINS study) and 33 difficult-to-treat patients with myeloid malignancies (BEXMAB study).

Significant ORR achieved (100%) in patients with HR-MDS (5/5) and HMA-failed (5/5), including patients with TP53 mutation (ASH 2023).[ix]

The tumor objective response rate (ORR) is the assessment of the tumor burden (TB) after a given treatment in patients with solid tumors and has a long history. The ORR is undoubtedly an important parameter to demonstrate the efficacy of a treatment and it serves as a primary or secondary end-point in clinical trials.[x]

Bexmarlimab has an extremely good safety profile.