Leading events organiser UBM Live has announced details of the eighth CPhI Innovation Awards and issued a call for entries.
Winners of the annual awards, which recognise, celebrate and honour companies that are innovating and breaking new ground in the pharmaceutical industry, will be announced at UBM’s flagship pharma ingredients event, CPhI Worldwide, which is being held at Messe Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany from 25-27 October, along with co-located events ICSE for contract services, clinical trials and packaging; InnoPack for pharmaceutical packaging solutions; BioPh for the biopharma sector and P-MEC Europe for equipment, machinery and technology.
Entries are invited from exhibitors across all the events in Frankfurt and entry categories for the 2011 Awards have been expanded, reflecting the new zoned layout of the events. This year, submissions will be accepted from the following areas: APIs, Custom Manufacturing, Intermediates, Excipients/Formulation, Fine Chemicals, Finished Dosage, Contract Services, Drug Delivery and Biopharmaceuticals. The deadline for submissions is Friday 29 July 2011. Details on how to enter can be found at: www.cphi.com/innovation-awards.
‘The CPhI Innovation Awards are an extension of our pharma event brands, effectively the industry’s leading events recognising the industry’s leading innovators. The profile of the Awards has grown significantly since their inception in 2004 and they now provide our exhibitors with a high profile, global platform with which to showcase their cutting edge developments,’ commented Annemieke Timmers, Brand Director.
‘Last year, the Awards attracted a record 30 entries and we hope to build on this further in 2011. The awards will again be judged by our expert panel who will be looking to highlight achievements, ideas, technologies and products of organisations that truly embrace innovative technology and demonstrate tangible long-term benefits to the pharma industry.’
Comprised of senior personnel from some of the industry’s leading pharma organisations, the judging panel for the Innovation Awards has remained consistent since 2007 and includes Dr Hendrik Baumann - CU Chemie Uetikon; Zoran Bunčić – Pliva; Dr Didier Bensoussan - Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (UK); Dr Hans-Leonhard Ohrem - Merck KGaA; and Dr Andreas Stolle - Saltigo.
Having reviewed the entries, the panel will announce a shortlist of six entries on Monday 5 September 2011 and these companies will present to the panel in Frankfurt on Tuesday 23 October; the Gold, Silver and Bronze Award winners will be announced at a ceremony that evening and the three runners-up will be recognised with a nominee certificate.
‘The Innovation Awards traditionally attract entries from all spheres of the global pharmaceutical industry, from small biotech companies to the pharma majors, and previous winning entries have ranged from ligand production techniques and reactor efficiency enhancements to the delivery of probiotics to infants through breast milk,’ said Haf Cennydd, Brand Director ICSE, P-MEC, InnoPack and BioPh. ‘By introducing an expanded range of submission categories, we expect to see an even greater diversity of entries than in previous years.’
Last year’s Gold Award went to Thermo Fisher Scientific for its TruScan future forward technology in lasers, while the Silver was awarded to BASF’s Soluplus, a new chemical entity offering considerable enhancement in solubility for poorly soluble APIs. The Bronze Award went to Zeon for its high-performance solvent CycloPentyl Methyl Ether (CMPE) for process innovation and green chemistry. Highlights of last year’s Awards can be viewed at: www.cphi.com/highlights-2010.