Oct 9 2014
CPhI Worldwide, organised by UBM Live, announced the winners of the 11th annual CPhI live Pharma Awards. The annual awards showcase outstanding developments and innovations from the pharma industry's most dynamic and progressive players.
Formulation Award Winner: Nazende Günday Türeli from MJR PharmaJet
The winners of the 2014 CPhI Pharma Awards:
- Formulation: MJR PharmJet
- Process Development: acib
- Packaging: Locked4Kids
- Partnering: Catalent
Open to the entire pharma industry, the awards honour companies that are driving the industry forward with thought leadership, unveiling top pharma innovators to global trade. In addition to returning annual award categories for 'Formulation', 'Process Development' and 'Packaging', a new category recognising 'Innovation in Partnering' debuts this year. Supported by Pharmaceutical Outsourcing magazine, this award honours partnering methods, use of technology, unexpected outcomes and unique partnering practices.
The awards panel deliberated for several hours over the impressive list of entries, before coming to the unanimous decision, selecting MJR PharmJet in the Formulation category; acib for Process Development; Locked4Kids for Packaging and Catalent for Partnering.
Formulation
The 2014 winner for Best Innovation in Formulation was won by MJR PharmJet GmbH for counter-on complexes for enhanced load in nanocarriers. MJR PharmJet has developed a technology that enables the drug loading of hydrophobic nanoparticles to be increased.*
Packaging
Locked4Kids BV, the worlds' first child-resistant carton, won the Best Innovation in Packaging category. Until now, nobody has succeeded in developing a child-resistant (CR) carton box that is easily opened by seniors, inexpensive, suitable for mass production, available in multiple packaging sizes, and complies with relevant U.S. and European standards.**
Partnering
Catalent Pharma Solutions won the Partnering category for their collaboration with Redwood Bioscience. Together they developed bioconjugates that incorporate Redwood's proprietary FGE/aldehyde tag technology and novel bioconjugation chemistry. ***
Process Development
This year's CPhI Pharma Award for Best Innovation in Process Development was received by winner acib-"Enzyme-Google" discovers hidden possibilities of nature. Bio-based industries will be interested to learn of acib's Catalophor System-a search engine including a database, which can discover enzyme functionalities that were previously undescribed.****
Chris Kilbee, Group Director Pharma at UBM Live, extended his congratulations to all the finalists and commented: "Our Pharma Awards are an exceptional platform, providing the opportunity to highlight innovations within the industry that are set to drive the pharmaceutical marketplace. This year we added a new Partnering category, designed to showcase forward looking collaborative approaches within the industry. CPhI Worldwide is increasingly the hub for content and industry innovations".
Notes to Editors
Formulation Category
* By forming counter-ion complexes, the solubility of the API can be improved without chemically altering it, allowing nanoparticles with an enhanced load to be formed via the company's microjet technology. The principle has been proved via a formulation of the drug ciprofloxacin for cystic fibrosis patients, creating a nanodelivery system that allows the drug to penetrate the thick mucus that forms in their lungs. The employed technology can be applied to a wide range of molecules and different markets, including nutraceuticals and cosmetics.
Packaging Category
** Locked4Kids' product consists of a carton and a tray (which locks in the carton when fully inserted) in which blisters, with potentially dangerous product, can be packaged. The packaging has 'push points,' placed diagonally across at a distance that adults can easily cover, but young children can't. With the help of Ecobliss, the first reclosable CR carton has been developed, using conventional cartonning machines. There are no speed restrictions as compared with packaging standard carton boxes-an important advantage for producers switching from normal cartons to Locked4Kids.
Partnering Category
*** This method, SMARTag, encompasses all the required components to produce site-specifically modified bioconjugates, including antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). The technology is particularly aimed at widening the therapeutic index for ADC drugs. Compared with a conventional ADC, results have shown that a SMARTag-generated ADC has a better toxicity profile, is well tolerated and provides statistically significant survival benefits, and has greater exposure and longer circulating half-life. The ability to find the optimal site for a particular payload/antibody combination can be critical to a program's success, and can be easily implemented in preclinical research programs. This is likely to play a key role in the future of ADC development programs, including developing bispecific ADCs, as well as developing ADCs for indications beyond oncology.
Processing Development Category
**** By finding enzymes for reactions that were previously unthinkable (enzymatically), pathways for the synthesis of totally new compounds open up new therapeutic approaches. The system can also search for enzymes that help to produce chiral molecules in pure form and alternatives to patented enzymes. By scouring approximately 100,000 database entries for similarities, the system raises a list of possible candidates. The most promising candidates are then biotechnologically manufactured and tested in the laboratory. The preliminary computer work saves countless experiments and screening, thereby increasing the opportunity to replace conventional chemical processes with environmentally friendly, enzymatic methods.