News

Posted On: 10/12/2007

Contract Manufacturers Recognized with European Outsourcing Awards 2007

PharmaManufacturing.com

Via Media Ltd on Oct. 11 announced the winners of the European Outsourcing Awards 2007.

The awards took place at the Le Meridien Gallia hotel, Milan, Italy on Oct. 3, attracting nearly double the number of attendees as its launch in Madrid 2005, many of whom were exhibitors and visitors at ICSE - the International Contract Services Expo, which was taking place nearby at the Fiera Milano Rho Exhibition.

Supported by our event partners, ICSE and PharmSource Information Services and associations, SFSTP and BCMPA, the Awards recognised excellence in ten separate categories and introduced three new areas of expertise with Awards in Supply Chain Management, Best Merger/Acquisition and Outstanding Application in Generics.

Patsy Carney, managing director of EirGen Pharma Ltd commented, "All of us at EirGen Pharma are very proud to receive the European Outsourcing Award 2007 for Outstanding Application in Generics. We set ourselves a daunting task to complete the construction, commissioning, validation and licensing by the Irish Medicines Board of our state of the art high containment facility in six months. We achieved this and the award is a welcome validation of the extent of the achievement."

The members of the European Outsourcing Awards Judging Panel 2007 were: Jim Miller, PharmSource Makarand Jawadekar, Pfizer Rolf Lambert, Consultant/Kemin Health Paul Titley, R5 Pharma Faiz Kermani, PHARMBIOSYS Michael Bobek, Fresenius Product Partnering Keith Allan, Novartis Pharma AG Liselotte Larsson, Novozymes/BioInvent Nathalie Wardé, Consultant Fabrizio Moltoni, ThermoFisher

Dr. Kevin Robinson, head of the above judging committee enthused, "As co-ordinator of the judging panel, it was a distinct pleasure to work with such a distinguished team of professionals who gave so much of their time and expertise to make this event such an outstanding success. Without their generous help, it would have been an impossible task to navigate a path through the maze of submissions and nominations. I must also extend my gratitude to all the companies who took the time and effort to submit entries; not only was I delighted by the quantity of nominations that we received, I was also very impressed by the high quality. Knowing in advance who was going to receive each award might have detracted slightly from the evening's entertainment value, but at least I knew exactly who to watch as the winners were being announced ... and that was a very rewarding experience that made all the hard work, planning and paperwork extremely worthwhile. It was very satisfying to know that the individual awards meant as much to the winning companies as the whole event meant to us at Via Media."

In addition to the ten official award winners, highly commended companies Pierre Fabre (for coming so close, so many times), DataLase (a close runner up in the Supply Chain category) and Gelkaps (for a top quality submission in the Most Improved Plant/Process/Facility category) were also acknowledged and presented with bottles of champagne.  Kevin Robinson stated that he hoped that this would encourage all the companies to participate in the European Outsourcing Awards again next year and looked forward to getting them back on the podium in Frankfurt in 2008 as outright winners.

In addition, thanks must be given to our key sponsors, Aptuit, Patheon and Pfizer in supporting the European Outsourcing Awards 2007. Stuart Needleman, vice president, Sales & Marketing, Aptuit Inc says, "Aptuit Inc. is proud to have been the primary sponsor of the 2007 European Outsourcing Awards (EOA) and was delighted to hand over the award for the Most Innovative Relationship to a worthy winner. The gala dinner has already grown from a significant and successful start-up in 2005 to a must-attend event in the pharmaceutical calendar, and we are very pleased to be so strongly associated with its development. Our goal, to engineer a better drug development process, is greatly facilitated by being able to interact with our peers, discuss developments and generate business in the unparalleled networking opportunity that is the EOA gala dinner. We look forward to playing a key role in the growth of the event and supporting Via Media Ltd for many years to come."

A full review of the event will be available in the November/December issue of Pharma Magazine, the official magazine of the European Outsourcing Awards. For more information visit http://www.pharma-magazine.com

Finally we are delighted to announce the launch of the Asian Outsourcing Awards in conjunction with ICSE India in November 2008. For further details on this and the next European Outsourcing Awards, October 1, Frankfurt, visit our website for regular updates: http://www.europeanoutsourcingawards.com

For further information or photos of this year's event, please contact Miranda Docherty on +44 (0)207 096 7185 or email: Miranda@via-medialtd.com

The Winners of the ten Award categories, selected by the independent panel of judges were as follows:

1. Most Improved Process/Plant/Facility : Focus on know-how/expertise: Ravensburg Vetter South, Vetter Pharma-Fertigung GmbH & Co. KG
2. Effective Scale-Up Award/Tech Transfer : Focus on capacity issues or transfer from lab to full-scale production: Applying State-of-the-Art Technology to Fast and Efficient Scale-Up: Solvias AG
3. Most Innovative Relationship : Focus on problem solving using a new process or technique: Synergy Delivers Unique and Innovative Service to Company X       Synergy
4. Outstanding Applications in Generics : Focus on understanding technical requirements : High Containment Facility Start-Up : EirGen Pharma Ltd
5. Best Contract Analytical Development Project : Focus on drug product development : Eliminating International Barriers for Global Clients to Provide the Same Analytical Service all around the World : SGS Life Science Services
6. Best Contract Manufacturing Project : Focus on production and commercial manufacturing: The Transfer and Commercial Availability of a Challenging Solid Dose Product in Only Four Months : Recipharm
7. Best New Partnership : Less than three years old or still in its implementation/transition stage : Bosch Sigpack and Burgopak: Automation of the Burgopak : Burgopak Ltd and Bosch Sigpack
8. Best Merger/Acquisition : Focus on the smooth transition of two or more companies into a single association : Contract Manufacturing: The MBO Experience Pharmatis
9. Supply Chain Management : Most effective implementation of a supply chain/track-and-trace application or business process : Raising the Bar to Meet Japanese Expectations : Brecon Pharmaceuticals
10. Best New Product: The most innovative and novel product derived and produced from a successful outsourcing collaboration : StarCap 1500: A Unique Excipient for Capsule Filling and High Dose DC Applications : Colorcon Limited