Genentech dominated the podium at the 2005 Pharma Achievement Awards in Boston last night.
Genentech took five awards, including CEO and Chairman Arthur Levinson’s nomination as CEO of the Year. The Bay Area company also took three awards for the development and marketing of Avastin, including Industry Scientist of the Year to Mark Sliwkowski, Outstanding Biologic Drug Product, and Product Launch of the Year (together with Harrison and Star). Genentech also split a fifth award for Tarceva in the Outstanding Small Molecule Drug Product category.
Other individual awards went to Novartis’ Mark Fishman and Eli Lilly’s Steven Paul, who shared the Chief Scientific Officer of the Year. Fishman, the former Mass General cardiologist, joked that he had come to drug discovery rather late in life, and considered his to be the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award.
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| Winners of the 2005 Pharma Achievement Awards |
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Harvard Medical School cancer biologist Rakesh Jain was surprised to be selected Academic Scientist of the Year, admitting he’d really come along to enjoy the free dinner. He thanked more than 100 students and scientists who had worked in his lab for some 33 years.
Perhaps the warmest applause was reserved for Victoria Hale, founder of the non-profit Institute for OneWorld Health who, having been edged out of the Emerging Company Executive of the Year to Amylin Pharmaceuticals’ Ginger Graham, happily accepted the Social Responsibility Award. Hale said she had been “frustrated by the inability to move medicines around the world to benefit everyone.”
Persuading the government of the intentions of a non-profit drug company was a challenge. “It took a while to convince the IRS we should exist,” Hale said. Hale thanked the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, Pharmacia, and her other partners.
Innovation and Persistence
The lengthy ceremony was punctuated by a presentation from Johns Hopkins stem cell pioneer John Gearhart, who co-developed the first human embryonic stem cell lines in the late 1990s. He discussed the therapeutic potential of stem cell research. “We should not wed our hypotheses, just go to bed with them,” Gearhart joked.
Gearhart noted the exciting progress in stem cell research abroad, including South Korea and the UK. He amended Pasteur’s quote, “Science knows no country,” to “Science knows no state,” alluding to California’s recent Proposition 71 windfall. “Who knows, we may be moving out of Baltimore,” he said.
The final presentation was the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to Harvard Medical School’s Judah Folkman, who has been the leading evangelist for angiogenesis for more than three decades. Folkman talked about stubbornness and the “value of persistence in proving ideas,” which have characterized his trail-blazing research in the face of great skepticism. He quoted Max Planck: “Science advances funeral by funeral.” He also remembered his favorite (negative) review: “The existence of an angiogenesis inhibitor in the body is only in the mind of the principal investigator.”
Folkman’s theories eventually triumphed, as he noted that Down syndrome individuals are almost cancer free, attributed to the increased production of endostatin. His goal is to “liberate cancer therapy, to treat biomarkers in the blood years before the detection of a tumor.”
The evening highlighted the sharply different commercial and humanitarian faces of the pharmaceutical industry. An award to Procter & Gamble for Marketing Campaign of the Year – for the heartburn drug Prilosec – was described as the company’s largest campaign, “bigger than Pampers, bigger than Tide.”
Later, however, a poignant video testimonial showing the efforts of one major pharma to provide emergency assistance to third world countries afflicted by famine and natural disasters demonstrated the positive face of pharmaceutical research.
A complete list of the winners and finalists follows:
SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENT
Chief Scientific Officer of the Year
Co-winners:
Mark Fishman, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research
Steven Marc Paul, Eli Lilly and Company
Finalist:
Jan Lundberg, AstraZeneca
Academic Scientist of the Year
Winner:
Rakesh K. Jain, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital
Finalists:
Patrick J. Casey, Duke University Medical Center
Stuart L. Schreiber, Harvard University
Industry Scientist of the Year
Winner:
Mark X. Sliwkowski, Genentech
Finalists:
Frank S. Walsh, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Pamela Williams & Jose Cosme, Astex Therapeutics, Limited
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Outstanding Small Molecule Drug Product Award
Co-Winners:
OSI Pharmaceuticals & Genentech: Tarceva
Pfizer: Inspra
Finalist:
Amgen: Sensipar
Outstanding Biologic Drug Product Award
Winner:
Genentech: Avastin
Finalist:
Imclone Systems & Bristol Myers Squibb: Erbitux
Abbott Laboratories: Humira
Innovative Pharmaceutical Award
Winner:
Eyetech Pharmaceuticals & Pfizer: Macugen
Finalists:
Eli Lilly and Company: Alimta
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals: Infuse
Rare Diseases and Conditions Award
Winner:
Amgen: Sensipar
Finalists:
Genzyme & BioMarin Pharmaceutical: Aldurazyme
United Therapeutics Corp: Remodulin
WORLDWIDE HEALTH AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Corporate Community Partner Award
Winner:
AstraZeneca: R&D Bangalore
Finalists:
Biogen Idec: Community Laboratory
Pfizer: Pfizer Education Initiative
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals: Hemophilia Patient Assistance Program
Award for Disease Prevention and Education
Winner:
Pfizer: Infectious Disease Institute
Finalists:
Eli Lilly and Company: MDR TB Training and Research Program
GlaxoSmithKline: Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis
Pharmaceutical Business Category
Chief Executive Officer of the Year
Winner:
Arthur D. Levinson, Genentech
Finalists:
Fred Hassan, Schering-Plough Corporation
Miles D. White, Abbott Laboratories
Emerging Company Executive of the Year
Winner:
Ginger L. Graham, Amylin Pharmaceuticals
Finalists:
Colin S. Goddard, OSI Pharmaceuticals
Victoria Hale, Institute for OneWorld Health
Social Responsibility Award
Winner:
Institute for OneWorld Health
Finalists:
Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases
Pfizer
Business Development Deal of the Year
Winner:
AstraZeneca and Cambridge Antibody Technology
Finalists:
Pfizer and Medarex
Theravance and GlaxoSmithKline
Pharmaceutical Marketing Category
Product Launch of the Year
Winner:
Genentech & Harrison and Star: Avastin
Finalists:
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals & Pfizer: Spiriva HandiHaler
Cubist Pharmaceuticals & Cambridge BioMarketing Group: Cubicin
Direct to Consumer Campaign of the Year
Winner:
GlaxoSmithKline & Palio Communications: Combivir - "Take Action"
Finalists:
Galderma Laboratories & Nelson Communications: "Gotta Get Differin"
AstraZeneca & Quantum, Part of CommonHealth: Crestor Launch Campaign
Marketing Campaign of the Year
Winner:
The Procter & Gamble Company & Medicus NY: Prilosec OTC Integrated Campaign
Finalists:
Guidant Corporation & Dorland Global Health Communications: Heartstring II Introduction
Janssen Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical & Ogilvy Healthworld: Ultracet - "Work & Play"