In the Research and Development Category, the Innovative Pharmaceutical Product Award was given jointly to Eyetech Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer for Macugen, an anti-angiogenesis treatment for age-related macular degeneration. The Rare Diseases and Conditions Award was presented to Amgen for Sensipar, a first-in-class Calcimimetic approved for secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT). There was a tie for the Outstanding Small Molecule Drug Product Award, with Pfizer winning for Inspra, a selective aldosterone blocker for the treatment of post-myocardial infarction heart failure and Genentech and OSI Pharmaceuticals winning for Tarceva, for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC after failure of at least one prior chemotherapy regimen. Genetech was also the winner of the Outstanding Biologic Drug Product Award for its Avastin, another anti-angiogenesis therapy.

The Scientific Achievement Category focused on the contributions of individuals to pharmaceutical research and generated more nominations than any other set of awards. Dr. Mark Sliwkowski, Director of Molecular Oncology for Genentech">Genentech, received the Industry Scientist of the Year Award in recognition of his contribution to the success of the company’s Herceptin and Tarceva products. The Academic Scientist of the Year Award went to Harvard’s Dr. Rakesh Jain, a pioneer in the systems biology of cancer and the developer of numerous strategies for overcoming barriers to drug delivery in tumors. Voting for the Chief Scientific Officer of the Year resulted in a tie, with Dr. Mark Fishman, President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research and Dr. Steven Marc Paul, President of Lilly Research Laboratories sharing the honors.

In the World Heath and Community Involvement Category, the Award for Disease Prevention and Education was given to Pfizer’s Infectious Disease Institute, a clinical prevention and research facility built by the company in Uganda to train health professionals and treat patients in resource-limited settings. AstraZeneca received the Corporate Community Partner Award for its Avishkar Research and Development Center in Bangalore, India – an institute dedicated to the discovery of new treatments for tuberculosis and other diseases found primarily in the developing world.

In the Pharmaceutical Business Category, Dr. Arthur Levinson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Genentech, won the Chief Executive Officer of the Year Award – rewarding an extraordinary streak of product success for the company. The Emerging Company Executive of the Year Award, added for the first time in 2005, was given to Ginger L. Graham, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amylin Pharmaceuticals.

The Business Development Deal of the Year Award was presented to the collaboration between AstraZeneca and Cambridge Antibody Technology, and the Social Responsibility Award went to The Institute for OneWorld Health.

In the new Pharmaceutical Marketing Category, the Product Launch of the Year Award was given to Genentech and the Harrison and Star agency for the Avastin launch campaign. GlaxoSmithKline and Palio Communications received the Direct to Consumer Campaign of the Year Award for the “Take Action” campaign for GSK’s HIV treatment, Combivir. The Marketing Campaign of the Year Award recognized the Prilosec OTC Integrated Campaign from Procter & Gamble and their agency, Medicus New York.

The evening closed with a moving tribute to the recipient of the 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Judah Folkman. In commenting on his friend’s accomplishments, Dr. Donald Ingber of Harvard outlined the long path from Folkman’s first articles on angiogenesis in 1971 and 1972 through over 500 publications in the next thirty years – leading ultimately to the impact of this work on the development of products including Avastin, Thalidomide, and Macugen.

The 2005 Pharmaceutical Achievement Awards were sponsored by Accenture, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Big Communications, Inc., Calyx, Cambridge BioMarketing Group and H.M. Long Global Healthcare.

The awards official media sponsors were Science/AAAS, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Scrip World Pharmaceutical News and BioExecutive International.

Photographs from the awards presentation ceremony are available to media outlets upon request. Further information on the Awards, including a listing of past winners, is available online at www.pharmawards.com

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