The seventh Pharma Industry Awards took place on Thursday, December 3rd, 2020. Unsurprisingly, this year's event looked and felt a little different to previous years. The winners of the 2020 awards were announced live to a digital audience, in a ceremony hosted by the business journalist and broadcaster Richard Curran, host of RTE Radio 1's The Business.
As ever, the Awards was enthusiastically supported by many of the industry’s most prominent companies, with Kuehne + Nagel returning for the fourth year as title sponsors. While Matt Moran, director at BioPharmChem, took on the role of this year’s judging co-ordinator.
Each award was supported by a specific sponsor, one of which was Asgard Cleanroom Solutions. Their CEO, John Comerford, said "Asgard Cleanroom Solutions and G-CON Manufacturing Europe were delighted to sponsor the Pharma Leader Award at the Pharma Industry Awards for 2020. The award couldn’t have gone to a more deserving recipient, Dominic Carolan. Congratulations on this fantastic achievement.
“We recognise the importance of these awards and what they stand for. And equally, it provided us with an opportunity to meet with some of our existing clients and introduce ourselves to new clients. Also, more importantly, to show our support for the pharma sector. Congratulations to all involved, with a special mention to the finalists and overall category winners."
Another of this year’s sponsors was Ardmac, and their managing director, Enda Murphy, said, “We were delighted to be a sponsor to the Pharma Industry Awards for 2020. Working closely with the industry, we understand how exceptionally challenging it has been this year, but also know how pharma organisations have persevered. It was great to see how the finalists came together to tell their positive stories, and to see the event adapt in the circumstances. Ardmac would like to wish all involved a huge congratulations and a special well done to the winners.”
One of the big winners at this year’s Awards was Pfizer, who won no fewer than four awards. Francesca Donlan, director at Pfizer GBS, said, “It's an incredibly exciting time to be involved in pharma and biopharma in Ireland today, and the Pharma Awards are an opportunity to showcase all the exciting developments, from R & D to supply chain, to global business services and everything in between.”
Alexion Ireland were another of this year’s multiple winners, coming away with the awards for both the Pharma Industry Company of the Year and the Biotech Company of the Year. Michael Teehan, Alexion Ireland’s head of Global Manufacturing Operations, said, "These awards are a vindication of the tremendous achievements of the Alexion Ireland team over the last number of years. In that period, we've established end-to-end manufacturing and supply capability, allowing us to provide life changing medicines to our patients."
Whilst another of this year’s winners was the RCSI University of Medicine & Health Sciences, which won the Research & Development Achievement Award. David Henshall, director of the SFI Research Centre FutureNeuro, said, “I am delighted to receive this award for our preclinical development of a treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy. Working with our industry partners, our novel therapy aims to offer lasting protection against seizures for patients.”
Viatris won the Supply Chain Achievement Award, and Colin Rooney, site lead at Viatris, said, “The Supply Chain Award is great recognition of the efforts that each of our colleagues puts in every day. Our goal is to ensure patients worldwide have access to our trusted quality medicines when needed”
The Pharma Company of the Year – SME was won once again by Ipsen Manufacturing Ireland. Tim Shanahan, vice president of Manufacturing, said, “Achieving Best Pharma SME for the third year in a row is a special honour and is great recognition of our people's commitment to serve patients' needs in this difficult year.”
All in all, more than 45 companies were shortlisted in 24 categories. John Walsh, head of business development at Ward Automation, said, “The Awards showcase some of the top names in the Irish pharma industry, providing excellent exposure for companies and suppliers. We are honoured to have been shortlisted in three categories, sharing the stage with the largest names in the industry.”
Almac Discovery was similarly shortlisted in three categories, and Timothy Harrison, vice president of Drug Discovery, said. “We are delighted to be recognised by the Pharma Industry Awards and their distinguished judges as a finalist in three categories of this year's programme. It is a testament to the continual dedication and commitment of our team.”
While Margaret Lawlor, executive director at SSPC, said, “To be shortlisted in multiple categories this year is a great honour and represents our commitment to research excellence, advancing talent, societal engagement and global impact.”
Also shortlisted was Bausch Health Ireland, and Graham Jackson, vice president - quality, Global Pharmaceuticals, said, “We are especially proud that Bausch Health Ireland was nominated for this year's awards, which is a testament to the operational excellence of our Dublin office.”
Rebecca Cramp, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs manager for the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, said, “The IPHA are delighted that medicines.ie was recognised by the Pharma Industry Awards 2020 with second place in the Innovation of the Year category.”
Kieran Coughlan, managing director at LSC, said, “The awards were testament to the strength and resilience of the sector amid adversity.” While Luz Moya, from Roche Products Ireland Ltd, said, “It is great for the "Glam Up Your Bra" to be recognised by our peers at the Pharma Awards.”
Find out more about the Pharma Industry Awards 2021
