The profound achievements of the pharma, biotech and allied industries were celebrated last week at the annual Scrip Awards in London. LONDON – Thursday, 11th December 2014 – In a glittering ceremony hosted by comedian Milton Jones and held at London’s Lancaster Hotel, excellence across the industry was rewarded at the end of what has proved an exciting year for the phama and biotech sectors.
“M&A activity has been very much to the fore in 2014, and great strides have been made in the treatment of hepatitis C therapy and the burgeoning field of immune oncology, bringing new hope to patients. The industry’s contribution to the current Ebola crisis has also been under scrutiny, as the world seeks to make sense of the epidemic,” says Mike Ward, Global Director of Content for IBI Pharma News & Datamonitor Healthcare. “However, after many tough years, it is heartening to see the continued efforts of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, and the companies that support them, flourish.”
The award categories range from those that reward the broader achievements of companies, to those for innovation in deal making, advances in R&D and the more personal achievements of teams and individuals.
AstraZeneca/MedImmune crowned what has been an interesting year by taking home three awards, while the other main winner of the night was Lifetime Achievement Award winner Stanley T Crooke of Isis Pharmaceuticals.
Winner of the Pharma Company of the Year (sponsored by PPD) was Bayer HealthCare. The winner of the Pharma Company of the Year award was chosen this year by Scrip Intelligence’s senior editorial team, based on a variety of key metrics: financial performance in 2013 compared with the previous year; strategic advances such as M&A; progress in the emerging markets, and advances in the drug pipeline.
Scrip was impressed by Bayer HealthCare’s strong showing against all these measures. Mike Ward explains: “We picked Bayer HealthCare because it showed progress across a range of key performance indicators: its financial performance, including operating profit and R&D spending; its pipeline progress, including notable new drug approvals; its expansion into the exciting Chinese pharma market; and the potentially game-changing acquisitions of Algeta and Merck & Co’s consumer care business.”
The always-competitive Biotech Company of the Year category was won this year by Prosensa. The Dutch biotechnology that develops RNA-modulating therapeutics for rare genetic disorders blazed a trail with the first NASDA IPO of a European biotech company in ten years in June last year. It also negotiated a regulatory path forward with the US FDA for its lead product drisapersen after regaining the rights from GlaxoSmithKline.
The award for Best Contract Research Organization (sponsored by Exco InTouch) was taken home for the third year running by Quintiles. It remains the CRO to beat after demonstrating a series of performance milestones in its quest to improve its customers’ probability of success. It signed a series of transformational partnerships; completed its largest and longest clinical trial to date in 21,000 patients in 46 countries; and launched innovative technologies to improve trial execution. “IT is very hard for anyone to compete with Quintiles’ capabilities as the market leader in the sector,” said the judges but noted that the company does not rest on its laurels. “Quintiles is constantly looking to improve.”
The Chinese company WuXi AppTec took home the Best Company in an Emerging Market trophy. Highlights of its year included being selected by Pharmacyclics as the clinical and commercial supplier of the key intermediate for Imbruvica (ibrutinib), which has received three FDA Breakthrough Therapy designations in blood cancers. Progress also included investments in new facilities including an API laboratory in Shanghai, and others in the US. “A great company!” said the judges.
Meanwhile, the award for Best Advance in an Emerging Market, which recognizes achievements by pharmaceutical and biotech companies in expanding their reach in these countries, went to Baxter for its partnership with Brazil’s Ministry of Health and the Brazil-based healthcare company Hemobrás on the distribution of Baxter’s recombinant Factor VIII treatment to hemophilia treatment centers across the country. It has taken Hemobrás to a position to manufacture and supply the product itself, allowing for faster and greater availability of treatment. Baxter and Hemobrás are now working closely together to increase patient awareness of diagnosis and treatment.
Deal makers
Of those categories that reward deal-making in the sector, the Best Partnership Alliance trophy went this year to MedImmune and Immunocore’s oncology immunotherapy collaboration.
Under this collaboration, both companies will research and develop novel cancer therapies using Immunocore’s ImmTAC technology, which exploits the power of the immune system’s T cells to specifically kill cancer cells and avoid damage to healthy cells. ImmTACs are an important enhancement to MedImmune’s immune-mediated cancer therapy portfolio, and the companies will work together to generate ImmTACs against selected cancer targets, which MedImmune will have the right to develop further and commercialize.
The Licensing Deal of the Year award went to AstraZeneca for its acquisition of Bristol Myers Squibb’s interests in their diabetes alliance for an upfront payment of $2.7bn. In implementing its strategy to prioritize CV/metabolism as one of its core therapeutic areas, this gave AstraZeneca a leading position in type two diabetes by offering therapies in all major drug classes and access to fixed-dose combinations, and, despite its complexity, the deal was executed at remarkable speed.
“This example is particularly creative,” said the judges. “The AZ/BMS arrangement ensured continuity through reallocation of the skill and capability of the colleagues directly involved.”
Creativity in fundraising was rewarded by the Financing Deal of the Year trophy which this year went to UK biotech company Circassia, which netted £191m through its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in March, making it the first significant listing in the biotech sector in Europe since 2006 and one of its biggest ever floatations. The funds will allow Circassia to bring its lead product candidate Cat-SPIRE to market without the need for a partner. “An incredible financing when the UK/European window on IPOs has been closed for nearly eight years… and a bigger, more successful offering than any in the US!” said the judges.
Moving to the awards that celebrate individual and team success, the Executive of the Year was named as Horizon Discovery’s Dr Darrin Disley. Dr Disley has led the building of a world-leading translational genomics company and one of the fastest growing biotech companies in Europe, but his major achievement this year was overseeing his company’s listing on the UK’s AIM market. This was the largest biotech IPO on AIM and the largest ever from the Cambridge Cluster. “Dr Disley is a clear leader,” said the judges.
AstraZeneca’s business development operations team won the Management Team of the Year award. Against a background of challenge and change, it executed multiple strategically important and high-quality transactions in the qualifying period. The ten-strong team oversaw six major deals that strengthened the company’s priority therapeutic areas, including CV/metabolism, respiratory, inflammation, autoimmune and oncology: the acquisitions of Pearl Therapeutics, Omthera Pharmaceuticals, Amplimmune and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s interest in their diabetes alliance, plus licensing deals with Merck and Synairgen. “A very good performance in light of major obstacles,” the judges said.
R&D advances
The Best Technological Development in Clinical Trials (sponsored by MCT-Congress) which recognizes the fundamental importance of using the most sophisticated platforms to catalyze and optimize data gathered during clinical trials, went to CluePoints’ Risk-Based Monitoring in the Cloud. “A key development within the risk-based monitoring arena,” said the judges, this software-as-a-service central statistical monitoring solution was launched in the US and EU markets in May to provide a quality oversight and risk-based monitoring tool to determine the quality and integrity of clinical trial data. An industry first, the cloud-based platform puts sponsors in control of their own analyses for faster identification of any anomalies throughout the trial, and is aligned with current FDA and EMA recommendations.
Astellas took home the Clinical Advance of the Year (sponsored by Quintiles) trophy for its PREVAIL study of Xtandi (enzalutamide) in prostate cancer. The trial’s results have supported successful applications to extend the label of this triple-acting androgen receptor blocker to patients who are chemotherapy-naïve, marking a significant step forward in the treatment of this common cancer. The data allow prostate cancer patients to significantly delay the start of chemotherapy with a generally well tolerated and simple to use drug that improves their quality of life, and the judges remarked on this clear medical need in an increasingly large market.
“The clear winner” of the Best New Drug award (sponsored by INC Research), the judges said, was Gilead’s hepatitis C phenomenon Sovaldi (sofosbuvir). The first approval of Sovaldi, an oral nucleotide analog inhibitor of the HCV NS5B polymerase enzyme, in the US in late 2013 marked the beginning of a new era in hepatitis C treatment. In clinical studies, Sovaldi in combination with other agents achieved very high cure rates while shortening the duration of treatment to as little as 12 weeks and reducing or completely eliminating the need for interferon injections, depending on the viral genotype. Its sales surpassed $8.5bn in just the first three quarters this year.
Lifetime achievement
The evening culminated with Scrip’s Lifetime Achievement Award which was presented to Dr Stanley T Crooke, founder of Isis Pharmaceuticals.
Dr Crooke has led the R&D of more than 20 marketed drugs and scientific development of a whole new platform for drug discovery, antisense technology.
His early career was spent at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he created the first broad anticancer program in history, and later at SmithKline Beecham, where he responsible for worldwide R&D.
25 years ago he founded Isis Pharmaceuticals, where he conceived and implemented the scientific and business strategies that led to the invention of antisense, and brought to market the first two drugs based on this this disruptive platform technology: Vitravene (fomivirsen) and, more recently, Kynamro (mipomersen).
The company now has 31 first-in-class drugs in development, making it one of the most advanced in the biotech industry, and antisense technology has the promise to increase R&D productivity and help treat many chronic diseases worldwide.
2014 Scrip Awards winners
Lifetime Achievement: Dr Stanley T Crooke
Pharma Company of the Year (sponsored by PPD): Bayer HealthCare
Best New Drug (sponsored by INC Research): Gilead’s Sovaldi
Management Team of the Year: AstraZeneca’s business development operations team
Best Contract Research Organization (sponsored by Exco InTouch): Quintiles
Executive of the Year: Dr Darrin Disley
Biotech Company of the Year: Prosensa
Licensing Deal of the Year: AstraZeneca’s acquisition of Bristol Myers Squibb’s interests in their diabetes alliance
Clinical Advance of the Year (sponsored by Quintiles): Astellas’s PREVAIL study of Xtandi
Best Advance in an Emerging Market: Baxter’s Hemobrás agreement in Brazil
Financing Deal of the Year: Circassia’s initial public offering
Best Partnership Alliance: MedImmune and Immunocore’s oncology immunotherapy collaboration
Best Technological Development in Clinical Trials (sponsored by MCT-Congress): CluePoints’ Risk-Based Monitoring in the Cloud
Best Company in an Emerging Market: WuXi AppTec
For further information and/or an interview with Mike Ward, please contact: kirstin.stocker@informa.com
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