Novartis Korea Wins ‘2010 Golden World Award’ by IPRA for First Time in the Pharma Industry in Korea

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Han-Sang Lee, Consultant of Macoll Communication Consulting, Byung-Hee Ahn, Head of Communications of Novartis Korea, Sue-Jin Shin, Product manager of Novartis, are awarded the ‘2010 IPRA Golden World Award’ in corporate responsibility on November 5 (from the left side)

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA--(Marketwire - November 17, 2010) -

• Novartis Korea received ‘2010 Golden World Award’ in corporate responsibility for its ‘Organ Donation and Life-sharing Campaign’ at IPRA award presentation ceremony recently held in London.
• It attracted attention as the first pharma company in Korea and the sole Korean company that was honored by the award this year.

Novartis Korea Limited (President: Peter Jager) announced that the company won the ‘2010 Golden World Award’ (GWA) in corporate responsibility for its ‘Organ Donation and Life-sharing Campaign’ at IPRA’s 2010 Gold World Awards presentation ceremony recently held in London, UK. Macoll Communication Consulting (President: Yun-Hee Lee) was co-awarded with Novartis Korea as its partner communication consulting agency for the campaign.

It is noteworthy that Novartis Korea became the first pharmaceutical company in Korea to win IPRA’s ‘Golden World Award’ for GWA history of 19 years and be the sole Korean company that was honored this year by the ‘2010 Golden World Award’ as presented by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA). IPRA’s Golden World Awards program is reputed as one of the most prestigious awards in the international public relations industry.

Out of 352 entries submitted from 42 countries, a total of 26 award-winning programs in 30 categories were selected as IPRA’s ‘2010 Golden World Award’ winners and awarded at the award presentation ceremony recently held in London where IPRA officials and PR experts from around world were in attendance.

Commenting on receiving the award, Byung-Hee Ahn, Head of Communications, Novartis Korea, who attended the awards ceremony on the behalf of the company, said, “We are very pleased that the campaign has helped to build organ donation culture in Korea. Moreover, we are very happy to be honored by the ‘Golden World Award’ for the campaign.”

Starting with the ‘Himalayan Expedition Team of Life-shared People’ in which organ donors and recipients climbed up the Island Peak of Himalayas in 2008 for the first time in the world, the awarded Organ Donation and Life-sharing Campaign has continued to conduct a series of unique projects aimed at establishing organ donation culture in Korea in collaboration with various 3rd party organizations, including Seoul National University Hospital, Korean Organ Transplantation Center in Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Angel-in-us Coffee, and Park Young-Seok Exploration and Culture Foundation.

Currently, Novartis Korea is carrying out the ‘Relay of Organ Donation and Life-sharing’ program jointly with the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Forum (chaired by National Assembly members Jeon Hyun-Hee and Kim Sang-Hee) and Korea Society for Transplantation (Chairman: Jo Won-Hyeon, MD), in which many celebrities from various fields have participated, including Rep. Jeon Hyeon-Hee of Democratic Party, alpinist Park Young-Seok, film director Lee Jeong-Beom of ‘Uncle,’ actress Yun Son-Ha and actress Kim Sa-Rang.

Dr. Peter Jager, President of Novartis Korea, said, “Organ donation is a social issue not only in Korea but also in the world. I hope that the ‘Golden World Award’ conferred to the organ donation campaign will serve as a turning point of building organ donation culture in Korean society.”

The ‘Organ Donation and Life-sharing Campaign’ was initiated by Novartis Korea as one of its corporate social responsibility programs in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Sandimmun (ingredient: cyclosporine) launch that laid a milestone in the history of immunosuppressants and in invigorating organ transplantation.