Created to recognise the most impressive business achievements from the Midlands’ thriving medical technology community, the MedilinkWM Medical Healthcare Awards are sponsored by Advantage West Midlands and supported by ADF Insurance. The Innovation award, sponsored by Chapman Molony, recognises businesses that have achieved exceptional research, innovation, business success, entrepreneurial flair and growth in the sector. The Binding Site will now go forward to the national Medilink UK Awards in February 2009.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Paul Duncan, Chief Executive Officer of The Binding Site, said: “This is a wonderful recognition of the hard work, vision and dedication of our team. We are very excited about going forward to the national awards and will hopefully prove that the best businesses and inventions come from the West Midlands. I think the region’s strong medical technology cluster has given us the right backing and a broad network so we have been able to access the support we need and it has played a big part in the success of The Binding Site so far."
Tony Davis, Chief Executive Office of MedilinkWM, said: “The Medical Healthcare Awards have been a spectacular celebration of the innovation and enterprise that is on show in the West Midlands and it is great to see so many successful companies taking part this year. The standard has been the highest ever, so it is an amazing achievement to win. It is a testament to the hard work, passion and innovation of companies in this sector that so many important technologies are represented here, many of which now enable medical staff to treat patients even more effectively - they really could help save lives.”
About MedilinkWM
MedilinkWM develops business networks for medical and healthcare companies, resulting in commercial ventures and business growth in the region. By bridging the gap between those who innovate and those who manufacture, MedilinkWM increases the viability of companies in the market through technology and knowledge transfer from Universities and the NHS. Sharing advance knowledge of academic and private research, clinical developments and industrial opportunities, MedilinkWM encourages businesses to develop new revenue streams and new products as well as helping diversification from other industries. Medilink West Midlands Ltd influences and guides public sector initiatives at regional and national level for the benefit of companies, and drives research and development by identifying potential markets for growth and new product commercialisation. Visit www.MedilinkWM.co.uk.
About The Binding Site
The Binding Site Ltd. is a British based company specialising in the research, development and production of immunodiagnostic kits and reagents. The Binding Site manufactures a wide range of high quality and innovative products used in clinical laboratories world-wide. The business is divided into three main areas:-
FreeliteTM, a novel and highly significant assay increasingly used for the diagnosis and monitoring of multiple myeloma (MM), a cancer of cells in the bone marrow. MM is the second most common blood cancer after non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Considered almost untreatable only 20 years ago, huge strides have been made in the successful treatment of multiple myeloma with new drugs becoming available and new treatment regimes being assessed. Freelite has been used as a sensitive marker for the efficacy of some of these newer treatments and has helped clinicians gain a clear understanding of how some of these drugs are benefiting their patients. Furthermore, with numerous different therapies now available, treatment decisions which may have taken weeks or months can now be made in days thanks to the availability of sensitive and reliable results using Freelite. National and International guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of multiple myeloma and associated cancers now include Freelite results as a requirement for monitoring the treatment of patients. Numerous clinical trials are underway to look at the use of Freelite in a range of other malignancies as well as how the results may radically change the management of complications such as renal disease in cancer patients. There are currently approximately 1.5 million Freelite tests performed per annum with the number of analyses increasing at a rate of approx. 50% p.a.
The diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from autoimmune diseases (caused when the body is unable to distinguish between foreign and self). Many common diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis are autoimmune in origin and The Binding Site manufactures a range of diagnostic assays and reagents used in hospital laboratories worldwide to help diagnose and monitor the treatment of these diseases, e.g. antiphospholipid syndrome, vasculitis and coeliac disease.
Products used for the detection of immunodeficiency. These include the inherited or acquired disorders of the immune system and products used in donor selection and manufacture of vaccines. The Binding Site has been and remains a market leader in products for the investigation of these diseases.
For more information please see www.bindingsite.co.uk.
FreeliteTM is a registered Trademark of The Binding Site Ltd., Birmingham, U.K.
