Fourteen categories celebrate pharma innovation across supply chain and spotlight leaders driving excellence

CPHI announces the winners of the prestigious 2024 CPHI Pharma Awards. Once again, these recognise outstanding achievements and contributions made within the global pharma industry, across 14 wide-ranging categories, including two new ones: Future Leader and Woman of the Year.

In the new Future Leader category, it was Megan Smyth who was seen as a true rising star, reinforced by the fact she had risen through five levels in her seven years at Almac Sciences. Furthermore, in 2022, Megan’s talent was recognised with the award of a highly competitive UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship. Megan has built an innovative flow chemistry platform at Almac and there is a clear strategic alignment between her career intentions and the future requirement for leadership within the company.

Julia Tsetis was recognised as the first CPHI Woman of the Year. Not only is she a dynamic and successful CEO, she is also one of the few women CEOs in Greece who was the Fortune Greece’s powerful women of the year. Her unwavering commitment to innovation, sustainability, and social responsibility has propelled her to the forefront of the pharma industry. In her role as CEO of the OFET Pharmaceutical Group she is regarded as a true visionary and trailblazer in the pharmaceutical industry and has left an indelible mark on the global healthcare landscape.

This year’s CEO of the Year Award goes to Guy Clark CEO of CNX Therapeutics. Since Guy joined in 2022, CNX has grown significantly under his leadership. He led its transformation from a single-product loss-making, non-core business unit into a standalone entity with £50m in revenues and a portfolio of over 20 products sold in over 50 countries worldwide. In the last 12 months, Guy has overseen three acquisitions, three in-licensing deals and securing debt financing to support further growth.

In the 2024 API Development and Innovation category, the judges selected Lonza for its AI-Enabled Route Scouting Service. This crystalizes the company’s advanced, data-driven approach to retrosynthetic analysis for designing optimal synthesis routes for small molecule APIs. It uses AI-enabled predictive tools that combine theoretical retrosynthesis with supply chain intelligence to identify commercially viable routes.

Moving on to Drug Delivery and Device Innovation, an effective treatment for tremors and other uncontrolled body movements associated with certain neurological conditions developed by Adare Pharma Solutions was the stand-out entry. Based on an innovative sprinkle formulation it is a game-changer for patients who struggle to take capsules due to hand tremors or difficulty in swallowing as it can be easily mixed into soft foods or liquids.

An innovative way of delivering medication in the form of a straw that dissolves in drinking water or beverages caught the eye of the judges among the Finished Formulation entries. Unistraw’s UniLayer Straw Delivery System 2mg Loperamide HCl straw delivers the medication in a way that enhances compliance and eliminates the potential for misuse. It uses plant sourced and fully compostable polymer straws which offer a sustainable solution in an industry that has a reputation for overuse of plastics and packaging.

In the Manufacturing Excellence category the world’s first continuous freeze-drying system that allows aseptic GMP production of biopharmaceuticals was awarded top marks. The RheaLyo™️ GMP-Flex continuous freeze-dryer +1 2 from RheaVita allows drugs to come to market faster, enables companies to make significant savings and has the potential for a superior drug product quality to be obtained.

The judges recognised the Cere®Screen Digital Display Label from Smurfit WestRock for its contribution to improving Packaging and Machinery as it seamlessly integrates digital screens into clinical trial investigational medicinal product packaging, ushering in a new era of information-rich labelling. The screen allows for multiple pages and contains all required label content, including QR codes and other information. In addition, the labels can be customized to suit the specific needs of the trial, including support for multiple languages.

In the Regulatory and Compliance category, Prodigy from ProPharma Group was judged to be the best entry. Prodigy comprises a suite of AI and advanced automation applications that solve productivity challenges that can cause delays and incur costs throughout the pharmaceutical and medical device development lifecycle. It effectively removes delays, de-risks program delivery, shortens time-to-insight and enhances the overall medicinal value of its clients’ assets.

The innovation shown by Acu-Flo Ltd, developing a new category of nebulisers to overcome challenges in the respiratory drug delivery received the Start-Up Initiative Award. Acu-Flow Ltd (trading and Nebu-Flow®) developed the Nebu~Flow® nebuliser platform which overcomes technical limitations of current technologies by generating a soft aerosol, with high inhalable fraction (>90%), which can aerosolise biological formulation, such as RNA.

When it came to Supply Chain Excellence, it was QYOBO GmbH who scooped the top Award for a platform that provides crucial insights into global supply chains to help companies identify, manage, and anticipate supply risks. With data from over 250 sources, QYOBO offers a comprehensive view of supply chains for over two million drugs in over 40 countries, enabling quick, informed actions to mitigate risks and prevent drug shortages.

Under the Sustainability Award banner it was Evonik Industries AG who came out on top for their PhytoSquene® plant-based squalene for parenteral applications. This is the first plant-derived, GMP-quality squalene. Pharmaceutical-grade squalene is currently sourced from shark liver oil, which depletes shark populations and negatively impacts marine biodiversity, whereas PhytoSquene® is made from amaranth oil from the herbaceous plant Amaranthus caudatus, which can be grown as a renewable feedstock in many regions of the world.

West Pharmaceutical Services was judged to be recognised as being the Heart of Pharma for its collaboration with the Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC), an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, in the delivery of cancer screenings to residents of Pennsylvania via a mobile screening unit (MSU). The MSU is considered a best practice as it eliminates structural barriers or obstacles that make it difficult for people to access cancer screenings.

Last, but certainly not least, AustinPx were called to the stage to receive the Accelerating Innovation Award for its KinetiSol™ Technology. This is a revolutionary, fusion-based, solvent-free process designed to address the increasing challenge of poor drug solubility in the pharmaceutical industry. As new molecules emerge with complex properties, traditional formulation methods struggle to meet the demand for effective drug absorption. KinetiSol disrupts the status quo by rapidly converting crystalline drugs into amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs), significantly enhancing bioavailability.

Tara Dougal, Brand and Content Director at Informa Markets commented, “CPHI continues to drive the future of pharma by creating a platform where innovation thrives, and the brightest minds can exchange ideas and form impactful partnerships that elevate the entire pharmaceutical industry. I am thrilled to congratulate the winners of 2024 CPHI Pharma Awards, with special recognition to those honoured in our new categories, the Future Leader Award and Start-up Initiative Award. These trailblazers are not just advancing drug discovery and delivery but inspiring the next wave of innovation and leadership in pharma. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated and to our esteemed jury, whose insights have helped spotlight the very best our industry has to offer”.