22. Pharma Trend Image & Innovation Award

The Pharma Awards "The Golden Tablet" and "The Most Innovative Product" have been presented for innovation and sustainability since 2000. The basis for the award and the ranking is the Pharma Trend market research, which was carried out this year among 1,400 doctors, pharmacists and patients. The award ceremony at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, under the patronage of Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek, was dominated this year by the topics of COVID-19 vaccination, diagnostics and treatment.

In cooperation with Bio^M, the network organization of the biotechnology industry in Munich and Bavaria, "The Most Innovative Product®" was awarded for the first time this year in the category of leap innovations. Applications were open to companies receiving funding in 2021 from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) or the Free State of Bavaria for the development of COVID-19 therapies.

Announcing the winners, Prof. Horst Domdey, CEO of Bio^M Biotech Cluster Development GmbH, emphasized, "Despite the availability of vaccines against COVID-19, the development of effective and safe therapeutics is of crucial importance. With the awards in the category leap innovations, the Munich Biotech Cluster once again impressively demonstrates its innovative clout."

The three award winners in the "leap innovations" category and their projects in detail:

1^st prize: Formycon

FYB207, an innovative SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing fusion protein

SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses infect cells by binding the viral S1 protein to human ACE2. Formycon has created an innovative long-acting ACE2 fusion protein (FYB207) that efficiently neutralizes SARS-CoV-2. Unlike vaccines and neutralizing antibodies, FYB207 retains its full antiviral potential even against rapidly spreading variants-of-concern. Thus, FYB207 is a promising antiviral drug candidate for the treatment of infections with current and future coronaviruses that use ACE2 as a receptor.

2^nd prize: Ethris

COVID-19 inhalation therapy with interferon lambda (IFN-λ) mRNA

Numerous SARS-CoV-2 mutations show the risk for "escape mutations" against which vaccines and therapeutic antibodies have limited efficacy. Ethris is developing ETH47, a therapeutic whose mechanism of action is independent of viral mutations. ETH47 is an inhaled mRNA therapeutic that contains the genetic blueprint for IFN-λ. It locally activates the patient’s innate immune system at the virus entry site and acts broadly against respiratory viruses. ETH47 is expected to help stop severe disease symptoms, thereby reducing hospitalizations and deaths.

3^rd prize: Pieris

Inhalable Anticalin® therapeutics for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 induced lung injury

A significant number of patients continue to suffer from severe lung function impairment after acute COVID-19 disease due to severe lung tissue damage. Pieris‘ project aims to treat such fibrotic lung tissue damage. The inhalable Anticalin® drug candidate PRS-220 binds with high affinity to the protein Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF). In parallel, PRS-220 is also being clinically developed for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

About the Pharma Trend Image & Innovation Award

Pharma Trend is the benchmark study on innovation and sustainability. The study has been conducted on behalf of PharmaBarometer magazine since 2000 in the Rx category and since 2018 also in the OTC, Orphan Drugs categories, and since 2019 additionally in the Specialty Care category. By surveying physicians, pharmacists and patients, it forms the basis for the awards "The Golden Tablet®" and "The Most Innovative Product®" as well as the ranking "Pharma Trend® Germany’s Best Pharmaceutical Companies. In 2021, the study was expanded to include the categories "Diagnostics" and "Digital Health.

About Eurecon Verlag

Based in Starnberg just south of Munich, the Eurecon publishing house has been conducting the Pharma Trend market research annually since 2000. The survey independently measures the innovativeness and sustainability of pharmaceutical companies from the perspective of the users – Germany’s physicians, pharmacists and patients. The winners of the awards for the most innovative drugs and pharmaceutical companies are announced at the awards ceremony “Pharma Trend Image & Innovation Award”, also known as the ‘Pharma Oscars’. The award categories include the discipline-specific “Golden Tablet” and “Most Innovative Product” awards, as well as the “Pharma Trend® Best Pharmaceutical Company” award, which refers to all specialist disciplines jointly. The awards and rankings, as well as the underlying reasons, are communicated via Eurecon’s online media.

The awards were initiated by biochemist Dr. Dieter Jung, the Managing Director of Eurecon and Editor of PharmaBarometer – the online journal for innovation and sustainability. With a tight-knit team and highly digitalised processes, the publishing house offers extremely flexible service.

About Bio^M

Bio^M is the central network organization for the biotechnology sector in Munich and Bavaria, commissioned by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs. As a non-profit organization, Bio^M supports the biotech community with its extensive network in a variety of ways. The cluster management acts as a centralized access point to connect Bavarian life science companies with relevant national and international partners.

Bio^M supports Bavarian biotech companies at every stage of setting up their business. For this, Bio^M has developed a unique support program, tailor-made for aspiring start-ups and entrepreneurs in the life sciences sector – the virtual incubator Bio^M inQlab. In total, Bio^M has supported more than 200 start-up companies over the last 20 years.

In addition, Bio^M offers a variety of workshops and training courses on industry-specific topics.

Press contact Eurecon Verlag
Organiser:
Eurecon Verlag GmbH
Münchner Straße 15a
82319 Starnberg
phone: +49 8151 / 90 98 01
email: impressum7@eurecon.de
https://eurecon.de/en/

Press contact Bio^M
Bio^M Biotech Cluster Development GmbH
Gabriele Klingner
Head of Communications
Am Klopferspitz 19a (IZB West II)
82152 Martinsried
phone: +49 89 / 89 96 79 -15
email: klingner@bio-m.org
www.bio-m.org

Contact for press inquiries:
Isabel Becker
Dorothea Küsters Life Science Communications GmbH
Falkstraße 5
60487 Frankfurt am Main
phone: +49 69 / 61 998-14
email: Isabel.Becker@dkcommunications.de
Footage of the event is available upon request and free of charge. Specimen copy requested.