Winners Recognised at the Life Sciences Industry Leading Awards
OBN (UK) Ltd., the not-for-profit membership organisation that catalyses growth for the life sciences industry, announced the winners of their 2022 OBN Awards, presented at the Royal Lancaster, London, on Thursday 17 November.
The Awards, which are in their 14th year, shine a light on companies at all stages of development, recognising inspirational leadership, exciting innovation, and novel approaches to unmet clinical need, outstanding company progression and the delivery of real-life tangible results.
This year Oxford Technology Park sponsored the Best Emerging Medtech Company Award.
Entrants into this category were asked to provide insight into their novel technology or approach, and clearly demonstrate how and why it is different, and the positive impact it is beginning to have on patients. The winner had to be able to show proof on continued fundraising, evidence of a strong team in place, be developing partnerships and collaborations, early trial activity, EDI strategy in place and evidence of strong news flow.
The three finalists for the award were:
Angus Bates, director and developer of Oxford Technology Park, presented the award on the evening, which went to Panakeia Technologies.
Angus, said:
“The judges were incredibly impressed by this compelling venture, and the strong progress made at an accelerated rate. They have strong news flow and impressive validation, with their AI-driven software looking set to have huge potential to genuinely improve diagnosis and treatment – and look set to have a big impact on patients.”
Born from both founders’ personal experiences of delays in cancer diagnosis, Panakeia’s software provides 4,500 multi-omic cancer biomarkers in minutes, without need for lab tests.
Stuart Rose, CEO of OBN, said:
“The life sciences industry worldwide is facing some tough headwinds, but it is exactly times like these when real innovation and great management teams shine. Tonight has shown us just how vibrant and world-class UK healthcare innovation is. This year has seen not only the largest number of entrants in our 14-year history but also the quality has been extremely high, making the final judging no easy task. Congratulations go to all the finalists and winners of the 2022 OBN Awards”
Other winners include:
Best Start-up Biotech Company, kindly sponsored by Partners&
Winner – Alevin Therapeutics, a spinout drug discovery company from the University of Nottingham on a mission to develop safe and effective medicines for patients with life-threatening fibrotic diseases through targeted integrin therapies.
Best Emerging Biotech Company, kindly sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Winner – Quell Therapeutics, developing engineered T-regulatory (Treg) cell therapies to address serious medical conditions driven by the immune system.
Best Start-up Medtech Company, kindly sponsored by Penningtons Manches Cooper
Winner – Microplate Dx, specialise in rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing diagnostics, enabling clinicians, at the point-of-care, to confidently select the best choice of antibiotic to treat a patient’s infection.
Most Transformative Digital Healthcare Company, kindly sponsored by Precision for Medicine
Winner – ieso Digital Health, a data-driven AI mental healthcare company inventing next-generation digital therapeutics.
Most Impactful Business Support Organisation, kindly sponsored by EBD
Winner – LifeArc, a medical research charity specialising in early-stage translation, advancing lab-based scientific discoveries to a point at which they can be developed into the next generation of diagnostics and treatments.
The BioSeed ‘One to Watch’ – Therapeutics, kindly sponsored by EY
Winner – Halo Therapeutics, develop safe, self-administered pan-coronavirus antivirals to combat COVID-1.
The BioSeed ‘One to Watch’ – Medtech, kindly sponsored by EY
Winner – Microplate Dx, specialises in rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing diagnostics, enabling clinicians, at the point-of-care, to confidently select the best choice of antibiotic to treat a patient’s infection.
Best CRO, kindly sponsored by Citeline (formerly Pharma Intelligence)
Winner – RSSL, a cutting edge CRO, committed to transforming lives through science, innovation, and collaboration, working hand in hand with clients to scope, develop and manufacture innovative drug products.
Most Impactful UK Deal
Winner – RQ Biotechnology for their deal with AstraZeneca, LifeArc provided critical startup funding and drug discovery expertise to RQ Bio to help them deliver a set of best-in-class COVID-19 antibody candidates during the pandemic. In less than 12 months, RQ Bio signed a landmark license agreement with AstraZeneca to develop, manufacture and commercialise promising early-stage mAbs against SARS-CoV-2.
Best Established Biotech Company, kindly sponsored by Precision Biosearch
Winner – Bicycle Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering a new and differentiated class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle®) technology.
Special Recognition, kindly sponsored by Milton Park
Winner – Chris Molloy, in recognition of his advocacy for life science innovators during his tenure as CEO of the Medicines Discovery Catapult, the independent, not-for-profit R&D provider that has reshaped UK drug discovery for patient benefit in the UK.
