Meningitec (meningitis C vaccine, Wyeth) and Viagra (sildenafil, Pfizer) have shared this year's United Kingdom Prix Galien for innovative pharmaceutical products, it was announced on November 23.
In making the awards, the panel of judges said that since the national immunisation campaign against meningitis C had started in November, 1999, the number of reported cases had dropped by 85 per cent. The speed with which Meningitec had been developed was also praised.
Commenting on Viagra, Professor Sir Michael Rawlins (chairman, National Institute for Clinical Excellence and chairman of the judging panel) said that the fact that the product had launched a thousand jokes should not detract from its benefits. As well as being an effective treatment, it had brought men's health in general, and impotence in particular, out of the closet.