The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7246 p565
26 April 2003

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Drug companies win Queen's Awards

Pharmaceutical companies are among the winners of this year's Queen's Awards for Enterprise.

Pfizer was given an award for international trade. Dr Olivier Brandicourt, managing director, commented: "It is an acknowledgement of the substantial contribution Pfizer makes to the UK economy, in which we have made a capital investment of more than £1bn since 1998. This illustrates our commitment to the UK, and the fact that it remains Europe's most favourable environment for research and development-based industry."

Controlled Therapeutics Ltd won an innovation award for the development of Cervidil, a sustained-release product. Cervidil uses a hydrogel polymer matrix developed at Strathclyde University to control the delivery of the cervical ripening agent dinoprostone. Cervidil is available in the United States and Canada.

Other pharmaceutical companies to win awards include: Cyton Biosciences Ltd (international trade); Penn Pharmaceutical Services Ltd (international trade); Vitabiotics Ltd (international trade); Orion Clinical Services (international trade); Oxford Instruments Superconductivity Ltd (innovation); and Tripos Receptor Research (innovation).