OBN Annual Awards 2015 Celebrates UK's Life Science's Champions

OXFORD, England, October 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

OBN are delighted to announce the winners of the OBN Annual Awards 2015 that were presented last night, Thursday 1^st October at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

The Awards, which are in their 7^th year, celebrate outstanding achievement in the UK life sciences sector and were attended by a sell-out audience of 150 leaders from Biotech, Medtech, Synbio and investor companies.

The UK's world-class life science industry saw some fantastic levels of growth in the past year which were reflected in the increased number of entries, the highest number to date.

Ross Sommerville, Interim CEO of OBN said: "The UK life sciences sector is crucial for developing leading edge treatments for patients and is a vital part of the UK economy.  Our Awards shine a light on the exciting and innovative achievements made throughout the past 15 months and in the long run will help maintain the industry's prime position and ensure continued investment for new and emerging products."

Award categories and winners: 

1. Best New UK Biotech Development Programme - kindly sponsored by PCI
   Winner: Summit Therapeutics - for the development of small molecule treatments for muscular dystrophy and the treatment of C.difficile infections (http://www.summitplc.com )
   
   
2. Best Emerging UK Biotech Company - kindly sponsored by J A Kemp
   Winner: Touchlight Genetics - for the development of an enzymatic means of synthesising DNA (http://www.touchlightgenetics.com )
   
   
3. Best Emerging UK Biotech Fundraiser - kindly sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank
   Winner: Adaptimmune - for securing funding for the development of modified T-cells carrying affinity enhanced TCRs to target specific cancers (http://www.adaptimmune.com )
   
   
4. Best UK Biotech Dealmaker - kindly sponsored by World Courier
   Winner: Heptares - for the deal with Japanese biopharmaceutical company Sosei in February 2015 and the continued focus on creating novel medicines targeting G protein-coupled receptors (http://www.heptares.com )
   
   
5. Best New UK Medtech Development Programme - kindly sponsored by Arthur J Gallagher
   Winner: Accentus Medical - for the development of surface technology designed to reduce the risk of post-operative infection associated with titanium implants (http://www.accentus-medical.com )
   
   
6. Best Emerging UK Medtech Company - kindly sponsored by James Cowper Kreston
   Winner: OxSonics - for developing and commercialising ground-breaking therapeutic ultrasound advancements (http://www.oxsonics.com )
   
   
7. Best Emerging UK Medtech Fundraiser - kindly sponsored by EY  
   Winner: Oxford Nanopore Technologies - for the development of electronic based systems for the analysis of DNA, RNA and protein (http://www.nanoporetech.com )
   
   
8. Best UK Medtech Dealmaker - kindly sponsored by The BioHub Birmingham
   Winner: Abingdon Health - for the acquisition of Molecular Vision Ltd, which underpins Abingdon's aim to create a leading Dx company (http://www.abingdonhealth.com)
   
   
9. Best Emerging UK SynBio Company - kindly sponsored by SynbiCITE
   Winner: Oxitec - for developing pioneering solutions to control insects that spread human disease and damage crops (http://www.oxitec.com )
   
   
10. Highest Impact Investor
    Winner: Woodford Patient Capital Trust - for the massive boost given to early stage companies through the volume of their investments (http://www.woodfordfunds.com )
    
    
11. Best Pharma BD&L Team - kindly sponsored by Premier Research
    Joint Winner: AstraZeneca - for a robust business strategy and partnerships that access the best in scientific developments (http://www.astrazeneca.co.uk)
    Joint Winner: Shire - for a range of acquisitions made to help improve their portfolio (http://www.shire.com ) 

 12. Best Public-Private Collaboration - kindly sponsored by Oxford AHSN
  Winner: Isansys & Birmingham Children's Hospital (http://www.isansys.com )

About the OBN Annual Awards 

The OBN Annual Awards, the UK's Independent Awards, celebrating outstanding achievements in the UK life sciences sector over the preceding year.  Attended by over 150 influential industry players it is the place to network and celebrate with the leading and emerging companies in the sector.

Independent Judging Panel 

• Andy Smith - Chief Investment Officer and Director, Mann BioInvest (UK)
• David Phillips - Partner, SR One  (UK)
• Deborah Harland - Partner, SR One (UK)
• Graeme Martin PhD - President and CEO, Takeda Ventures (USA)
• Graziano Seghezzi - Partner, Sofinnova Partners (France)
• Maina Bhaman - Director of Healthcare Investments, Imperial Innovations (UK)
• Margarita Chavez - Director, Ventures & Early Stage Collaboration, AbbVie (USA)
• Melanie Goward - Deputy Fund Manager, Finance Wales (UK)
• Dr Raman Minhas - Medical Director, Hygieia (UK)
• Tim Haines - Managing Partner, Abingworth (UK)

About OBN  

OBN is the Membership organisation supporting and bringing together the UK's emerging life sciences companies, corporate partners and investors. Our 370-plus member companies are located across the Golden Triangle and beyond to Nottingham, Manchester and Scotland and benefit from our networking, partnering, purchasing, advising and advocacy activities.  OBN is best known for its delivery of BioTrinity (April 25-27 2016), Europe's leading life sciences investment and biopartnering conference.

Further information about OBN's tailored networking and partnering events, purchasing consortium, advice, consultancy services and advocacy activities is available on OBN's website http://www.obn.org.uk.

For more information on:
Picture requests:  Stephen Barton, Communications Manager, OBN - +44(0)845-5049720 or Stephen.barton@obn.org.uk
Interview requests and more information: Jane O'Driscoll, OBN - +44(0)7808-724600 or jane.odriscoll@obn.org.uk
Sponsorship enquiries:  Neil Halliday, Associate Director of Sales, OBN - +44(0)0845-5049717 or neil.halliday@obn.org.uk