OBN Awards 2017 - Winners Recognised at Industry Leading Event

ABINGDON, England, October 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

OBN (UK) Ltd, the membership organisation that supports the life sciences industry, are delighted to announce the winners of the prestigious OBN Awards 2017 that were presented last night in front of a sold-out audience of over 250 life science industry leaders at the Town Hall in Oxford.

The Awards, which are in their 9th year, celebrate the best of UK life sciences - from outstanding scientific innovation within biotech, medtech, digital, synthetic biology, to the companies that support the industry and the fundraisers that make it happen.

John Harris, CEO of OBN , said: "We received an outstanding number of entries this year; up a staggering 120% on last year, so competition was really tough. All of our winners and nominees this year are truly innovative and set a great example to the rest of the industry. We would like to thank all of our sponsors and supporters for helping make the awards a success, which acts as a reflection of how buoyant and supportive the industry is today."

The winners are:

Award one: Best Start-up Biotech, Kindly sponsored by EY

Winner - Microbiotica

For their work in transforming personalised medicine with microbiome science

Award two: Best Emerging Biotech, Kindly sponsored by Covance

Winner - Exscientia

For applying AI and big data processing to accelerate drug discovery and development

Award three: Best Established Biotech, Kindly sponsored by Penningtons Manches

Winner - PsiOxus Therapeutics

For realising the potential of immuno-oncolytic viruses for treatment of solid tumours

Award four: Best Contract Research Organisation; kindly sponsored by Ipsen Bioinnovation

Winner - Sygnature Discovery

For their work in supporting the acceleration of the discovery of new medicines from the laboratory into development to treat patients with a range of debilitating and fatal diseases

Award five: Highest Impact Investor, Kindly sponsored by MEPC Milton Park

Winner - Innovate UK

For the pump priming, support and leverage they have provided to companies in the life sciences industry over the past year

Award six: Best UK Life Sciences Incubator, Kindly sponsored by Precision Oncology

Winner - BioHub at Alderley Park

For their outstanding work as the epicentre for life science technology in the North West

Award seven: Best Start-up Medtech, Kindly sponsored by Premier Research

Winner - Oxford Endovascular

For creating novel 'origami-like' stents with improved performance and lower patient risk for treatment of intracranial aneurysms

Award eight: Best Emerging Medtech, Kindly sponsored by Team Consulting

Winner - Perspectum Diagnostics

For commercialising LiverMultiScan, a non-invasive medical imaging software tool which enhances the effectiveness of the diagnostic pathway for patients with chronic liver disease

Award nine: Best Synthetic Biology Company, Kindly sponsored and judged exclusively by SynbiCITE

Winner - Synpromics

For enabling safer, more effective cell and gene medicines through proprietary genomics, bioinformatics and intelligent data driven design

Award ten: Best Implementation of Digital Healthcare, Kindly sponsored by James Cowper Kreston

Winner - Adherium

For providing smart personal medication monitoring systems to help patients manage their chronic respiratory conditions

Award eleven: Best Public-Private Collaboration, Kindly sponsored by Oxford AHSN

Winner - The University of Oxford, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Drayson Technologies

For signing a strategic research agreement to evaluate, develop and commercialise digital health applications including GDm-Health for the management of gestational diabetes.

Award twelve: Outstanding Achievement Award, Kindly sponsored by Lloyds Bank & N+1 Singer

Winner - BioHub at Alderley Park

For embodying the criteria of this award by overcoming challenges, thinking more innovatively and simply working hard to succeed.

Award thirteen: Special Recognition Award 

Winner - Julian Golec

For his long service to the life sciences industry

About the OBN Annual Awards - www.obn-awards.com  

The OBN Awards, now in its 9th year, celebrate innovation and achievement across the UK life sciences Industry. We are proud that the awards remain independent with categories that cover Biotech, Medtech, Synthetic Biology and Digital Health and recognise achievements from emerging to late stage R&D companies to large pharma and life sciences investors.

OBN Awards 2017 Independent Judging Panel 

Dara Henry - VP of Operations & Business Development, Achilles Therapeutics

Bryan Morton - Executive Chair - EUSA Pharma & VH2

Sue Charles - Managing Partner - Instinctif Partners

Ewa Truchanowicz - Business Engagement Manager - The BioHub Birmingham

Alan O'Connell - Partner - Seroba Life Sciences

John Chaddock - Vice President - Neurology, Site Head - Ipsen

Bill Fleming - CFO - Oxitec

Caroline Barelle - CFO - Elasmogen

Anton Hutter - Partner & Patent Attorney - Venner Shipley

Carolyn Porter - Deputy Head of Technology Transfer - OUI

About OBN - www.obn.org.uk  

OBN is the Membership organisation supporting and bringing together the UK's emerging life sciences companies, corporate partners and investors. Our 400 member companies are located across the Golden Triangle and beyond to, Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester, the North East and Scotland, all benefit from our networking, partnering, purchasing, advising and advocacy activities.  

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

Contacts:  

Event enquiries and picture requests: 

Jane O'Driscoll, Head of Events, OBN - Email: jane.odriscoll@obn.org.uk

Media enquiries: 

Sylvie Berrebi, Director, Citigate Dewe Rogerson - Email: Sylvie.berrebi@citigatedr.co.uk