We’re honored to have recently received both the Prix Galien USA and The Wall Street Journal’s Innovative Technology awards. These awards represent the culmination of our team’s commitment to great science and to helping people who are suffering from difficult to treat diseases, including hepatitis C and cystic fibrosis (CF).
Here’s a little more about the awards and why Vertex was chosen:
The Prix Galien USA
The Galien Foundation is a non-profit group that “fosters, recognizes and rewards excellence in scientific innovation to improve the state of human health.” Each year the foundation gives Prix Galien USA Awards in three categories – best pharmaceutical agent, best biotechnology product and best medical technology approved by the FDA in the past five years. The awards are given to “products or agents that improve the human condition.” This prestigious award is considered one of the industry’s top accolades and is also awarded in multiple countries around the world. Vertex received the award for our work in hepatitis C, which began in 1993 with our scientists in our Cambridge, MA headquarters.
The Wall Street Journal’s Innovative Technology Awards
More than 500 submissions from 24 countries were considered this year for The Wall Street Journal’s Innovative Technology Awards. After reviewing the entries, Journal editors and reporters sent the top 172 to an independent team of judges from venture-capital firms, universities and companies to select the winners. The judges considered several criteria as they determined the winners and runners-up, including:
- Does the innovation break with conventional process in its field?
- Does it go beyond marginal improvement?
- Will it have a wide impact?
Winners were named across 18 categories, ranging from consumer electronics to transportation to medicine and biotech. This was the first time Vertex received this recognition from The Wall Street Journal, and we join the ranks of companies like Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Abbott Laboratories. The award reflects our team’s commitment for more than decade to develop new medicines for CF – a project that began with our team of scientists at our San Diego research and development site.