Leading innovative companies nominated for prestigious life sciences award

Three ambitious life sciences companies from Lanarkshire and the West of Scotland have been shortlisted for a prestigious Scottish Enterprise Life Sciences Award 2010.

East Kilbride-based, NiTech Solutions Ltd, Motherwell-based MSD and Vascutek Ltd from Renfewshire have been nominated for the prized Innovation Award which recognises the most innovative life sciences companies in Scotland that have created an innovative technology, product or service which has led to commercial success.

The winners of the 2010 awards will be announced at the Scottish Enterprise Life Sciences Annual Dinner at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on 4th February.

NiTech’s proprietary mixing technology helps companies within the process industries to reduce manufacturing costs and improve product quality. Its innovative patent protected baffled reactor has been adopted by Genzyme, one of the world’s leading biotech companies and it has begun to exploit its technology in other biotech areas including nutraceuticals.

MSD’s innovative, Sugammadex has been hailed as potentially the greatest advance in neuromuscular pharmacology in the past 20 years.  The product allows anesthesiologists to reverse both moderate and deep muscle relaxation giving greater control of muscle relaxation during surgery and potentially improving surgical conditions.

Vascutek’s BioValsalva™ is the world’s first pre-assembled combination of biological heart valve and vascular graft.  The device provides a biological substitute for current mechanical prostheses that require patients to take lifelong anticoagulants. It has been approved for use in 42 countries and generated several million pounds of revenue for the Scottish economy.

 Rhona Allison, senior director of Life Sciences at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Congratulations to all of the companies who have made it onto the shortlist – they have done tremendously well to make it to this stage. We always expect a high standard of entries for the Life Sciences Awards and this year has been no different.  I understand from the judges that the quality of entries has again been incredibly high and built on the impressive standards set last year.”

“These Awards are a real chance for us to recognise and reward Scotland’s life sciences top innovations and entrepreneurial performers and have become an increasingly important event in the industry’s business calendar.  I’m looking forward to the awards themselves which will, once again, showcase Scotland’s achievements, successes and outstanding talent.”

The keynote speaker at this year’s dinner will be Dr Rod MacKenzie, senior vice president and head of world wide research for Pfizer Inc.and the event will be attended by industry both national and international, academia, the Scottish Government as well as funding specialists who continue to carefully track the undeniable innovation and dynamism of the sector.

The Scottish Enterprise Annual Life Sciences Dinner attracts more than 750 people from the life sciences community in the UK and abroad to celebrate Scotland’s most innovative companies.