Excellence Awards 2022: the winners

Below you can find all the winners from the 2022 Excellence Awards which celebrate the greatest achievements and innovations in the industry. The programme provides a platform to recognise the people and companies that are driving change.

Our programme is designed to highlight excellence within the sector by looking at a range of corporate activities including deals, business projects and company initiatives, both internal and in the community.

Business Expansion is one of our largest categories and looks at the core functions of business operations within the sector.

This consists of any projects that have expanded the company’s footprint in the sector, including: contract wins; launching in new territories; launching new product lines; the acquisition and expansion of facilities and real estate; acquisition of new machinery or other assets; improved logistics; partnerships; and significant staff increases.

PathAI is the winner of the Business Expansion category due to the success of its new solution that targets the high costs for site activation and enrolment barriers which is beneficial to consumers and drives competition in the industry.

Developed jointly with Summit Clinical the solution focuses on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) drug developers. Summit Clinical has been chosen by the team at PathAI because of their expertise in NASH drug development and trial implementation.

Shortlist

• Advarra
• Allucent
• Deep Lens
• Lokavant
• PathAI
• Southern Oncology
• THREAD
• TriNetX

Diversity is a subject that should be at the forefront of every modern company’s recruitment strategy and should not be considered as simply an exercise in virtue signalling. The more diverse a workforce, the more representative it is of wider society, which brings clear benefits to any corporation attempting to gain greater insight into the views of its customer base. In addition, more diverse companies have greater appeal to candidates in the jobs market, increasing a company’s chances of hiring the best talent.

In this category we consider any internal company project to improve diversity in the workforce, this can include changes to hiring policies; graduate and apprenticeship schemes; work groups and societies; and subconscious bias training. In addition we look at external company policies and practices aimed at making their products and services more accessible and inclusive.

DataRobot is the winner in our Diversity category due to the company’s use of AI to ensure participants in COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials were representative of the entire US population.

Historically lack of diversity in the clinical trials industry has made it difficult to ensure drug safety and effectiveness.

Shortlist

• ConcertAI
• DataRobot
• Janssen

Financing recognises companies and institutions that have raised significant capital during the research period whether it be through corporate finance, the capital markets or fund raising.

This includes any significant raising of finance by a company within the sector, this can include corporate lending, funding rounds and equity and debt capital markets issues including share offers and bond issues. We will be specifically looking at high value deals; novel structures; and companies using (for them) new forms of financing such as high-yield bonds.

CMR Surgical is the winner in our Financing category due to its financing strategy which has raised the valuation of the company to $3bn. Specifically, the medtech brand has been raising funding to support its innovations in the field of robotic surgery.

Shortlist

• 4G Clinical
• Adastra
• CMR Surgical
• Duke Institute
• Florence
• Reify Health
• Stemirna Therapeutics

Innovation is the category with one of the widest scopes within the Excellence Rankings as it looks at novel new approaches in every area, from the fruits of research and development to novel new business practices. What all the ranked entities have in common is the demonstration of new concepts not just within their own business but in the sector as a whole.

The category includes any projects that demonstrate an innovative approach to the market. The category crosses over with many of our other categories and can include new products, novel product features, new business practices, new marketing and sales strategies and more.

Exscientia is the winner in our Innovation category due to its ground-breaking research which led to it conducting a world-first trial of an AI-designed immuno-oncology drug.

Exscientia used its AI-powered drug discovery platform, Centaur Chemist, in the trial, which was jointly conducted with Evotec. Evotec was selected as a partner for its experience in advanced solid tumours trials.

Shortlist

• Boehringer Ingelheim
• Exscientia
• Lilly
• Pharmaxis

The Investments category looks at any significant financial investments into a company or its assets, specifically those investments that facilitate expansion of a company’s operations. This can be an investment by the company itself into its operations or by an outside investor be that another company, financial institution, private equity or venture capital firm.

Milltrust Ventures is the winner in our Investments category due to notable projects such as its investment in a novel health tech platform called Oncoshot. The collaboration is significant because it improves communication between top regional healthcare institutes and contract research organisations.

Shortlist

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Milltrust Ventures
• National Institutes of Health

This category includes organisations that have expanded their business operations by entering into significant mergers and acquisitions deals within the sector.

The category specifically looks at the acquisitions of whole businesses or stakes rather than asset transactions and deals must have been closed during the research period.

CSL is the winner in our M&A category following its acquisition of Vifor for $11.7bn, the largest acquisition in the biopharma sector during the research period. With this acquisition CSL will diversify its product portfolio, which up until now was heavily centred around vaccines and blood plasma products.

Shortlist

• AbbVie
• Amgen
• AstraZeneca
• Bristol-Myers Squibb
• CSL
• Grifols
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan/AustralianSuper
• Medtronic
• Novartis
• Novo Nordisk
• Perrigo Co
• Pfizer
• Samsung Biologics
• Sanofi
• Triley Bidco
• UCB

The Product Launches category recognises companies that have launched notable new products or services into the market. This can include physical products, software as well as the launch of services and concepts.

We are specifically looking at novelty, including companies launching products into new areas or innovation in the product’s design, manufacture or marketing.

Medidata is the winner in the Product Launches category due to the launch of its unified and end-to-end DCT solution, customisable for any level of decentralisation. This makes the solution suitable for a wide variety of Clinical Research Organisations. The platform is also notable for its patient centric approach.

Shortlist

• Castor
• Clarify Health
• Crucial Data Solutions
• eResearch Technology
• Formedix
• Kinsa Health
• Lodo Therapeutics
• Medidata

This category includes organisations that have demonstrated a commitment to the research and development of new products and/or new processes. This can include discovering or creating a unique material, transferring a research or technology development to practice, improving the performance of an existing product or creating a new simulation or design tools.

The category also includes companies that have made significant investments into their R&D processes.

Medable is the winner in our Research and Development category, following the successful incorporation of Seqster technology into its decentralised trial platform. Seqster’s patient data streams will facilitate Mediable’s patient recruitment and patient interaction process making its platform more patient-centric and interoperable.

Shortlist

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Medable
• THREAD

The Safety category includes companies and institutions that have demonstrated best practice in health and safety including compliance to standards and any initiatives taken to improve workplace safety through the introduction of new guidelines, policies or equipment.

It also includes projects and initiatives by companies to improve health and safety in other public environments other than their own workspaces.

Merck is the winner in the Safety category due to the development of the company’s oral treatment for COVID-19, which was co-developed in partnership with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. The drug was the first oral treatment to be approved by the UK watchdog.

Shortlist

• AstraZeneca
• Jubilant
• Sanofi
• BioNTech
• Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Merck
• Pfizer
• Provention Bio
• Ridgeback
• Skymount Medical

The Social category includes companies and institutions that have undertaken projects that have had a tangible positive impact on the communities where they operate. This can include anything from charity initiatives; sponsorship; community outreach; local business support and education initiatives.

Health2047 is the winner in the Social category due to its project to spin-out a company alongside SiteBridge Research to improve clinical trial access in small and community physician practices.

Shortlist

• Health2047
• Inspirata
• Thread