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| Entering the Awards introduces innovators to a valuable support network, and can provide the critical endorsement and publicity necessary to help secure investor financing as well as clinical and commercial contacts. |
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| Cheap Portable DNA Diagnostic Method for Point of Care |
| Dr Niall Armes, ASM Scientific Limited, Cambridge |
| Winner of the MRC Award for Best Biomedical Research Innovation |
 This team have developed a revolutionary DNA technology to diagnose serious diseases such as MRSA, influenza and TB.
ASM’s new technology is not dependant on this instrumentation and can be readily configured into products for use by a broad spectrum of healthcare professionals, and perhaps even for home use.
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| iQur - Personalised Diagnostics & Therapeutics for Hepatitis C |
| William Rosenberg, Professor of Hepatology, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Winner of the Department of Health Award for Best National Health Innovation |
 iQur (formerly HepCgen) has developed a Hepatitis genotyping service, that can revolutionise the cost effectiveness of treatment for Hepatitis C & Hepatitis B. The test, which is rapid and accurate, can differentiate the different types of hepatitis, and enables clinicians to tailor treatment to the needs of the patient. It provides viral load monitoring and is a non-invasive method for assessing liver fibrosis by using blood markers.
iQur is a specialty pharmaceutical company at the forefront of international breakthroughs in the detection, treatment and monitoring of Hepatitis C and other liver diseases.
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| Hope of a Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease |
| Professor Steven Rose, Open University |
| Winner of the Lilly-BI Award for Best Mental Health Innovation |
 New research by a team from the Open University has discovered what they believe to be the biochemical basis for memory loss in Alzheimer's Disease, which affects nearly a million people in the UK alone.
They have identified a small molecule which they claim restores the lost memory and acts as a cognitive enhancer and neuroprotector in laboratory animals. The University has filed patents around their idea which they hope to turn into a new drug to treat early stage Alzheimer's Disease.
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| Nexagon |
| David Becker, Lecturer, London |
| Winner of the Nomura Award for Best Biotech Innovation |
 An estimated 95 million people worldwide suffer from wounds. While acute wounds heal uneventfully, chronic wounds such as ulcers do not and often persist for months or years. In the case of the elderly, this increases average hospital stays by at least one week, resulting in an additional $1.5 billion in healthcare costs in the USA alone.
A team from London, in collaboration with Auckland University, have developed a revolutionary new technology which inhibits a novel target in wound healing, a gap junction channel protein. The product, applied topically in a gel dramatically accelerates wound healing and reduces inflammation and scarring.
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| Brainsway - Deep Brain Stimulator |
| Dr Abraham Zangen, Dr Yiftach Roth & Uzi Sofer |
| Winner of the Most Promising Treatment in the Mental Health & Neurosciences Innovation Awards 2007 |
 A team of Israeli neuroscientists have developed a non-invasive way to treat anxiety, depression
and schizophrenia and potentially other deep brain-related disorders. They have produced an electro-magnetic coil that can activate deep brain pathways from outside the head using a device which looks much like a hood salon-hairdryer. Fortnightly treatments take just a few minutes and side effects are limited to transient headaches. In preliminary tests it has proven effective in treating many psychiatric illnesses that until now have required drugs or electroconvulsive therapy. The team have created a company and are in more substantial clinical trials, with results expected later this year.
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| Overall Winner in the Cardiovascular Innovation Awards 2008 |
| Cell Therapy to Improve Cardiac Repair |
| Michael Schneider, Dorian Haskard, and Ranil de Silva, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London |
 This new technique uses heart stem cells to repair the damage to the cardiac muscle caused by heart disease and heart attacks. In a heart attack, heart muscle cells die but existing treatments don't repair the damage to the muscle and have a limited effect on heart function. Professor Schneider was among the first to show that stem or progenitor cells exist in heart muscle, and then developed techniques to purify progenitor cells from a patient's heart and grow them in the laboratory. The Imperial College team proposes to graft the human cells into injured cardiac muscle, under clinically relevant conditions, to obtain the safety and efficacy data needed to justify a phase I human trial. The team is seeking funding to support this essential bridge to clinical evaluation. Judges Comments: The judges felt that whilst there are many inherent risks with such early stage research, this is exactly the kind of translational research which should be funded as its potential impact is significant. Watch the video
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| Lifetime Achievement Award 2008 |
| Sir James Black OM |
| Discoverer of Beta Blockers and H2 Antagonists |
 Sir James Black OM was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his exceptional contribution to drug discovery, medicine and patient care. A Scottish doctor, Sir James, has contributed significantly to scientific, medical and clinical care, both as a physician and as a scientist. Sir James developed two major families of medicines that have transformed patient care in cardiology (beta blockers) and gastroenterology (anti-ulcer histamine receptor blockers).His invention of propranolol, the beta blocker, revolutionised the medical management of angina and is considered to be one of the most important contributions to clinical medicine and pharmacology of the 20th century. His work on cimetidine, an H2 receptor antagonist, has transformed the treatment of stomach ulcers and other gastrointestinal conditions. Sir James was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1988 for these discoveries. Watch the video
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