Amgen Recognized for Best Pipeline and Best New Drug at Scrip Awards
Amgen was honored with two 2009 Scrip Awards, winning for Best Overall Pipeline and for Best New Drug for Nplate® (romiplostim), at a ceremony in London. The Best Overall Pipeline award was presented to Amgen by Scrip in recognition of the size, quality, novelty and market potential of the company’s pipeline, as well as its mix of candidates across development stages. According to the judges, Amgen’s pipeline is notable for its focus on unmet clinical need.
“We are very pleased to be honored by our industry peers with these two awards,” said Roger M. Perlmutter, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president of Research and Development at Amgen. “Over the past decade, we have worked very hard to develop a robust pipeline that focuses on novel therapeutics to treat serious illnesses.”
With more than 50 molecules in development, the majority of which target pathways that have not previously been addressed in humans, Amgen’s pipeline includes potential new treatments for various cancers, asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and many other life-threatening conditions. One of the most promising candidates in Amgen’s pipeline, denosumab, is an in-house discovery that reflects a novel approach to treating bone loss and destruction. Amgen has filed for regulatory approval of denosumab in postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO) and bone loss due to hormone ablation in breast and prostate cancer patients in the United States (U.S.), Europe, Switzerland, Canada, Australia.
Nplate won the Best New Drug honor because of its novel mode of action and its focus on an unmet medical need. Nplate is indicated for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), under specific conditions that are further described below.
Chronic ITP is a serious autoimmune disorder characterized by low platelet counts in the blood (thrombocytopenia), which can lead to serious bleeding events. Nplate is the first platelet producer approved in both the U.S. and European Union (EU), and works by raising and sustaining platelet counts, representing a unique approach for the long-term treatment of this chronic disease.
The annual Scrip Awards are independently judged by a panel of senior industry experts and are given to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies for their contribution to the improvement of health care.
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