Prix Galien Honors "Discoveries of the Decade"

Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BSM) were among the companies honored with Prix Galien Foundation “Discovery of the Decade” Awards at a ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History in New York last month.

Prix Galien’s “Discovery of the Decade” is a new, once-in-10-years award for distinguished industry achievement in medical innovation, honoring “extraordinary human health impact” in three categories, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, and Medical Technology. 2016’s “Discovery of the Decade” winners were Novartis’s cancer wonder drug Gleevec (Best Pharmaceutical Product); BSM’s recombinant, human monoclonal antibody Yervoy (Best Biotechnology Product); and Edwards Lifesciences Corporation’s Sapien range of transcatheter heart valves (Best Medical Technology Product).

Novartis was also presented with the Prix Galien USA Award for Best Biotechnology Product 2016 for its psoriasis treatment, Cosentyx. The evening’s other winners were Pfizer’s breast cancer drug Ibrance (Best Pharmaceutical Product  2016) and Exact Sciences Corporation’s colon cancer screening test Cologuard (Best Medical Technology Product 2016).

The Prix Galien - “the pharmaceutical industry’s Nobel Prize” - rewards excellence in scientific innovation that improves the state of human health. The award was established in 1970 by French pharmacist Roland Mehl and was inaugurated in the US in 2007 to recognize the technical, scientific and clinical research skills necessary to develop innovative medicines.

The new Discovery of the Decade award “confirms that the last decade has been one of the most productive in terms of research that delivers real benefits to the patient,” commented Galien Foundation Chairman Bruno Cohen.  “Through our worldwide network of programs and events, the Foundation will continue to showcase breakthrough innovations in medicines that promise to make the next 10 years even more decisive in improving the state of global health.”