Lek receives three awards for innovation in the Central Slovenia region

The gold regional award was awarded to an innovation for the development of cell lines for the production of biosimilars. It is a breakthrough approach to the development of biosimilars, involving the introduction of automated cell culturing and genetic engineering of production cell lines. The innovation enables efficient, rapid and high-quality development, resulting in savings in the production of biosimilars and enabling the development of therapeutics that could not have been developed before. "The intensive development phase lasted a year and a half and involved a team of Novartis in Slovenia associates and researchers from the Institute of Chemistry, the Faculty of Biotechnology at the University of Ljubljana and the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Ljubljana. We expect the innovation to contribute to wider access to medicines and to radically improve quality of life," said Dr Rok Gaber, Scientific Advisor at Technical Research & Development Biologics Mengeš.

The gold regional award went also to an innovation for the development of a generic version of Ferumoxytol, used to treat anemia. Until now, only the originator medicine has been available to patients, and its high price made it less affordable. "Lek is the first and so far the only company to have successfully developed a generic version of ferumoxytol based on our own expertise, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2021. The drug, which is fully developed and manufactured in Slovenia, enables better accessibility of anaemia treatment with state-of-the-art nanotechnology medicines," said Dr Zdenko Časar, Head of Early Stage Development at Development Center Slovenia."This recognition is a significant confirmation of the many years of effort we at Development Center Slovenia have invested in the development of our own active pharmaceutical ingredient and final dosage form, and further proof that Slovenia has the knowledge, experience and technology for the most advanced and sophisticated pharmaceutical products," he added.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia also recognized the innovative IDEAL concept, developed by the staff of Development Centre Slovenia in cooperation with the Slovenian company, Axiologo.The silver regional award-winning innovation allows scientists to experiment and analyze in a virtual environment, reducing the need for real-time experimentation. The innovation is based on predictive data analytics and machine learning approaches."The development of the IDEAL prototype involved a broad, multidisciplinary team of associates from Development Center Slovenia and Axiologo. The new tool will speed up the development of new products in our development centers," said Boštjan Petek, Scientific Advisor at Development Center Slovenia. The innovation strengthens the position of Novartis in Slovenia as one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the field of digital transformation.