Lek is the recipient of the highest national awards for innovation

“Lek’s researchers have been considered the leading innovators in Slovenia for quite some time, as attested by many prestigious awards in which they can take pride. Both awarded innovations were developed with the mission of greater accessibility of high-quality medicines across the globe, which is the very core of our work. This is confirmation and proof that Slovenia has the knowledge, experience and technology for the most advanced pharmaceutical products. We are proud that the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia recognized our contribution to Slovenian innovation,” said Robert Ljoljo, President of the Board of Management of Lek and Novartis Country President  Slovenia.

The innovation that received the gold award, the development of a generic version of ferumoxytol, is the result of years of effort invested by the employees at the Development Center Slovenia in the development of our own active pharmaceutical ingredient and final dosage form. “This innovation represents an important step in the field of anemia treatment, as it enables better accessibility of the state-of-the-art nanotechnology medicine to a wider range of patients. Until now, only the originator medicine has been available to patients, and its high price made it less affordable,” explained Dr Zdenko Časar, Head of Early Stage Development at Development Center Slovenia. Lek has already launched the drug, which is fully developed and manufactured in Slovenia, in the US market, one of the most demanding markets. “Lek is the first and so far the only company to have successfully developed a generic version of ferumoxytol, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2021”, added Dr Lidija Vraničar Savanovič, head of this  project at the Development Center Slovenia.

The silver national 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. 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 innovation is a result of the successful collaboration of Lek’s experts with researchers from the National Institute of Chemistry, the Biotechnical Faculty at the University of Ljubljana, and the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Ljubljana. In the search for high-quality solutions, Lek often collaborates with academic institutions in the search for high-quality solutions and develops breakthrough innovations in open innovation mixed research teams.