Lek’s experts receive Golden National Innovation Award

  • On the occasion of Innovation day, the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry bestowed on Lek the Golden National Innovation Award. 
  • The award was received for Lek’s innovation that brings benefits for patients, specifically children. Lek’s experts have developed a form of an antibiotic that facilitates swallowing in children and enables parents’ easier handling of the medicine. 
  • Over the past 15 years, since the national innovation awards were first bestowed by the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lek’s experts have received 9 golden awards. 
27. 9. 2017

On the occasion of this year’s Innovation Day, titled ''Making Dreams Come True'', the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry bestowed national awards for the most innovative companies and innovators within companies and public research institutions. In the national finals, 125 gold, 21 silver and 1 special award were bestowed. Among the winners of golden awards were also Lek’s experts with a child-friendly antibiotic in the form of a fast-dissolving tablet containing amoxicillin and clavulanic acid.

The awards for the best innovation at the national level are the highest acknowledgement for innovative achievements of Slovenian companies. This year, 38 candidates took part in the national selection of best innovations. The Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been bestowing national awards for 15 years, and 21 years have passed since the first regional awards were presented. At the regional award presentation for the Central Slovenia region, two inventions by Lek’s experts have already been awarded this year, one of them has earned the award also at the national level.  

Lek’s team of innovators that received the golden award consists of the team head Rok Starič, other members were Petra Perhavec, Dejan Krajcar, Marko Oblak, PhD, Mateja Šikovec, PhD, Urška Korošec and Lidija Pušnik Verdnik. The team developed a new, child-friendly form of an antibiotic with amoxicillin and clavulanic acid. Realising that swallowing larger tablets is problematic for children and that a liquid form of the medicine is more vulnerable to inaccurate dosing, a team of Lek’s top experts has undertaken to research and develop a more user-friendly dosage form. With an innovative approach, they developed a fast dissolving tablet that enables easier handling of the medicine, more precise dosing, better taste and easier storing that does not require the use of a refrigerator. All these benefits facilitate ingesting a medicine in children and contribute to a more appropriate handling of the medicine by parents. The head of the innovatory team, Rok Starič, said after receiving the award: »Lek has been for decades committed to development, therefore we are pleased that our added value has been recognised also in a wider area in Slovenia and that the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry recognised our innovation as one of the best. The received award is also a proof that in our work we are continuously looking for innovative solutions and upgrades bringing benefit for patients.«

* * *

Lek, a Sandoz company, is one of the key pillars of the second-largest generic pharmaceutical company globally. Its role within Sandoz is to act as: a leading global development center for technologically demanding products and technologies; a key global manufacturing center for active pharmaceutical ingredients and medicines; a competence center for the development of vertically integrated products; a Sandoz competence center in the field of development and manufacturing of biosimilar active ingredients and products; a supply center for the markets of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), South East Europe (SEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and is responsible for marketing and sales of Sandoz products on the Slovenian market. For further information, please visit www.lek.si.

Sandoz is a global leader in generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals. As a division of the Novartis Group, our purpose is to discover new ways to improve and extend people’s lives. We contribute to society’s ability to support growing healthcare needs by pioneering novel approaches to help people around the world access high-quality medicine. Our portfolio of approximately 1000 molecules, covering all major therapeutic areas, accounted for 2016 sales of USD 10.1 billion. In 2016, our products reached more than 500 million patients and we aspire to reach one billion. Sandoz is headquartered in Holzkirchen, in Germany’s Greater Munich area.
Sandoz is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Sandoz_global at http://twitter.com/Sandoz_Global (link is external).

Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals and eye care. Novartis has leading positions globally in each of these areas. In 2016, the Group achieved net sales of USD 48.5 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.0 billion. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 118,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are sold in approximately 155 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.

* * *

This press release contains statements and conclusions based on projections of Lek’s future business operations. These estimates are derived from the best information currently available. In case these forecasts prove unreliable, the actual results could prove different from those projected.

- end -

For additional information contact:
Katarina Klemenc
Corporate Communications 
Lek Pharmaceuticals d. d.
Phone: +386 1 580 22 43
Fax: +386 1 580 24 32
katarina.klemenc@sandoz.com