BioSpectrum Awards 2007 presented

Bangalore, Dec 21 (UNI) BioSpectrum, India's first Biotech business magazine, a CyberMedia publication, today announced the winners of the 5th edition of the much-awaited biotech industry awards, BioSpectrum Awards 2007 for various categories.

The awards were presented at a glittering function hosted by BioSpectrum in association with Bio-Rad Laboratories, a company that has remained at the centre of scientific discovery for more than 50 years by providing a broad range of innovations, tools and services to the Clinical Diagonstics and Life Science research markets.

The BioSpectrum Person of the Year Award was presented to Varaprasad Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director of Rasi Seeds, Attur, for his efforts in giving cotton farmers in the country, quality Bt hybrids that have resulted in higher yields and lesser consumption of pesticides.

The Life Time Achievement Award was conferred upon Dr Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, former Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), for his bold contribution to the development of life sciences.

Dr Vijay Chandru, Managing Director, Strand Life Sciences was presented the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, He is an academician-turned-entrepreneur and a co-founder of Strand Life Sciences. As a co-inventor of the Simputer, a novel hand-held computer, he was also a co-founder of PicoPeta Simputers that was acquired by Geodesic Information Systems in 2006.

Under Special Category Awards, the Juries decided to give it to a State and Gujarat was unanimously chosen as the winner of the Biotech State of the Year for its impressive strides in biotech.

"The progress made by Gujarat is tremendous. The state has been attracting a lot of investments and the government is proactively promoting biotechnology in the state," said Abraham Mathew, Chief Editor, BioSpectrum.

The Product of the Year Award went to Biocon's BIOMAb EGFR, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody-based drug for treating solid tumours of epithelial origin, such as head and neck cancers was chosen as the winner. "The drug is the first of its kind to be clinically developed in India and is the first anti-EGFR humanized monoclonal antibody for cancer to be made available commercially anywhere in the world..

Speaking at the Awards ceremony Mr Dhiren Wagle, Country Manager for Bio-Rad Laboratories said that "it is a matter of privilege for Bio-Rad to be associated with BioSpectrum. The Biotech industry is in a boom phase and holds a lot of promise for the future." "Bio-Rad Laboratories as a pioneer in the field of new technologies shall carry on supporting the industry and shall recognize those involved in the process of research", he added.

UNI