PhRMA honors Gardasil researchers with Discoverers Award

SAN ANTONIO The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America on Saturday honored recipients of its 2009 Discoverers Award and 2009 Clinical Trial Exceptional Service Award during the association’s annual meeting in San Antonio.

"The recipients of these awards should all be proud that they have played such an incredible role in advancing health care here in America and around the world,” stated PhRMA president and CEO Billy Tauzin. “Millions of patients will live healthier, longer lives because of the critical research that was done by these dedicated researchers. … These extraordinary honorees certainly deserve this recognition because they are the heroes behind a medicine that helps patients prevent a life-threatening cancer before it can get started."

The awards were presented to biopharmaceutical company scientists and other researchers who helped discover, develop and advance Gardasil (human papillomavirus quadrivalent vaccine), a breakthrough vaccine from Merck that can help prevent cervical cancer.

Cancer vaccines represent an emerging type of biological therapy, the association stated.

Discoverers Award recipients are Merck's Eliav Barr, VP oncology clinical research, who led the team that developed Gardasil's clinical program; Merck's Barry Buckland, VP research, bioprocess R&D, whose department developed ways to safely manufacture large, commercially viable amounts of the Gardasil vaccine; and Kathrin Jansen, (currently at Wyeth), who established Merck's basic research program for an HPV vaccine and played a central role in Gardasil's design.

"We are thrilled that the Merck scientists who worked on Gardasil are being recognized with such a prestigious honor," stated Richard Clark, Merck chairman, president and CEO. "We also congratulate the broader team whose hard work, determination and focus on innovation were so critical to the discovery and development of this vaccine."