2009 Prix Galien USA Now Accepting Nominations for Top Prize in Biopharmaceutical Research and D...( NEW YORK March 11 -- The committee...),Health

NEW YORK, March 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The committee responsible for awarding the most prestigious prize in biopharmaceutical research and development -- Prix Galien USA -- announced it is accepting 2009 nominations. For the first time, the committee will include a new recognition category for best medical device. It also has expanded the eligibility window to the past decade.

Prix Galien USA is now awarded in three categories that offer broad implications for future biomedical research: best pharmaceutical agent, best biotechnology product and best medical device. All pharmaceutical and biological drugs or devices approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for first or new indications between 1998 and 2008 are eligible for nomination in 2009. This new eligibility period will permit the judges to determine both the immediate and the long-term impact these pharmaceuticals, biotechnology products and devices have had on human health and disease.

"The Prix Galien USA committee is delighted to be able to honor the impact medical devices have on human health," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Prix Galien USA committee chair, research professor of medicine at New York University and editor-in-chief of The FASEB Journal. "When we consider how new pharmaceuticals, biotechnology products and devices have changed our lives, it is clear that we have entered a new era of medical discovery."

The committee, which includes six Nobel Laureates, will honor the ingenuity of the biopharmaceutical industry at its annual gala event on September 30 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Online nominations for Prix Galien USA 2009 are being accepted through June 1st http://submission.prix-galien-usa.com.

Selzentry(TM) (Pfizer
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