Walking through the halls of CPhI Worldwide, it was hard to recognise it as the space just a few short hours before; the place had been transformed by teams, presumably working through the night, and the addition of a good many people provided enough hustle and bustle even early on to indicate that it would be a good show for all.

Those following us on Twitter (PharmTech.com/twitter) may already know the winner of the Innovation Awards, but for those who do not, I will enlighten you, though you will have to provide your own virtual drum roll...

The bronze prize went to Johnson Matthey for its colour-tag protein (CTP) technology, which was developed to provide an efficient way of measuring protein expression. CTP technology, as its name suggests, uses a protein tag that exhibits an intense yellow colour and allows even small amounts of protein to be quantified in a crude extract of cells, significantly speeding up the screening process.

The silver award went to Acuros for a novel device designed for the continuous delivery of small volume parenterals. Using standard primary packaging components, the device is fully disposable and requires no power supply—instead, osmotic actuation drives the device and provides a precise and stable flow rate.

And finally, the gold award was given to Glycotope for its GlycoExpress platform technology, designed to optimise glycosylation in antibodies and other biotherapeutics. The technology is based on an entire set of human glycoengineered cell lines that express proteins exhibiting different glycosylation patterns; bioassays then identify the pattern that provides the optimal product characteristics.

The six finalists for the Innovation Awards were judged not only on the level of innovation but also, crucially, on the commercial potential of the technology by a distinguished panel chaired by Hendrik Baumann of CU Chemie Uetikon.

Before the main awards, a Sustainability Award was presented to Solvias, a privately held company based in Basel, Switzerland that delivers customised solutions for drug development.

Congratulations to all winners!

In tomorrow's blog, I will share news from the press room, including developments from the RX-360 consortium, an update from EXCiPACT, and the European Fine Chemical Group's stance on the proposed Generic Drug User Fee Act (GDUFA), as well as other news from the show floor.