Vismodegib team wins Drug Discovery of the Year award

The British Pharmacological Society proudly announces that its first annual Drug Discovery of the Year award has been won by the discovery team developing vismodegib for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma (a type of skin cancer). The award has been created this year to celebrate the importance of pharmacology in the development of new medicines.

Professor Philip Routledge, BPS President, will present the award today at the Society's annual meeting in London. The winning team was selected by a judging panel of experts in industrial pharmacology, following nominations made to BPS by its members worldwide. Rick Graham, Clinical Pharmacologist and acting Global Development Leader for vismodegib at Genentech, will collect the award on behalf of the many researchers working on the discovery and development of vismodegib.

"We are delighted by the number and high quality of the applications for Drug Discovery of the Year, all of which demonstrated the importance of pharmacology in drug discovery," explains Professor Routledge. "Pharmacologists in the health service, academia and industry play a crucial role in developing new medicines."

Dr Mark Christie, a BPS Trustee who chaired the judging panel, confirms: "We are proud to recognise the excellent work of the vismodegib team. While all the nominations were underpinned by strong pharmacological research, there was unanimous support from the judges for vismodegib, which was distinguished by a detailed understanding of the dose and effect of the drug."