Overcoming barriers: Pioneering entrepreneurs win top honours

12 July 2005 :: Posted by Lawrence Christensen

Biotech Entrepreneur of the Year Award & Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Dr Renos Savva, Research Director at Domainex and Dr Alan Palmer, co-founder of Pharmidex and, have been awarded the prestigious London Young Biotechnology Entrepreneur and Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the year Awards 2005, held at the London First and British Library partnership event.

The partnership event provided an excellent platform for emerging biotechnology companies to showcase their companies to 250 delegates, including senior executives from venture capital companies, business angels, banks, drug discovery companies and Higher Education Institutes to seek funding and business partners.

SMEs specialising in biotech do not necessarily get access to UK based funders and often have to take their product development outside the UK if they ever hope to take their product to market. 

"I am delighted to receive the Young Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and thank Tony Jones and his team for increasing the profile of London Biotech's," said Dr Renos Savva. "It has been challenging, but I greatly encourage those in similar situations to keep on going, because we want to make the British Biotech sector and Britain, great. Specifically, London is an excellent place to be, I have lived and worked here my whole life, and so the London Young Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year Award also means something special to me as a Londoner."

"Receiving the London Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2005 is not only an honour for me, but also a great honour for my colleague and co-founder, Dr Mohammad Alavijeh, along with the whole Pharmidex team," said Alan Palmer. "As the company moves forward, we will continue to realise our business potential by actively listening to customers and effectively responding to their needs. This, coupled with our unique offering, has allowed us to establish an extensive international client base, which we now aim to consolidate and expand through delivering a value-adding services underpinned by continuous innovation."

Lynne Brindley, British Library Chief Executive, presented Dr Alan Palmer of Pharmidex and Dr Renos Savva with their trophies stated: "Winning the Biotechnology Entrepreneur and Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards reveals the level of commitment needed to succeed. Dr Palmer and Dr Savva have demonstrated the entrepreneurial spirit and determination necessary to achieve success. The British Library supports business, science and technology through its Business & Intellectual Property Centre which is dedicated to delivering critical support during the start up phase to small businesses and entrepreneurs in London and the UK."

"Alan Palmer and Renos Savva and their teams at Pharmidex and Domainex are fantastic entrepreneurs. To me, entrepreneurship is synonymous with long-term job creation and the establishment of cutting-edge, highly innovative biotech," said Tony Jones, London First Director of Biotechnology & Healthcare and a judge of the London Biotechnology 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year award. 

For further information please contact: Lawrence Christensen at the British Library (telephone +44 (0)20 7412 7114, email: lawrence.christensen@bl.uk)

Notes for Editors

To arrange interviews:

Please call Dr Alan Palmer London Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year on +44 (0)7734 080474 or e-mail him at alan.palmer@pharmidex.com

Please call Dr Renos Savva, London Young Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year on +44 (0)207 631 6805 or e-mail him at renos.savva@domainex.co.uk