Idorsia Ltd announces that its novel treatment for insomnia disorder QUVIVIQ (Daridorexant) has been awarded the inaugural Prix Galien Bridges Award in the category of “Best Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Product”. The award recognizes groundbreaking medicines, including biologics, gene therapies, and traditional pharmaceutical compounds, that advance patient care through scientific innovation.
“We are immensely proud to have been awarded the prestigious Prix Galien, particularly the first of its kind in the Nordics. The recognition from the jury is a wonderful endorsement of Idorsia’s commitment to innovation in healthcare and the value that the new treatment brings to improving patient care for insomnia disorder. My team is working to make this medicine accessible to all patients in the Nordic region,” said Bettina Blosse, General Manager of Idorsia Nordics.
Martine Clozel, MD and Chief Scientific Officer commented, “Our research team began work on the science of orexin and orexin receptors immediately after they were first described in 1998. Our initial work led to the understanding that antagonism of the orexin system induced a very physiological sleep. With a treatment of insomnia disorder in mind, the team set the target to design a dual orexin receptor antagonist that, among a number of criteria, would achieve a rapid onset of effect and a duration of action sufficient to cover the totality of the night at optimally effective doses, avoiding morning carry-over effects. It took us more than 10 years, and we had to synthesize and characterize more than 25,000 compounds to arrive at the molecule which has now been recognized with the Prix Galien Bridges Award – for improving not only the nights of patients with insomnia disorder, but also most importantly their daytime functioning.”
The Prix Galien Awards were created in 1970 by Roland Mehl in honor of Galien, the father of medical science and modern pharmacology, to recognize outstanding innovation and scientific advancement. With chapters in 16 countries and Africa, Prix Galien is regarded worldwide as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for the life science industry.
Source: Idorsia Pharmaceuticals
