Sirtex wins humanitarian device award

Sirtex Medical has been awarded the Humanitarian Benefit Device of the Year 2002 for its SIR-Spheres liver cancer treatment by Frost and Sullivan, a US-based market consulting and analyst group.

The award is in recognition of the contribution Sirtex is making in the treatment of liver cancer and its success in commercialising the technology.

The award came out of the blue, according to CFO Peter Manley. While the company has been informed of the award, it will not actually be presented until November 6, at the Frost and Sullivan 2002 Excellence in Healthcare awards banquet in San Diego.

Manley said that a decision had not yet been made on who would pick up the award, but he believed that either medical director Dr Bruce Gray or Charles Rowland, the president of Sirtex's US subsidiary, would attend the awards banquet. Gray is frequently in the US to assist medical centres in implementing the treatment.

Frost and Sullivan presents its Market Engineering Awards to companies that demonstrate excellence in their industry. According to the company website, the awards "recognise the diligence and innovation required to implement a successful business plan and excel in the increasingly competitive global marketplace." The awards are said to have a high profile, both in the investment community and in the industry.

The criteria used to determine the award recipients include recognition by the medical community that the device can dramatically decrease the morbidity and mortality of patients suffering from a condition, and commitment by the manufacturer to develop the technology because of potential humanitarian benefit despite market and regulatory challenges.

No information was provided on other contenders for the award.

"We certainly hope that the award will raise the profile of the company in the US," Manley said. "You would expect that the medical community would hear about it."

But Manley said he did not expect that the award would have much impact in Australia, although he noted that it could have a positive effect in the investment community.

In the meantime, Sirtex is continuing to roll out its technology at treatment centres in the US. The MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, affiliated with the University of Texas, has become the sixth treatment centre to adopt the technology. The company hopes to have 10 centres up and running by the end of this year.

According to Rowland, staff at the MD Anderson Centre have already indicated that they would like to test the SIR-Spheres technology on other forms of liver cancer, and Sirtex would be supporting this initiative.