Almirall took centre stage at the PharmaTimes Sales & MSL Awards 2015 on July 9, taking home the prize for Sales Company of the Year, along with Key Account Manager of the Year, which was won by Faruk Dasu.
“Winning the PharmaTimes Sales Company of the Year for the second successive time was amazing given the level of experience and quality from other entrants,” said Peter Sheridan, regional business manager at Almirall. “As a small company we pride ourselves in developing our people to be the best they can, so winning the PharmaTimes competition seemed like a just reward for our efforts. We had a great time at the assessments and a great time at the awards too, especially catching up with lots of old friends!”
UCB also had a strong showing at the awards, which celebrate the best in pharmaceutical sales in the UK. The Belgian firm’s Graham Shepherd was named overall winner of the sales representative categories after placing first for neurology, and Abigail Codd won the Medical Science Liaison of the Year award. _
“This year is fantastic,” added judge Gary Killington of PI Partnership. “We’ve got all of the customer-facing teams coming together to celebrate success and be part of the competition – so it’s a fantastic celebration of the pharmaceutical industry going forward.”
Best Business Team went to Shire, whose Geraint Thomas won in the general psychiatry sales rep category. Colin Vasey of Sanofi won First Line Manager of the Year. Gemma White, also from Sanofi, was named Endocrinology & Diabetes Sales Rep of the Year.
Novartis’ Katrina Lowndes was named the top respiratory sales rep for 2015. The company swept the board in the ophthalmology category, with Rajan Gohil winning overall.
Celgene had similar successes in haematology, with Gillian Doull placing first. The company also won through in the oncology category, with Bridget Logan taking home the award.
Julie Doyle from AbbVie won in gastroenterology, while Galderma’s Clara Whitfield won in dermatology.
“The quality of the reps was outstanding,” said oncology judge Dr Rob Glynne Jones. “I think everyone benefits – doctors get better information, more focused information, and the pharmaceutical industry finds out what we want. Everyone wins.”
PharmaTimes would like to thank all our sponsors and supporters for the MSL and Sales Representative competition and awards. Binley’s, part of Wilmington Insight, sponsored the First Line Manager and provided the nominations for the MSL and Representative categories. PI Partnership facilitated the Representative categories and provided the finalists feedback, while Redbow consulting facilitated the Team finalists and wrote the challenge.
Oberoi consulting sponsored the MSL award and ran the workshops. Quintiles sponsored the KAM and Aspiring KAM categories, and provided the venue for the Team challenge, while STAR Medical, part of the Uniphar Group, sponsored the Specialist Care categories. Finally, Zenopa sponsored the name cards and table plan and Chase People sponsored the table cards.
For photos from the event, visit: http://www.pharmatimes.com/Gallery/GalleryHome.aspx
