Two of the company’s researchers have been awarded Innovation Fund Denmark’s Innovator of the Year Award 2019.

Focus for the Award is on ‘excellent and groundbreaking research which creates value for Denmark’ – based on the value the candidates have created for patients as well as business and the candidates’ ability to translate excellent research knowledge into tangible solutions.

Marianne Lind and Karsten Petersson

Marianne Lind, Ph.d., Senior Scientist and Karsten Petersson, Ph.d., Director, both at LEO Pharma, received the Award for the development of Enstilar, LEO Pharma’s foam spray for the treatment of plaque psoriasis. Enstilar was approved by the Danish Medicines Agency and launched in Denmark in 2016, and more than one million patients use the product today.

The Award 2019 was presented by Minister of Education and Research Tommy Ahlers at a ceremony in Copenhagen, together with the Innovation Fund’s vice-chairman, Anja Boisen. In addition to the Award, the winners receive DKK 100,000 each.

An inspiration to others

“The projects you (LEO Pharma) have created are innovative and exciting, they are built upon world class research and we need that. Your achievements make a difference to our society. You are an inspiration to others – use it to be role models for the next generation of researchers. Congratulations on your ability and willingness to create something new – and congratulations on the Awards,” said Minister of Education and Research Tommy Ahlers in a press release from Innovation Fund Denmark.

“We are very proud and very grateful to receive this year’s Innovator Prize. It is a fantastic – and well–deserved – recognition of the great and dedicated work that every LEO Pharma’s many hundred scientists do every day. Not least because it illustrates in the best possible way how we work purposefully with innovation in LEO Pharma to develop new, groundbreaking dermatological treatments that can help make life easier for the many millions of patients worldwide living with skin diseases,” says Kim Kjøller, Executive Vice President, LEO Pharma.

It is the third consecutive year that Innovation Fund Denmark presents its annual awards which, in addition to the Innovator of the Year Award, include the Grand Solutions Award and the Industrial Researcher Award.

Photo of Karsten Petersson and Marianne Lind: LEO Pharma