The annual PMEAs continued to bring in a high number of entries, with a wide range of companies entering across the different categories.

While the event took place virtually this year, rather than at its usual venue at the Royal Lancaster London Hotel, the turnout was impressive, with over 1,000 views of the livestream and over 150 tweets posted to the social media wall and 1,300 impressions.
Those watching the awards ceremony live could see their social media posts on the live social media wall by using the #PMEA20 hashtag.

For the first ever virtual PMEAs, television presenter and personality Zoe Williams hosted the online ceremony.

Debbie Tuesley, events director at PMGroup said: “In a truly unprecedented year it was remarkable to see the positive response that the livestream awards garnered. Despite the many obstacles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been proud to ensure that the very best work within the healthcare environment can continue to be recognised through the PMEA programme.”

A brand-new category was introduced for 2020 – the Agility Award in Pharma Market Excellence. This award recognised pharma brand teams that have successfully changed their strategic and operational approach due to the global COVID-19 pandemic to continue to supply, support and engage with healthcare professionals and patients.
Taking home this award was Accord Healthcare’s Agility Ensures Medicines Supply During COVID-19 initiative with support from Alexa Forbes Consulting.

The judges commented: “Accord’s reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic and their quick thinking was extremely forward thinking. The challenges were well documented, and their plan was executed impressively, with an impressive scale-up which resulted in extra doses of medicines before export bans came into place. This pre-emptive thinking was bold and worthwhile.”

Paul Tredwell, VP Specialist Brands at Accord Healthcare said: “We are delighted to accept this award on behalf of the whole team at Accord. Our proactive and collaborative approach with our global partners, suppliers and our employees is what allowed us to really respond to the pandemic with agility and efficiency.

“I want to give a huge shout-out to the creative talents of Swordfish Advertising, who pulled our efforts together to effectively showcase this award and again thank you to Alexa Forbes Consulting for supporting us with this award submission. It was a truly collaborative effort,” he added.

For PMEA Company of the Year, three companies were in the running to receive this prestigious award – AstraZeneca, MSD UK and Takeda UK & Ireland.
Coming out on top in this category was AstraZeneca – an impressive, first-time achievement for the company!

AstraZeneca also took home the following awards: Excellence in Innovation, Excellence in Collaboration and Partnerships and Excellence in Capability Development (supported by Uptake Strategies and EY).

The judges commented: “We were incredibly impressed by AstraZeneca; the performance of the business in the last few years is truly inspiring. They provided a strong articulation of strategy delivered with energy and enthusiasm by a very senior team, demonstrating that innovation is now central to everything they do.”

They added: “While the company is obviously driven by the science, its values mean it goes above and beyond to make sure it delivers significant outcomes to patients irrespective of hard commercial return. The company’s response to COVID-19 was swift and effective. And finally, the company also takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously. All in all, the judges felt that AstraZeneca is a company they’d like to work with/for!”

Meanwhile, for PMEA Support Agency of the Year, Makara Health beat the competition to take home this award.

Overall, it was a very successful night for Makara Health, with the company also winning awards in the Excellence in Patient Education and Support and Excellence in Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs categories.

Although the ceremony looked different this year, PMEA 2020 remained a successful event thanks to the impressive entries and hard work and dedication of all those involved in the programme.