Manchester, United Kingdom, 7th July 2004 - Avecia has won the 2004 “Innovation of the Year Award” from the Chemical Industries Association (CIA). The Award was given for the company’s Pd EnCat™ palladium catalyst technology – a key to faster, cleaner chemistry in pharmaceutical production.

The technology enables higher throughput from process automation, with additional benefits from reduced metal contamination, solvent reduction, catalyst recovery and re-cycling at scale.

Early applications for the highly versatile technology are in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals manufacturing. The technology is being commercialised by Avecia following a research collaboration with Professor Steven Ley from Cambridge University and teams from Syngenta and AstraZeneca.  Pd EnCat TM has attracted strong interest and sales since its market launch in Autumn 2003.

The Awards Dinner was hosted in Manchester by BBC TV news and programme presenter Natasha Kaplinsky. Accepting the Award, Avecia Research Associate Dr. David Pears said: "Demands in pharmaceutical manufacturing are becoming increasingly complex and costly, and Pd EnCat TM helps to meet some of the key production challenges through notably faster and cleaner chemistry".

Avecia was one of four nominations for the Innovation category. Awards in nine other categories included recognition of excellence in reputation, technology, manufacturing, safety, responsible care and sustainable development.

The Awards event was held in Manchester for the first time - underlining the North West's importance as the UK's largest region for chemical manufacture. The industry generates £10bn of annual sales there, and directly employs 43,000 people in 800 companies and organisations across the region.

The CIA Award is Avecia's second for innovation in pharmaceutical production. Last year, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) gave its "Teamwork in Innovation" award to Avecia in recognition of the cost and efficiency benefits of its "CATHyTM" technology. Catalyst related CATHyTM processes make key ingredients for many pharmaceutical compounds.

As well as being its corporate HQ, Manchester is the centre for Avecia's R&D in ink jet printing and the development of organic semiconductors - so called "plastic electronics".