Drug Discovery of the Year awarded to the team behind the development of trametinib

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have been awarded ‘Drug Discovery of the Year’ by the British Pharmacological Society for 2013.

The Drug Discovery of the Year award celebrates the role of pharmacologists in the development of new medicines. With 12,000 cases of malignant melanoma diagnosed every year in the UK and 1,202 cases being diagnoses in Scotland, trametinib has been a welcome addition in the fight against melanoma and other skin cancers. 

Dr Ann Hayes, Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and chair of the judging panel, confirms: 

“This year’s nominees for Drug Discovery of the Year all demonstrated excellence in pharmacology and were difficult to separate. Trametinib was distinguished by its novel translational pharmacology, but undoubtedly the judges were also impressed by the GSK team’s ambition to address the impact of malignant melanoma on the lives of so many patients and their families.”