Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Actelion Ltd. have won the 2004 James Watson Helix Awards. The winners, selected by peer vote on the basis of their 2003 performance, are being honoured at a BIO CEO & Investor Conference plenary luncheon.

"These companies exemplify the ideals of the Helix Award, the biotechnology industry's highest company honour," said BIO president Carl Feldbaum. "In 2003, both advanced new therapies for unmet medical needs and delivered outstanding returns to investors."

During 2003, the winner in the mid-cap company category, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, focused its resources to rapidly advance the clinical development of its lead compound, an oral cancer product now in Phase III testing for kidney cancer.

"We are humbled and honoured to have been selected by our industry peers for this prestigious award," said Hollings Renton, Onyx's president and CEO. "Together with our collaborator, Bayer, we made important scientific and clinical progress with our lead anti-cancer compound, BAY 43-9006, culminating in the initiation of the first pivotal Phase III trial."

Actelion Ltd. is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Allschwil, Switzerland. "Actelion is very proud to be recognized and honored by its peers in the United States for our work in helping to improve the health and lives of people everywhere," said CEO Jean-Paul Clozel. "2003 was a significant year for us as we achieved critical milestones by not only successfully supporting our products Tracleer and Zavesca in the market place, but also by achieving important milestones in research and clinical trials."

Genentech, of South San Francisco, received the Helix Award in the large-cap category.

The James D Watson Helix Award honours leadership in three distinct areas: scientific innovation, company growth and corporate citizenship. It is presented by the Long Island Life Sciences Initiative (LILSI) and is jointly sponsored by BIO, Stony Brook University and The Center for Biotechnology.

The competition is open to public and private, US or foreign-based biotechnology companies. An independent panel of judges reviewed this year's submissions.