The finalists for the CPHI Pharma Awards 2026 have been named across 15 categories, with winners to be revealed on Day 1 of CPHI Milan. A sustainable autoinjector, a microneedle array patch and a smart pill pocket head a drug delivery and formulation contingent that runs well beyond its own category.
“Drug delivery is part of a specific category in the shortlist … but the sector is well represented in several others too.”
Drug delivery features strongly in the finalists for the CPHI Pharma Awards 2026. Drug delivery is part of a specific category in the shortlist, Innovation in Drug Delivery, Devices and Packaging, but the sector is well represented in several others too, from Finished Formulation to Start-up Initiative, Innovation Catalyst and Future Leader.
The Innovation in Drug Delivery, Devices and Packaging category pits the Eco-Inject sustainable autoinjector, LTS‘s AccuTip microneedle array patch platform and Palladio Group’s Smart Pill Pocket against NVV Pharma’s ClearliQ earwax device and a connected-packaging entry from ForgeStop and EM Microelectronic.
Finished Formulation is an all-oral field this year: SeraNovo’s NanoGlass platform for BCS IV and beyond-rule-of-five drugs, Ashland’s Permexa sodium caprate permeation enhancer, Santa Farma’s mirabegron modified-release platform and Cor.Con International’s Epilamba Junior. Eco-Inject and NVV Pharma appear again in Start-up Initiative, IMA’s ASSEMBLA device assembly platform is up for Innovation Catalyst, SCHOTT Pharma’s circular vial packaging is in Sustainable Pharma Excellence, and three of the five Future Leader finalists come from particle engineering and excipient companies (Crystec, Ashland and DFE Pharma).
Across the board, hundreds of entries have been whittled down to a shortlist in 15 categories covering drug development, digital transformation, supply chain, manufacturing, sustainability, partnerships and leadership. Winners will be revealed at a networking reception on the opening day of CPHI Milan, which takes place on October 6-8, 2026, at Fiera Milano (Rho, Milan, Italy).
“Across every category, the finalists are setting new standards across the board.”
“We’ve been incredibly impressed by the quality, originality, and ambition of this year’s submissions,” said Tara Dougal, CPHI Event Director, Informa Markets. “Across every category, the finalists are setting new standards across the board. The CPHI Pharma Awards are a vital platform to spotlight the progress shaping the future of our industry, and we’re looking forward to celebrating these achievements and announcing the winners on the opening day of CPHI Milan.”
This year’s awards are sponsored by IQVIA, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and the Taiwan Pharmaceutical Alliance.
FIND OUT MORE
The CPHI Pharma Awards ceremony on Day 1 is open to all attendees of CPHI Milan 2026, which takes place on October 6-8, 2026, at Fiera Milano (Rho, Milan, Italy).
Registration for CPHI Milan 2026 is open at: cphi.com/europe.
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THE 2026 FINALISTS (FULL LIST)
Innovation in Drug Delivery, Devices and Packaging
- Eco-Inject: Eco-Inject sustainable autoinjector
- LTS Lohmann Therapie-Systeme: LTS AccuTip microneedle array patch platform
- Palladio Group: Smart Pill Pocket
- NVV Pharma: ClearliQ Earwax, a biomimetic cerumenolytic medical device for self-care of earwax impaction
- ForgeStop and EM Microelectronic: secure connected packaging for pharmaceutical track-and-trace and authentication
Finished Formulation
- Ashland: Permexa sodium caprate
- Cor.Con International: Epilamba Junior
- Santa Farma: innovative mirabegron modified-release formulation platform for first-generic overactive bladder therapies
- SeraNovo: NanoGlass, a formulation platform for oral BCS IV and bRo5 drugs
API Development and Innovation
- Cambrex: automated liquid-phase peptide synthesis platform
- FUJIFILM Biotechnologies: ShunzymeX
- Lonza: GlycoConnect dual-payload antibody-drug conjugate technology
- MODAG: combined neurodegeneration platform involving PD DETECT and emrusolmin
Digital Transformation
- 4G Clinical: digital clinical supply chain control for complex trials
- Adalvo: Intelligence at Scale, an enterprise-grade digital transformation engine for a specialist B2B pharma business
- Catalent: Qai Deviation Manager, AI-enabled digital quality transformation at enterprise scale
- Evonik Industries: self-driving labs
- ForgeStop: ForgeStop Connected Products Platform, NFC authentication for pharmaceutical supply chains
- Peerox: MADDOX, an AI-driven knowledge and troubleshooting layer for shopfloor operators in pharma packaging
Excellence with Purpose
- Accord Healthcare: Hetronifly (serplulimab), expanding equitable access to immunotherapy through collaboration
- Kepler Healthcare: Welcome Girl, a lifelong initiative
- Medical & Pharmaceutical Industry Development Agency of Uzbekistan: making medicines affordable in Uzbekistan through reference pricing, digital monitoring and public access
- Strides Pharma Science: Learn While You Earn programme
- Urtica: named patient import when every dose matters
Innovation Catalyst
- Aizon: operational foundation for GMP AI
- FUJIFILM Biotechnologies: MaruX
- IMA: ASSEMBLA, a scalable, device-centric assembly platform for end-to-end medical device industrialisation
- Prolific Machines: optogenetic platform achieving a record 21 g/L antibody titre
- StablePharma: StablevaX, catalysing an ecosystem of thermostable medicines
- Touchlight: cell-free Doggybone DNA (dbDNA) platform
- VeriSIM Life: VeriSIM Life
Manufacturing Excellence
- Anemocyte: AMCAP enzymatic mRNA manufacturing technology
- Bespak Bio: next-generation gene therapy manufacturing technology
- IMA: DOMINA tableting platform
- Lyo Innovation: LyoinMSTrack mass spectrometry
- Touchlight: world’s first GMP-licensed cell-free DNA facility
Supply Chain Excellence
- Adalvo: From Reactive to Resilient, rebuilding supply chain planning as a strategic advantage
- Almac Group: Adapt platform, supply chain excellence in ultra-rare gene therapy
- Cryoport Systems: defining pharmaceutical supply chain excellence through ISO 21973 certification
- LSPedia: LSPedia OneScan
- Occam Systems: the data-driven strategic supply chain advantage
Sustainable Pharma Excellence
- Bloomage Biotechnology: Bloomsac sodium chondroitin sulfate
- Celtic Renewables: leading the green chemical revolution
- Nordic Bioproducts Group: AaltoCell, transforming pharmaceutical manufacturing through sustainable high-performance MCC
- SCHOTT Pharma: delivery of pharmaceutical vials in circular packaging
- SK Pharmteco: transforming solvent sustainability through a data-driven framework and circular acetonitrile recovery
- Sunresin New Materials: uniform functionalised polymer resin technology for sustainable peptide manufacturing
- Touchlight: world’s first GMP-licensed cell-free DNA facility, repurposed infrastructure and smaller manufacturing footprint
Sustainable Transformation Partnership
- AstraZeneca: Further Together, partnering for systemic change
- Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative: the PSCI Decarbonization Summit
- Sartorius: a cross-industry partnership for circular bioprocessing
- Schneider Electric: pharma collaboration driving supply chain decarbonisation
True Partnership Excellence
- Adalvo: More Than a Dossier, building partnerships on shared risk, shared reward and shared mission
- Aurigene Pharmaceutical Services: zoliflodacin end-to-end multiparty partnership
- CMAC: a world-leading manufacturing research consortium spanning academic and industry partners
- Enzene: From At-Risk to Accelerated, redefining biologics development
- MedPharm: co-development with Palvella of QTORIN rapamycin from concept to commercial readiness
- Santa Farma: transforming complex local generics into global patient access
Start-up Initiative
- Eco-Inject: Eco-Inject sustainable autoinjector
- Lambda Biologics: ODISEI organoid-based discovery platform
- NVV Pharma: ClearliQ, disrupting decades-old earwax care with biosolvent science
- Primogene: cell-free enzymatic biomanufacturing platform
- RAWGA: VC-H1 plant-based collagen alternative
- SolasCure: Aurase Wound Gel
Future Leader
- Dr Steven Nicholson, Crystec
- Jakub Knurek, Mabion
- Milena Gonakova, Pfizer CentreOne
- Dr Sean McMahon, Ashland
- Dr Pauline van der Wijst-Janssen, DFE Pharma
Woman of the Year
- Emma Charles, Bristol Myers Squibb
- Jennifer Gattari, Pfizer CentreOne
- Lorna Murtagh, Pfizer CentreOne
- Maja Pedersen, FUJIFILM Biotechnologies
- Martina Feitzinger, Adalvo
- Zhao Yan, Bloomage Biotechnology
CEO of the Year
- Anil Okay, Adalvo
- Joerg Ahlgrimm, SK Pharmteco
- Julia Tsetis, Tsetis Group
- Michael Kocher, Xellia Pharmaceuticals
- Prashant Nagre, Fermenta Biotech
- Shreehas Tambe, Biocon
- Swapn Malpani, Cipla
- Zhao Yan, Bloomage Biotechnology
