Newhouse boffins win award for medical research

Nov 19 2008 by Judith Tonner, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

SCIENTISTS at Schering-Plough’s laboratory in Newhouse have won an innovation award for a new product which will benefit anaesthetists.

Researchers from the plant, formerly known as Organon before being bought over last year, have developed a new drug to reverse muscle relaxation, known as Bridion.

It works in a novel way to rapidly reverse muscle relaxation and give anaesthetists greater control during surgery.

The product was recognised with the 2008 Nexxus West of Scotland life science innovation award, which was presented at a ceremony in Glasgow last week.

Schering-Plough describe Bridion as “the first major pharmaceutical advance in the field of anaesthesia in two decades”.

David Hill, the company’s executive director of pharmacology, paid tribute to the work of the team.

He said: “The team at Newhouse is delighted to have developed such a highly effective reversal agent.

“We hope and believe that it will not only speed patient recovery time but help to decrease the risks inherent with any surgical procedure.”