Galway-based medical technology and drug delivery company Aerogen has been chosen as Best Company for Innovation and Leadership at the 2014 IAIR Global Awards in Hong Kong for its Aeroneb nebuliser products, which it introduced in China two years ago.

Jim Liu, Aerogen's regional manager for Greater China, spoke of how the company had collaborated with its local partners Beijing Aeonmed Co Ltd and Xiamen Galemed Corporation to roll out the products to intensive care units and homes across mainland China.

“There is an increasing demand for our high performance hospital-grade products and we are delighted to be recognised for our innovation and leadership in this new market,” said Liu.

Sales in China have grown steadily over its two years there and are expected to reach €5 million in the next three years as the company rolls out its Aeroneb Solo product line, which has special application in paediatric intensive care.

Aerogen chief executive John Power said years of research and development had gone into pioneering the high-performance aerosol drug.

"We see innovation and IP as the very core of our business and our proprietary vibrating mesh technology, which we have protected globally by numerous international patents, has enabled Aerogen to become the recognised gold-standard for targeted drug delivery in our field," he said.

High-growth market
He described China as an emergent high-growth market for advanced technologies and said the group planned to rapidly establish in China a first-class technical and clinical product support infrastructure for their independent distributors and multinational respiratory healthcare partners such as Philips, Covidien, GE-Healthcare and Maquet.

The group has been given approval from the State Food and Drug Administration for its products.

The company, which was founded in Galway in 1997, has become the global leader in acute care aerosol drug delivery equipment, playing a critical role in treating patients on life-support ventilation in over 65 countries worldwide.