GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) has won the Essenscia Innovation Award 2016, the most important industrial innovation award in Belgium. The biopharmaceutical firm has developed a candidate vaccine against shingles and the results of the clinical tests among elderly patients are particularly encouraging. The essentially Belgian character of this vaccine is indisputable. Indeed, research and development were largely carried out in our country and production will be implemented mainly in Wavre.

The award was presented to GSK by H.R.H. Princess Astrid at an official ceremony at the Palais des Académies in Brussels.

Emmanuel Hanon, Head of R&D Vaccines at GSK: "In clinical trials, our candidate vaccine shows incredible efficacy among an elderly population. Almost all of us carry the chickenpox virus, but above all, it is among the elderly, who have a weakened immune system, that the virus can be reactivated and cause very painful skin lesions. In Europe alone, 1.7 million cases of shingles are recorded every year. If our vaccine is approved by the authorities, it could improve the quality of life of many patients. All that thanks to a vaccine that is largely made in Belgium!"

GSK has been based in Belgium since 1955 and employs more than 8,500 staff members, including 1,900 in R&D, at three sites: Rixensart, Gembloux and Wavre. With 2 million vaccines produced every day, the Wavre site, which covers an area of 550,000 m², is the largest vaccine production unit in the world.