Pictured above: (l-r) Prof. Stan Heptinstall (Platelet Solutions Ltd), Karen Holland, (Xcam), Carl Barratt (Monica Healthcare), Nik Kotecha (Morningside Pharmaceuticals) and Simon Shepard (Optima-Life)

Five companies have walked away with coveted prizes in this year's Medilink East Midlands Business Awards, further highlighting the impact and influence of the healthcare and bioscience business sector across the region.

From fetal monitors to cardiovascular testing, the award winners collected their honours at the Innovation Day awards' evening held at the East Midlands Conference Centre on Wednesday 11th May.

The winners: 

Outstanding Achievement Award - Monica Healthcare Ltd (Nottingham)

Innovation Award - XCAM (Northampton)

Partnership with the NHS Award - Optima-Life (Nottingham)

Export Award - Morningside Pharmaceuticals (Loughborough)

Start-up Award - Platelet Solutions Ltd (Nottingham)

Speaking after the awards were announced, Dr Darren Clark CEO Medilink East Midlands commented: "The creativity and innovation shown by these companies has created jobs, profits and business growth which should contribute to the region's continued climb out of recession. This evening has been a great showcase of the achievements of our sector and is a shining example of the strength and breadth of our membership. These awards represent a fantastic opportunity for all those involved and we look forward to seeing much more of all the finalists in the future."

Monica Healthcare has recently been granted FDA approval for the sale of fetal monitors that can be worn by pregnant mothers both within hospital and the home. CEO Carl Barratt said: "This is a culmination of three years of hard work and congratulations must go to the whole team for their contribution towards our FDA approval. This award is well-deserved regional and national recognition and great technical and market validation of our product, of which we are all very proud."   

XCAM manufactures digital cameras for major science applications in extreme and technically-challenging environments. The company's capability and know-how has already resulted in the design and manufacture of a unique CCD camera system which scientists used to take world-leading images of the mimi-virus. CEO Karen Holland said: "The award is fantastic recognition for all the hard work that the XCAM team have put in. It will help to raise our profile and highlight our outstanding ability to design and manufacture challenging, world-leading imaging solutions which enable our customers to extend the boundaries of medical and life science research."

Optima-Life was recognised for its recent collaboration with the Glenfield Hospital Leicester Cardiology Department in assisting the evaluation of exercise capacity in chronic heart failure patients. CEO Simon Shepard said: "We are delighted to receive this award which recognises true three-way collaboration between ourselves, the NHS and Medlink East Midlands, whose support certainly helped to make things happen.  We have been able to use technology to help not only patients, but also NHS staff who are working in a very challenging environment. The improved health and well-being of the NHS workforce can only impact positively on the productivity and performance of the NHS."    

Morningside Pharmaceuticals supplies a wide range of pharmaceutical and medical device products to over 80 countries and has increased its export sales by nearly 75% over the last two years. Marketing Director Nik Kotecha said: "This recognition is a testament to our first class customer service capabilities, high quality products and competitive pricing. My sincere thanks go to the whole team here at Morningside who have helped the company to achieve this most welcome accolade."   

Platelet Solutions Ltd is a spin-out of the University of Nottingham and now produces simple-to-use kits which enable platelet function testing to help diagnose the causes of abnormal bleeding and assess the effects of drugs and dietary manipulations - thereby reducing the risk of adverse cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke and sudden death. Receiving the award Professor Heptinstall said: "We are absolutely delighted that Medilink East Midlands rate us so highly. We have already had huge support from the university in helping us launch the company and this added recognition from the local business community is very encouraging." 

The award sponsors were BioCity Nottingham (Best Start Up), Medilink East Midlands (Export Achievement), NHS East Midlands (Partnership with the NHS), Potter Clarkson LLP (Innovation) and Healthcare and Bioscience iNet (Outstanding Achievement).

This year's winners are automatically entered into the Medilink UK national awards which will take place in early 2012.