eyeforpharma Awards - Europe 2017

Mar 14, 2017 - Mar 16, 2017, Barcelona

Because your patients want you to win

Disruptive Innovation Lab Scoops Prestigious Award

LEO Innovation Lab wins big at the eyeforpharma awards in Barcelona



A scheme that set out to disrupt pharma and promote innovation, LEO Innovation Lab at LEO Pharma has been given the Customer Innovator Award at the European arm of the eyeforpharma Awards 2017.

All the finalists in this category were true innovators striving for patient value, but the judges hailed the one-of-a-kind patient-centric project developed by Kristian Hart-Hansen as a “clear winner”.

“We have really become disruptive from within,” said Catalina Cernica from LEO Innovation Lab, accepting the award on behalf of the company and Hart-Hansen. “It is a challenge that we have taken gladly, we are bringing people from very varied backgrounds together and asking tough questions. I think it is helping the entire company to look at things in a fresher way.”

The thinking behind the project was already a fundamental part of the company’s DNA, but the Innovation Lab took it to the next step, she added.

In less than 18 months, co-founder and CEO, Kristian Hart-Hansen, built a team of designers, software engineers, business specialists, growth hackers and anthropologists to champion more than 35 concepts and prototypes, eight of which are already available to patients in the UK, Canada and Denmark. One example is PsoHappy, a finalist in the Most Valuable Pharma Collaboration category.

PsoHappy is an innovative way of exploring the impact of psoriasis on well-being by employing methodologies used by the United Nations Happiness Report. A unique partnership with The Happiness Research Institute, a think tank deeply anchored into measuring and addressing well-being inequality cross the world, PsoHappy is currently being scaled up to more than 20 countries and 7 languages. This ambitious initiative was designed to improve the lives of people with skin conditions by adopting user-centric principles and disrupting the usual approaches of pharma. LEO Innovation Lab focuses on all aspects of everyday life that can affect people living with different kinds of skin conditions such as psoriasis, acne and eczema – and develops and integrates solutions and services to meet their needs.

“This stood out for me as the best example of attempting to understand the patient and innovate to meet their needs,” commented one of the judges.

Finalists in this category included:

Brindha Sridhar (UCB) – a cross-practice, cross-region and cross-mission initiative to understanding subconscious drivers in the Parkinson’s patient journey, the UCB DRIVE PD Research team started with the premise that 80% of drivers are subconscious.

David Aubert (Philips) – with 75% of psoriasis patients dissatisfied with their treatments, Philips BlueControl is the first wearable UV-free blue-LED-light medical device to treat plaque psoriasis at home.


The Customer Innovator Award is one of six categories of the eyeforpharma Awards 2017 Europe. All the winners and more information on the awards website.



eyeforpharma Awards - Europe 2017

Mar 14, 2017 - Mar 16, 2017, Barcelona

Because your patients want you to win