Simcro scores top international design award

MEDIA RELEASE

December 1, 2009

Simcro scores top international design award

HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND: Simcro has continued its winning streak by adding a coveted International Forum (IF) 2010 product design award from Germany to its collection this week.

The Hamilton-based design manufacturing company won its award in the Industry/Skilled Trades category for its revolutionary Optiline TM Drencher which was developed for the new sheep drench ZOLVIX® (monepantel) from Novartis Animal Health.

The IF Design Awards are held annually and are one of three leading design awards in the world. Their significance is recognised throughout the design world and beyond.

More than 20 internationally-recognised jurors, consisting of designers and entrepreneurs, select the winning products from a total of 2486 entries from 39 different countries. This year 778 products gained IF product awards. The IF awards have been running since 1953 and are seen as an enduring accolade for outstanding design.

Simcro’s win at the IF product awards means it is in the running for a gold IF award given to the best 50 products and announced next March at the start of the 2010 IF Exhibition in Hanover, Germany. The exhibition is expected to attract around 250,000 international visitors. Simcro’s winning product will be on display at the exhibition. It will also be shown on the IF website, which is one of the most popular design platforms on the Web. Plus, Optiline will be featured in the IF product design award yearbook 2010, which has a worldwide circulation of 5000 copies.

“This is a hugely prestigious award, especially as we were competing against the best the world has to offer. We believe we are at the cutting edge of innovative design for animal health delivery products and this win supports that belief. I congratulate and thank everyone who has been involved in the development of this product,” comments Simcro managing director Will Rouse.

Simcro specialises in providing customised animal health delivery solutions to the pharmaceutical industry.

In 2006, Novartis Animal Health, Switzerland, challenged Simcro and several of their global competitors to supply a revolutionary new sheep drenching system to launch a new drench, ZOLVIX. Simcro rose to the challenge with the development of the Optiline sheep drench gun.

The company challenged the design of the traditional pistol-grip style drench gun, which had not changed from its basic form in 30 years.

The inherent design flaw of the pistol-grip gun is that the drench nozzle points away from the operator, requiring them to rotate their hand through 180 degrees to administer the drench into the sheep’s mouth.

The resulting incompatible bio-mechanics create significant operator fatigue and discomfort, and with sustained use, injury to the wrist, forearm and back.

The Optiline drench gun overcomes these problems by having the drench nozzle protruding from the base of the operator’s hand, allowing for a natural presentation of the drench gun with precise control, thus greatly minimising stress to the operator and animal.

Simcro currently has approximately 40 projects under development for the leading global animal health companies.

In June 2009, Simcro was a finalist in the New Zealand Agritech Innovation Awards with its Optiline drencher. In August, company director Rod Walker won the prestigious Bayer Innovators Award for design and engineering. And in September, the company was a finalist in three categories of the 2009 New Zealand Trade and Enterprise International Business Awards.

In October, Simcro won a bronze award in the 2009 NZ BEST design awards for Optiline.

The Optiline drench gun is just one example of the Simcro range of animal health delivery products.

Simcro’s international partners include Novartis Animal Health Inc., Pfizer, Schering-Plough Intervet, Merial, Ancare, and Argenta.

The company currently exports over 90 percent of its products to more than 65 countries.

ENDS

For more information on the Optiline TM Drencher visit this website: http://www.zolvix.com/optimum/close-up.shtml

Photos available on http://www.ah.novartis.com/about/en/contact_media.shtml

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