CHESHIRE--Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) has received the Prix Gallen USA 2008 Award for Best Biotechnology Product for Soliris.

The award recognizes the scientific innovation shown by the technology of Soliris, and the impact the drug is having on the lives of patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) a rare, dibilitationg and life-threatening blood disorder.

Patients with PNH lack proteins that prevent a conditions that causes the red blood cell destruction that is central to mortality.

Soliris was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in March 2007 after more than 15 years of research. It was later approved by the European Commission in June.

The Prix Gallen USA awards recognized the technical, scientific and clinical reserach skills necessary to develop innovative medicines and is considered the industry's highest accolate for pharmaceutical reserach and development--equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals is headquarterd on Knotter Drive and has a manufacturing plant in Rhode Island.