Amgen Given UCI Medical Award for Cancer Treatment Drug : Research: Neupogen stimulates blood cell growth in bone marrow, offsetting the toxic effects of chemotherapy.

IRVINE —  UC Irvine on Tuesday awarded Amgen Inc. a 1991 Medical Product of the Year Award for its development of a drug that stimulates blood cell growth in bone marrow, a technique that helps patients overcome the toxic effects of chemotherapy.

“It’s the No. 1 blockbuster drug to come out of the biomedical industry in at least five years,” said Dr. Andrew Senyei, a judge in the annual competition, sponsored by UCI’s Medical Research and Education Society. “It is a billion-dollar drug.”

Amgen spokeswoman Lauri Frymark said the drug, which is injected into cancer patients, has been more than five years in the making.

The Thousand Oaks pharmaceutical firm was given final federal approval to market neupogen in February, 1991, and it is one of the most successful products launched in the pharmaceutical industry, she said.

Sales for the first full year, which ended in February, totaled $261 million, Amgen spokeswoman Kimberly Dorsey said. First-quarter sales for the current fiscal year were about $100 million, she said.

Honors for the best new medical device went to SensorMedics Corp. of Yorba Linda for its oscillatory ventilator, which is used to provide oxygen to premature babies.

“It’s fantastic,” Chief Executive Officer George D. Holmes said. “We have been just absolutely delighted with the response from the marketplace.”

The lungs of some premature babies “tend to not respond to traditional ventilation methods,” said Donald Milder, another judge. SensorMedics’ machine could save thousands of infants’ lives a year, he said, adding: “It provides critical support.”

Holmes said the ventilator saves hospital costs because it reduces a premature baby’s hospital stay as much as 40% and lowers respiratory damage caused by disease and breathing problems.

The awards were announced at Medical Research and Education Society’s sixth annual symposium. The medical research society is a division of the UCI College of Medicine and School of Biological Sciences.

The symposium was held at the Beckman Center for the National Academies of Sciences on the UCI campus.