(Dr. Imre Szentpétery, Director of Research and Development, Dr. Balázs Volk, Director of Drug Substance Development, Dennis Gábor laurate, Dr. Györgyné Ujfalussy, Deputy Director of Government Affairs, Csaba Poroszlai, CEO)

For his outstanding innovation activities, Dr. Balázs Volk, Director of Drug Substance Development at Egis, received the Dennis Gábor Award, while Dr. Pál Fekete, retired Head of Pharmaceutical Technology Operations, was honored with the Dennis Gábor Lifetime Achievement Award. The award serves as a heightened moral recognition for Hungarian professionals who play a creative role in the innovation process and pursue exceptional scientific and R&D activities. Considering all fields of science, only about seven nominated individuals receive this honor each year. The fact that among the awardees we can celebrate both an active and a retired colleague demonstrates the high quality of scientific work and advanced innovation capabilities at Egis.

Dr. Balázs Volk’s career is marked by numerous achievements and prestigious recognitions. Since 2020, he has been a Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (a title he earned at an exceptionally young age among industry professionals) and holds honorary professorships at two universities: BME and the University of Pannonia. According to the records of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office, he is the inventor of 89 patent families, and the Hungarian Scientific Works Database (MTMT) lists 312 publications under his name. In 2022, he received the György Oláh Award, established to support and recognize researchers under 45 working in the broader field of organic chemistry. Among his notable achievements are patents and patent applications related to rosuvastatin, where he is listed as co-inventor. Rosuvastatin is one of the active ingredients in Egis’s fixed-dose combination drug recommended for lipid reduction, which won the Innovation Grand Prize in 2024.

The Dennis Gábor Lifetime Achievement Award was granted to Dr. Pál Fekete, who retired in 2005 and whose professional career was largely tied to Egis. He joined our company in 1960 as a pre-admission university student, performing one year of manual work as required at the time, and after completing his studies, continued his career here as a chemical engineer. Soon, he became a member of the group engaged in pharmaceutical technology R&D and, as early as the 1970s, worked on implementing new methods emerging worldwide (such as film-coating technology), which were later successfully applied to several of the company’s popular medicines. He played a significant role in developing extended-release formulations—among them, his work on a capsule for treating and preventing potassium deficiency stands out; this product was named Medicine of the Year in 1998 by the Hungarian Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology. From 1995, as Head of the Pharmaceutical Technology Pilot Plant, he oversaw the development of all solid dosage forms at Egis, from laboratory scale to pilot production, and from 2000, he also led the development of liquid formulations (solutions, drops, and injections). His name is associated with 63 Egis (and EGYT) patents.

(in the middle: dr. Fekete Pál)

He later continued his professional work as Development Director at Meditop Pharmaceutical Ltd. From 2005, he contributed to organizing pharmaceutical technology training for chemical engineering students at BME, developing and teaching laboratory practices and training materials. His activities were recognized by BME with the title of Honorary Associate Professor.

The award ceremony took place in the Upper House Hall of the Parliament on December 16.