Winner of the ESOT - Fujisawa Study and Research Grant announced

VENICE (Italy) September 24 (PROTEXT/PRNewswire) - Fujisawaannounced today, at the 11th Congress of the European Society forOrgan Transplantation (ESOT) in Venice, the winner of its 2002Study and Research Grant that has been created in partnershipwith ESOT.

The grant, which recognises innovation excellence by youngresearchers in the fields of clinical and experimentaltransplantation, was awarded to Dr Harm Hoekstra from GroningenUniversity Hospital, The Netherlands.

In partnership with ESOT, every year Fujisawa awards theprestigious Study and Research Grant to fund a new project by ayoung scientist. This is just one of a number of initiatives thatFujisawa supports as part of its commitment to helping provideyoung European researchers in transplantation with the necessaryskills and knowledge to contribute to the understanding of, andclinical practice in this most challenging of fields.

The winner, Dr Hoekstra, was awarded a grant of EUR35,000 andwill be researching the effects of bile phospholipid depletionand ischaemia/reperfusion on biliary epithelial cells in a mouseliver transplant model at the University Hospital Zurich inSwitzerland.

Fujisawa, a leader in the field of solid organtransplantation medicine and manufacturer of Prograf(r)(tacrolimus), a cornerstone of immunosuppressive therapy, is aresearch-driven pharmaceutical company, and is firmly committedto innovative research and development.

Fujisawa is currently developing a number of innovativecompounds for potential use in transplantation.

Fujisawa GmbH is a subsidiary of Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd., based in Osaka, Japan. Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. isamong the world's top 30 pharmaceutical companies and employsover 8000 people in Japan, Europe, North America and Asia. Sinceits launch of Prograf(r) in Japan in 1993, the first in theworld, Fujisawa has become one of the world's leading transplantand immunosuppression companies.

Fujisawa plans to maintain its commitment to transplantation,and is dedicated both to improving the results of solid-organtransplantation and to ensuring the health and quality of life ofpatients. Prograf(r) is currently available in nearly 70countries and forms the centerpiece of Fujisawa's continuinggrowth. Additional information on Fujisawa GmbH can be found onthe Company's Web site at www.fujisawaeurope.com.

The European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT),founded in 1982 in Zurich (Switzerland), facilitates educationand research relevant to organ transplantation. ESOT has createda scientific forum for the discussion of clinical experience, theintroduction of confirmed experimental results and new methodsinto clinical practice, as well as discussions of legal andethical problems and matters related to this field.

For more information about the ESOT-Fujisawa Study andResearch Grant, who is eligible and how to apply, please refer towww.esot.org or www.fujisawaeurope.com.

For further information and a photograph of the winner of theESOT-Fujisawa Study and Research Grant please contact: MaritéOde, Fujisawa GmbH, Munich, Germany, T: +49 89 45442249, F: +4989 434129, media@fujisawa.de

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