This week, FierceVaccines was at the 2008 World Vaccine Conference in Washington, DC., the largest North America vaccines conference. Vaccine developers, contract service organizations, vaccine manufacturers and government organizations all participated in the event, no doubt reveling in the vaccine industry's recent popularity [1] in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Along with the usual goings-on, the conference featured the ViE Awards--awards given in recognition of the accomplishments of companies and individuals in the global vaccine industry. Below are this year's seven winners:

• Best CRO: Covance
• Best CMO: Cobra
• Best Vaccine Start-Up: Genocea
• Best Vaccine R&D: GSK Biologicals [2]
• Best Partnership Alliance: Sanofi Aventis & Oxford Biomedica [3]
• Best Therapeutic Vaccine: Intercell & Hepatitis C vaccine
• Best Prophylactic Vaccine: Merck & Co, Gardasil

- for more on the awards, click here [4]
- see the full list [5] of nominees