Company: Star Syringe Ltd. East Sussex, England.
Company Description: Founded by Marc Koska in 1996, Star Syringe manufactures the K1 auto disable syringe. Star’s set up and approach is unique. It is a marketing, lobbying, and product development organisation which outsources the manufacturing process. Star has now licensed over 16 manufacturers around the globe where its competitors in the traditional disposable syringe market have only one.
Nomination Category: Company, Office & Product Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Multinational Company

Nomination Title: Star Syringe Ltd.

1. Tell the story about what this nominated company achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Star Syringe.

Star Syringe is a licensing company founded by Marc Koska to license and promote
his life saving invention K1. K1 is an auto-disable syringe; this is a syringe
that can only be used once, preventing the spread of disease from patient to
patient through reuse. According to the World Health Organisation about 40% of
injections given in the developing world are unsafe and diseases such as
HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis are spread in this manner. The K1 syringe locks and
breaks if an attempt is made to use it a second time stopping the loss of life
through syringe reuse.

Obstacles overcome.

The primary obstacle Star has had to overcome is ignorance of the issues
involved and skepticism on the part of Governments and Health Organisations.
Star has had to build the market through education. To this end one of Stars
primary goals is to stimulate legislation making syringe reuse illegal. At the
beginning of 2004 there was no extant legislation, over the last year through
Star’s efforts, legislation has either been passed or is in discussion in
fifteen countries. Star now have Presidential and Head of State support in five
countries due to relationships built predominantly in the last year. This is
borne out by a President of an African nation opening one of Star’s new
factories in November this year.

Achievements

Star has created an innovative business model that allows for unlimited
expansion on existing resources. The technology to manufacture K1 is transferred
to the countries where it is most needed. Star license the technology to local
manufacturers in the developing world who go through a simple conversion process
to manufacture K1. In this way countries labouring under heavy disease burdens
obtain part of the solution for themselves with local ownership and labour. Star
invest minimal resources while acquiring a massive manufacturing base. An
important part of Stars expansion is the signing up and converting of
manufacturers to K1. In 2004 Star have gone from fourteen to sixteen licensees. This is an annual increase in production capacity that our competitors will find  impossible to match without building new factories.

K1 is the first and only syringe product to win a tender from PEPFAR (Presidents
Emergency Program For AIDS Relief) this is an indication of the increasing
understanding of the need for auto-disable syringes.

Star is beginning to be recognised for its achievements, this year alone K1 and
Marc Koska were given the "Special Award for Outstanding Social and Economic
Value 2004" at the British Invention Show, Highly Commended for Innovation in
the National Business Awards and Entrepreneur of the Year in the Sussex Business
Awards.

Marc Koska was the originator and founding member of IASIT (International
Association for Safe Injection Technology), which has become a significant voice
in the fight to make all injections safe.

2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.starsyringe.com
http://www.safesyringes.com
http://www.iasit.org/main.htm
http://www.sussex-business-awards.co.uk/announcewinners.php
http://www.starsyringe.com/pages/news/publicnews/thehindujune04.html
http://www.starsyringe.com/pages/news/publicnews/indianewsjune2004.html http://www.starsyringe.com/pages/news/publicnews/timesofindiafeb2004.html http://www.starsyringe.com/pages/news/staralliancepress/argusarticle.html

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader of this nominated company:

Marc Koska founded Star in 1996 overcoming considerable skepticism that there
was a need for safer injections. Before 1996 little was known about HIV/AIDS and
the spread of infection through needle reuse generally.  To correct this, Koska
became (and remains) a tireless champion of safe injections.

Koska spurns formality even in the business environment.  He has a background as an accomplished Yachtsman in the English team and his progress as an inventor has
been largely intuitive.   He lives in Sussex with his wife and three young
children in ten acres of woodland where he is building his own house.