Complementary Medicines Australia 2022 Annual Conference and 23rd Annual Industry Awards Dinner Event Wrap up

Complementary Medicines Australia (CMA) extends a heartfelt thank you to delegates, speakers, sponsors and exhibitors who attended the 2022 Annual Conference and 23rd Annual Industry Awards Dinner. CMA were delighted to host these events in-person at the Sofitel Darling Harbour, as well as offering an online streaming option for our members viewing virtually both here and overseas.

As always, we are grateful to our speakers, sponsors and exhibitors for helping to make these events possible each year, with a special thank you to TSI Group our main Conference sponsor and Ferngrove Pharmaceuticals who sponsored the Industry Awards Dinner.

The events in 2022 have marked a special milestone for CMA as we celebrated the associations 50th anniversary and journey to health.

Annual Conference

The Annual Conference honoured the theme of 'Our 50 Year Journey to Health', showcasing a positive, diverse and thoughtful program of speakers that explored key areas covering the Australian and global regulatory frameworks, traditional and scientific herbal formulating & probiotics, as well as sustainability and the future of healthcare and trends.

Launched at the Conference, in an effort to support our 2025 decarbonisation goals as an industry, was the opportunity for TEN CMA members to join Sustainability Advantage and participate in a tailored Net Zero Emissions Leadership Accelerator. This first of its kind tailored program will be kicking off in February 2023. A special thanks to Ian Chant for steeping in as our MC and to all our incredible speakers.

Presentations and Conference Recording

Presentation slides are available on the conference app. Just click on the session you wish to view slides for, the PDF can be accessed under “Attachments” at the bottom of the page. Slides are accessible on your device or via the browser version here: https://cvent.me/x8rLvG

Delegates also have access tot he conference recording. Please contact Cameron.Thorpe@cmaustralia.org.au to receive the recording. 

23rd Annual Industry Awards - Click here to view photos from the Industry Awards

CMA were particularly excited to celebrate our Annual Industry Awards in 2022 as it marks the 50th Anniversary of our association. CMA members and guests packed the sold out event in the Magnifique Ballroom at the Sofitel Darling Harbour, and enjoyed letting their hair down for drinks and giggles using the photobooth in the pre-function area.

Special thanks go to our event sponsor Ferngrove Pharmaceuticals who gave away 30 soda maker machines as prizes, and to our entertainment for the evening incredible solo singer Shane Edwards and our big hit for the night FABBA.

Many congratulations go out to our award winners, in particular the winner of the Lady Cilento Award – Marcus Blackmore.

2022 Award Winners

Young Achiever of the Year Award - Sponsored by Insurance Made Easy

This award applauds young individuals and recognises the importance of ensuring that we celebrate and acknowledge exceptional individuals for today and for the future. This award celebrates innovation and leadership through to the next generation and beyond.

The Young Achiever – thanks to our sponsors Insurance Made Easy, is awarded attendance to the CMA Annual Conference & Industry Awards, flights to the Industry Awards Gala Dinner and a nights Accommodation at the Sofitel Darling Harbour.

Winner: Dr Phoebe Zhou

Dr Phoebe Zhou is an outstanding young postdoctoral researcher, at Western Sydney University’s NICM Health Research Institute. Dr Phoebe is dedicated to building scientific evidence for the mechanisms of complementary medicine products and has pioneered novel approaches to the investigation of the synergistic benefits of complex herbal and nutraceutical formulations.

Dr Zhou’s research helps clarify the mystery of efficacy in herbal formulations and promotes broader acceptance of combination therapy in complementary medicine products. In addition, Phoebe has also developed a more simplified, rapid way of simultaneously testing different mechanisms of action of key compounds.

Social Selling Award

This award recognises excellence demonstrated by an organisation that provides quality complementary medicines to consumers via the vibrant and growing direct selling sales channel.

Winner: Herbalife Nutrition

Herbalife Nutrition - a global nutrition company - is empowering individuals to improve their nutritional habits through science-backed products, exclusively available through Herbalife Nutrition independent distributors.

Outstanding Digital Commerce Award

This award celebrates the very best in digital commerce excellence and recognises innovation, creativity, engagement and success. The winner of this category created an innovative product or service that demonstrably improved the end-user experience. The process for developing the product or service was user-focused and followed appropriate government and industry standards and protocols.

Winner: Blackmores Group for their 'Brilliant Basics and EDGE Digital Shelf

Retailer sentiment confirmed consumers were experiencing pain-points throughout their online journey as they navigate the VDS category. Throughout 2022 Blackmores Group addressed these challenges, undertaking a digital transformation intended to facilitate a best-in-class online consumer journey. All digital touchpoints across Blackmores, BioCeuticals and PAW brands were redeveloped in-line with Blackmores Brilliant Basics.

Blackmores Group has undertaken a digital transformation intended to facilitate a best-in-class online consumer journey. ‘Brilliant Basics’ focused on creating a consistent, relevant online presence through improved search rankings, prioritising online product availability, driving consumer ratings and reviews and optimised digital content.

Exporter of the Year Award

The Exporter of the Year Award recognises excellence demonstrated by a member engaged in international business, who is achieving sustainable growth through innovation and commitment to exporting. The award measures firms based on the strength of their strategy in securing a foothold in new markets or enhancing their brand in established markets.

Winner: Swisse Wellness

Export is a fundamental pillar of the Swisse business. Their product and geographic diversification strategy has enabled them to grow and develop in 13 Asian markets, as evidenced by ranking the No.1 CBEC brand on Lazada in the FMCG category in 2022, an increase from last years’ No.4 ranking.

Swisse maintains its No.1 position in the online vitamin, herbal and mineral supplements market in China, and gains market share in new markets in South-East Asia.

John Baker Retailer of the Year Award Sponsored by Life-Space Group

This newly named award in honour of industry stalwart John Baker, honours the most outstanding complementary healthcare industry retailer in the last 12 months. It is awarded for their creativity and innovation in retailing and for a positive contribution made to the community and industry.

Winner: Go Vita Grafton

Leita and Craig Beehag and their team at Go Vita Grafton are worthy award winners, committed to serving their local community’s health and wellness needs.

Leita and Craig Beehag, epitomise what it means to be part of a co-operative. Leita and Craig Beehag have been Go Vita Members since 2008 and are actively committed to the industry. Their qualified staff aim to provide personalised health and wellness advice to all their customers. Leita and Craig have many long-term employees and are highly respected by staff and the community as a whole. Their community spirit is unwavering, having supported them through many natural disasters, most recently through bushfires and floods.

Sustainability Award Sponsored by Zipform Packaging

This Award recognises organisations that execute initiatives that demonstrate leadership, commitment and innovation in sustainability. The CMA Awards offer participants with the unique opportunity to benchmark themselves against the top performers nationally.

Winner: Factors Group

Factors Group Australia are committed to sustainable business and are carbon neutral (Bullfrog Certified), a certified B Corporation® and Signatory of the United Nations Global Compact.

Factors Group continues to push the boundaries on supply chain visibility and reducing the impact of industry on the environment. Factors Group initiatives are now independently reviewed and audited against many major sustainability organisations globally, with a year-on-year commitment to demonstrable and impactful environmental change.

Factors Group have a commitment to sustainability throughout their operations - from seed to shelf and by leading in sustainability, the hope is others will rise to the challenge and work together to build a better future.

Marcus Blackmore Contribution to Research Education and Training Award

This newly named award honours the most outstanding contribution or breakthrough by an individual or small team in education, research or training for the advancement and benefit of the complementary medicines industry.

Winner: Prof Dennis Chang

Professor Dennis Chang is a leading researcher with international standing and has made a substantial contribution to the development of complementary medicine industry in Australia.

Prof Dennis Chang has 22-years’ experience working in complementary medicine as a researcher, educator and mentor. Prof Chang has successfully built and managed multiple significant collaborative projects with industry partners. For example, he has led a significant R&D project to develop a novel intervention for vascular dementia, for which no viable pharmaceutical options are currently available. He has demonstrated strong leadership and commitment in supporting the industry in Australia. Under his leadership as the director, NICM Health Research Institute, continues to build infrastructure (e.g., GMP manufacturing facility) and capacity to support industry development.

Industry Contributor of the Year Award Sponsored by Homart

This award honours and recognises the consistent, dedicated contribution of an individual or team to the advancement and promotion of any aspect of the complementary health industry in the last 12 months.

Winner: Sally Townsend

Sally Townsend has been a key contributor to the CMA Sustainability agenda since the Sustainability Committee was established in 2019 and was key in the development of the CMA Sustainability Strategy, which commits our industry to four programs of work aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, that are value-driving for individual members, that benefit the community and that will be important for the future resilience of our industry.

Sally is chair of the CMA Modern Slavery Working Group and has been instrumental in the development of tools and education to enable our industry to align on human rights risk assessment.

Sally has helped secure opportunities available to CMA members to start their decarbonisation journey and to support our industry ambition that by 2025 all members are measuring their carbon footprint and have committed to greenhouse gas reduction.

Most Outstanding Marketing Campaign Award

This award recognises the complementary medicine industry’s best marketing campaign for the year. The award is based on the strength and relevance of the message for the stated target audience, credible image of the product or service reflected by the campaign, its duration and the campaign’s commercial success. This includes the presentation of information for consumers about the complementary medicines industry in either print, electronic or website format.

Winner – Life-Space Group

The 2022 Life-Space master-brand campaign has contributed towards significant growth for the brand and probiotic category, raising awareness and understanding of the human microbiome-health connection.

Life-Space Probiotics has partnered with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to support a world-leading Life-Space Reef Probiotics Project, investigating the role of probiotics in supporting coral health, restoring resilience and reducing bleaching.

The campaign embraces the analogy of ‘ecosystems’, illustrating similarities between our own precious microbial ecosystem and that of the reef. The combination of vibrant imagery with an original soundtrack, created by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, brings to life the importance of a healthy microbiome and the role of probiotics.

Highly Commended - SFI Health Home of Flordis

Prospan began 2022 in a precarious position, losing share in the chesty cough category. The brand needed to refocus its message, highlighting points of difference & market leading clinical evidence, while reminding consumers + healthcare professionals alike that natural products can provide superior efficacy. The result - Prospan Helps Take Their Cough Away campaign revitalized the brand to drive category growth, and secure the brands position as Australia’s Number 1 Natural Chesty Cough Relief product.

Wholesaler/Distributor of the Year Award

This award honours the Wholesaler or Distributor that has made the most significant contribution to the complementary medicines industry throughout the past 12 months.

Winner: Go Vita Group Limited

Go Vita are a national niche distributor to the health food channel, with our 5,000 health and wellness products, attractive pricing and monthly offers to their customers. Their commitment to the health food industry for over 35 years has seen them continually play a pivotal role in securing the development of the natural health market in Australia.

The continual establishment and development of professional retail outlets, ensures complementary healthcare products remain in the health channel space. With 120 stores across Australia, Go Vita aims to present a high level of credibility and professionalism for the industry.

Go Vita have been a stalwart in the health channel for over 30 years and highly deserve this recognition of their commitment to the industry.

Quality Raw Material Supplier of the Year Award - Sponsored by Probiotics Australia

This award recognises the complementary medicines industry’s quality raw material supplier of the year, who supply supported products and are highly respected by industry partners.

Winner: Pathway International

In the last 25 years, Pathway International have regularly introduced premium, well-researched raw materials to the Australian market, meeting and often exceeding quality and regulatory standards.

Pathway work closely with brand marketers and contract manufacturers from start to finish. Their excellence in customer service is a result of on time delivery, in full and to specification.

Pathway International have gained TGA approval of more than a dozen clinically studied ingredients, which has allowed sponsors to give their customers additional options for their health and wellness. Currently Pathway have two new raw materials under review with TGA.

Innovator of the Year Award Sponsored by The Health Ingredients Co

The Innovator of the Year Award recognises excellence demonstrated by a member who has successfully applied new ideas within their business to create value and drive performance. This could be innovation in product or service, process innovation, marketing strategy, business model, or any other aspect of the business.

Winner: Brauer Natural Medicine – for Brauer’s New Range of Probiotics for Babies & Children

Brauer has been supporting Australian families for over 90 years. Brauer’s new range of probiotics are novel as they represent a leap to a new generation of probiotic products. As a result, unlike broad spectrum probiotics on the market, Brauer’s products are targeted, firstly at babies or kids, and secondly at specific health concerns (e.g., colic, immunity, and regularity). It is an initiative which creates change in what was a well-established, saturated market, and adds value to consumers.

Brauer’s range provides a simple solution for parents and takes the guesswork out of product selection. It is targeted to make parents life easier, combining evidence-based probiotics with formats to support each age group, and tailors them for a specific purpose.

Our judges commented that – “The technical challenges for liquid probiotics should not be underestimated and those challenges historically have limited the delivery of probiotics to children. Brauer saw the challenge and developed targeted formats with quality ingredients and science to meet the needs of parent and their children”.

Brauer’s probiotics range is an example of consumer driven innovation, designed to create change in an established market and provide a simple solution for parents.

High Quality Manufacturer of the Year Award Sponsored by Ultra Labels

This award honours the manufacturer of the year and celebrates the company that has made the most significant contribution to the complementary medicines industry throughout the past year.

Winner: TSI Group

TSI has over 26 years’ experience in discovering, sourcing, and manufacturing the highest quality products. Their Ingredients Solutions Division is launching their innovative TSI Ingredient Processing Centre, delivering the highest levels of processed ingredient quality and performance, from the raw materials to the final product that is marketed.

TSI puts the health of consumers first. From sourcing ingredients to manufacturing supplements, they assure that what you are receiving is of the highest quality and is sustainable.

Judges Choice Award

Occasionally the Judges receive an outstanding nomination that showcases the very best of our industry but may fall out of the selection criteria of a particular award. To acknowledge an entrant who has made an outstanding nomination deserving of recognition, the CMA Board of directors introduced the Judge’s Choice Award - to be awarded at the discretion of the Judging Panel.

This year, the Judges commented that a nomination had been received for a category that the nominee had won several times over the years. However, what really stood out this year was the contribution to the broader industry and the wealth of industry support mentioned through other nominations.

Winner: Lipa Pharmaceuticals

Lipa Pharmaceuticals has been at the forefront of complementary medicine manufacturing in Australia since its inception in 1995. Lipa enjoys a highly diverse customer base which includes small/independent businesses to global iconic brands, many of which hailed Lipa’s praise through the award nominations.

Lipa’s reputation as a high-quality manufacturer of complementary medicines comes from many years of accumulated knowledge of highly talented people from all areas of the organisation.

Lipa also recognises the importance of a strong industry and has contributed through representations on the CMA Board and its regulatory and manufacturing committees. Lipa also recently hosted an industry event which included a cross section of industry stakeholders and representatives of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to help shape a solution for an industry issue around probiotics.

Overall - Lipa strives for market-breaking innovations for its customers and their end consumers, by adopting a number of benchmark practices, ensuring consistently high product quality.

The CMA Judges were very proud of the progress achieved in 2022, which has only been possible due to the highly passionate and talented Lipa team.

Congratulations Lipa Pharmaceuticals on winning this year’s Judges choice award.

Lady Cilento Award

The Australian complementary medicines industry's most prestigious Award, the Lady Cilento Award, honours an individual's lifetime achievement and outstanding contribution to our sector and community.

Winner: Marcus Blackmore

The 2022 Lady Cilento is awarded to legend and father of the industry, Marcus Blackmore. Marcus donates generously each and every year to research and science of complementary medicines. The Industry Award dates back to 1977 - it was Marcus who proposed the industry contribution award and it was first presented to Lady Phyllis Cilento at the opera House in 1977.

Marcus was the foundation President of the Nutritional Foods Association of Australia. He started the Industry Association and planned CMA’s very first convention back in 1977.

Marcus is as comfortable walking the factory floor as he is the halls of power in Canberra. He is a true legend, so on our 50th Anniversary we extend heartfelt congratulations to Marcus Blackmore

Event Sponsors & Exhibitors                      

     

Conference Major Sponsor                                             Industry Awards Dinner Sponsor           

              

Sponsors & Exhibitors