A number of researchers from the University of Sharjah won a number of innovation awards for health launched by the Ministry of Health and Prevention in its first edition, in the category of innovative initiatives (the main category) under which the sub-category innovative research falls. This came during the ceremony to announce the final results of the competition, where Dr. Mark Rawas-Qalaji, Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, won first place, and researcher Mina Rabei Al-Ani, Ph.D. molecular medicine researcher, won second place for her research presented under the supervision of Prof. Azzam A. Magazachi, Vice Dean of the College of Graduate Studies for Medicine. The research project submitted by Prof. Dr. Talib Al-Tal, Director of the Research Institute for Medicine and Health Sciences, and Dr. Mohamed Hamad, Assistant Professor at the Medical Laboratory Department at the College of Health Sciences, and team members, also won third place.

The research presented by Dr. Mark Rawas-Qalaji is focused on developing novel fast-disintegrating sublingual Epinephrine tablets as a new convenient alternative for patients who rely on intramuscular injection of Epinephrineusing the automatic injector. It is the only drug available to treat anaphylaxis. The patients' fear of using the injection, the frequent failure of the automatic injector, its short stability and the high cost of the automatic injector contribute greatly to the reluctance of a large number of patients to use it, which may lead to death. Also, a large number of patients often need a second dose of the drug, which worsens its administration challenges. The results of this study showed that these tablets have significant therapeutic advantages and they are characterized by their ability to rapidly break up under the tongue in just ten seconds and also allow for complete dissolution of the drug epinephrine under the tongue in less than one minute. This is as a result of the use of nanotechnology to manufacture the drug used in these novel tablets. These tablets demonstrated very good hardness and was able to maintain the stability of the drug for long periods of up to seven years.

The aim of the second-ranked research presented by the Researcher Mina Rabei Al-Ani, aims to devise new methods for medical drugs used in the treatment of mice with cerebrovascular disease, multiple sclerosis which is one of the diseases that affects humans. All clinical trials were conducted on laboratory experimental rats in The Animal Unit at the University of Sharjah, and the results showed that the drug used in this way works to improve clinical results in mice, and to alleviate all clinical signs or reduce the symptoms of this disease.

The third rank award-winning research team discovered and developed new small molecules that could kill Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). This bacterium can cause a serious and life-threatening infection in humans, especially hospital patients, and it is difficult to treat it because it is resistant to antibiotics. The team installed and developed small molecules that could kill MRSA much faster than the commonly used antibiotics. Moreover, MRSA has been unable to develop resistance to these new compounds. These compounds are safe against human cells and mice, making them the main candidate for the development of new antibiotics. These compounds are patented in the U.S. and internationally and are currently being tested in animal models as new therapies against MRSA.