Official Rules and Release - The Sternfels Prize for Drug Safety Innovation

Rules and Release - The Sternfels Prize for Drug Safety Discoveries Official

PLEASE READ THESE OFFICIAL RULES AND RELEASE CAREFULLY. THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS. Void where prohibited.

SPONSOR. The Contest is sponsored by Wapta LLC (“Sponsor”), 23 Corporate Plaza, Suite 150.
ELIGIBILITY. The Sternfels Prize (the “Contest”) is not open to residents of, and is void in, any jurisdiction where the Contest would be restricted or prohibited by law. Participants in the Contest (“Participants”) must be at least 18 years of age (or the local age of majority where they live, if higher) at the time of registration. Employees and contractors of Sponsor and the family members of, and any persons domiciled with, any such employees and contractors, are not eligible to win. The term “family members” includes spouses, parents, grandparents, siblings, children, grandchildren and in-laws, regardless of where they live.
TERM. The Contest will open at 12:01 a.m. E.D.T. on September 7th, 2021 and submissions will be accepted until 5 pm E.D.T. on January 31, 2022. The announcement of the prize winner will be on or around February 15, 2022.
HOW TO ENTER. The Sternfels Prize was created reduce the risk associated with the real-world use of pharmaceuticals. It is awarded to the most novel, important and testable idea to reduce life threatening drug-drug, drug-disease or pharmacogenomic interactions. The purpose of the Contest is to incentivize pharmacologists, pharmacists, medical practitioners, academics and students to think about ways to reduce the real world risks patients face from polypharmacy, interacting co-morbidities and genetic variations. Too often serious adverse events with potentially mechanisitic causes are accepted as random side effects that have to be tolerated. The Sternfels Prize is designed to catalyze great minds to identify and hopefully eliminate such situations. All Submissions (as defined below) must be in English and must comply with any specified requirements.

To make a Submission, each Participant must complete all required fields on the Contest submission form on the Contest website. A Participant may submit more than one Submission, but must fulfill all entry requirements for each Submission. Entry prizes are limited to one per applicant. Each Submission will be evaluated independently. Submissions must be made through sternfelsprize.org (following all instructions) and be brief and clear. Each Submission should be submitted as a PDF no longer than three (3) pages, plus any appendices or citations the Participant deems relevant.

All Submissions must be the Participant’s own work and not already be adequately addressed on an existing drug label or in a scholarly work.

Sponsor may decide that reasonable modifications to entry, judging or other criteria (for example, additional clarification or detail for submission requirements) are appropriate for the Contest to run smoothly and to help the Participants make their best contributions. Sponsor reserves the right to modify or supplement these Official Rules, and to communicate such modifications or supplements to Participants, as Sponsor deems reasonable.

Any questions regarding the eligibility or appropriateness of any Submissions for consideration in the Contest shall be resolved by Sponsor in its sole discretion. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any Submissions (a) by persons who submit false or misleading entry information or who Sponsor determines to be tampering with or abusing any aspect of the Contest; or (b) that do not comply with any provision of these Official Rules.
COMPETITION CRITERIA AND WINNER SELECTION. Submissions will be reviewed as they are submitted, up until the closing deadline of 5pm E.D.T. on January 31, 2022.

Entries will be judged on the following criteria:
- Inclusion of at least one prescription medication;
- Scientific basis for hypothesis (the stronger the better);
- Seriousness of potential interaction (the more serious the better);
- Proposed clinical/non-clinical ways to test the hypothesis (the more quantifiable the better); and
- Originality – hypothesis must not have been directly studied or currently addressed on a drug label.
Consideration of any Submission is not an admission by Sponsor of the novelty, propriety or originality of the Submission or any idea in the Submission.

On or about February 15, 2022, judges will select the winning submission based on the above criteria, subject to verification of eligibility with these Official Rules.
RULES FOR SUBMISSIONS; WARRANTIES. All content and materials provided by a Participant in connection with the Participant’s participation in the Contest including, without limitation, any entries, ideas, images, and any other intellectual property (collectively, the “Submission”), must be the original content and materials of the Participant. By submitting the Submission to the Contest, Participant represents and warrants that (a) Participant has not published or otherwise publicly disclosed the Submission (or any portion of the Submission); (b) the Submission, and the use of the Submission by Participant, Sponsor and judges, and the licensees, successors and assigns of each of these, as contemplated herein will not violate or infringe any rights of any person or entity, including, without limitation, any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or other intellectual property rights, or rights of privacy and publicity, or violate any applicable federal, state, or local law or regulation; and (c) Participant is either the sole creator and inventor of the Submission or has all rights necessary to transfer all right, title and interest in the Submission to Sponsor.
OWNERSHIP OF SUBMISSIONS; LICENSES. Sponsor does not assume any obligation to return Participant’s Submission. Therefore, Participant should keep a duplicate of any materials submitted to Sponsor. Ideas submitted remain the property of the applicant and will be kept confidential. Applicant ackowledges the Sponsor, judges, or other related parties may have independently been working in a related area and generated their own intellectual property in related areas.
NO CONFLICTING OBLIGATIONS/GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: By participating in the Contest, Participant represents and warrants that Participant is not subject to any conflicting obligations that may restrict Participant’s participation in the Contest or the use of Participant’s Submissions by Sponsor, judges, or other parties as contemplated herein. A Participant who is an employee of the U.S. Government, or who is employed by any other entity that may restrict participation in the Contest, represents and warrants that he or she has obtained all necessary approvals needed to participate in the Contest and submit intellectual property as contemplated by these Official Rules.
PRIZE. Subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules, one (1) prize winner will be awarded a cash prize of $35,000 (U.S. Dollars).
WINNER NOTIFICATION AND ACCEPTANCE.

In order to claim the prize, a potential winner must respond to Sponsor’s notification within five (5) business days by emailing Sponsor at info@sternfelsprize.org. Potential winners may be required to complete an affidavit of eligibility and/or provide other documentation Sponsor reasonably requires to verify eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules (except where prohibited by law). Failure to sign and return any requested documents by the specified return date will result in disqualification of the winner and the forfeiture of all interest in the prize.

Sponsor’s inability to reach a potential winner after a reasonable (as solely determined by Sponsor) effort has been made, the failure of a potential winner to timely respond to a prize notification, the return of any prize notification as undeliverable, and/or a potential winner’s failure to comply with any term or condition of these Official Rules may, in Sponsor’s sole discretion, result in the potential winner’s disqualification. Sponsor in its sole discretion may select a substitute winner by awarding the prize to another Contest participant. If Sponsor makes a reasonable effort to select another potential winner and that winner does not respond or is ineligible, Sponsor may elect not to award the prize. The prize is nontransferable.

The winner is solely responsible for reporting and payment all taxes on the prize. The winner will be issued an IRS Form 1099 in the amount of the actual retail value of the prize and must provide Sponsor with his/her valid Social Security Number or Taxpayer ID for tax reporting purposes. The prize winner agrees and acknowledges that Sponsor may be required to withhold and remit a portion of prize value to comply with applicable tax laws.
TERMINATION. In the event the Contest is compromised by tampering or other causes beyond the reasonable control of Sponsor which corrupt or impair the administration, security, fairness or proper operation of the Contest, Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to suspend, modify, or terminate the Contest. Should the Contest be terminated prior to the end date, Sponsor reserves the right to award the prize based on submissions received before the termination date. Proof of sending or submission of any Submission will not be deemed proof of receipt by Sponsor.
PRIVACY. Any personally identifiable information collected during Participant’s participation in the Contest will be collected by Sponsor or its designee and used by Sponsor for the proper administration and fulfillment of the Contest and as otherwise described in these Official Rules.
PUBLICITY RELEASE. By entering the Contest, Participant hereby grants Sponsor, except to the extent prohibited by law, a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive and sub-licensable right and license to use, distribute, and publicly display Participant’s name, voice, likeness, and biographical information in any and all media (now known or developed in the future), for purposes of promoting and marketing Sponsor and the Contest, without any additional approval or consent of, and without compensation to, Participant.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. Sponsor and its affiliates and subsidiaries, Contest judges, and any other party that assists Sponsor in conducting the Contest (collectively, the “Released Parties”) will not be responsible or liable for any losses, damages, injuries or claims arising from the Contest. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Released Parties are not responsible for illegible, lost, late, incomplete, misdirected, or undeliverable email; or for any network, electronic or Internet hardware or software malfunctions, failures, connections, or availability, or garbled, corrupt or jumbled transmissions, service provider/Internet/website accessibility, availability, or traffic congestion, or any technical, typographical, or other error, or unauthorized human intervention, or the incorrect capture of registration information, or the failure to capture, or loss of, any such information. Under no circumstances will Participant be permitted to obtain awards for, and Participant hereby waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental, indirect, special, exemplary, or consequential damages, for any claim relating to the Contest.
RELEASE. Sponsor has many ideas of its own relating to drug safety research. Some of these ideas may be similar to Participant’s. Similar or identical ideas may also be conceived by Sponsor independently. Therefore, as a condition of entering the Contest, Participant agrees to forever discharge and release the Released Parties from any and all claims, liabilities, injuries, losses, damages, causes of action, suits, and demands of any kind (a) arising from or in connection with the Contest or the prize, however caused; or (b) alleging that Sponsor misappropriated any ideas contained in, or any portions of, the Participant’s Submission. If a Participant is a California resident, such Participant hereby waives California Civil Code Section 1542, which states, “A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release, which, if known by him or her must have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor.”
NO WARRANTIES. THE RELEASED PARTIES MAKE NO WARRANTIES, AND TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW HEREBY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, CONCERNING THE CONTEST.
INDEMNIFICATION. By participating in the Contest, Participant agrees to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless each of the Released Parties from and against any and all judgments, damages, fines, settlements, losses, penalties, liabilities, costs and expenses (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of any claim relating to Participant’s breach or alleged breach of any of its representations or warranties under these Official Rules.
BINDING NATURE; CONSTRUCTION. By participating in the Contest, Participant agrees to be bound by all applicable laws, these Official Rules, and the decisions of Sponsor relating to the Contest, which are final and binding in all respects. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Official Rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any such provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable, these Official Rules shall be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or unenforceable provision were not contained therein.
GOVERNING LAW. These Official Rules, Participant’s rights and obligations, and the rights and obligations of the Sponsor in connection with the Contest shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the state of California, without reference to any choice of law rules.
WINNERS’ LIST. For a copy of the winners’ list, email info@sternfelsprize.org after February 15, 2022. Any such requests for the winners’ list must be received no later than thirty (30) days after such date.