Three Innovative Ideas Receive $10,000 Prizes in Patients | Choices | Empowerment Competition

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. and WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Amgen Foundation and Ashoka's Changemakers today announced three winners for the Patients | Choices | Empowerment competition. Each winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize and was selected by the public for their innovative solutions that empower and elevate patients' voices to improve health outcomes.

Out of 10 finalists, the entries receiving the most votes in the Changemakers.com competition are:

1. CureTogether - Crowdsourced Patient Experience
2. Educating Tuberculosis patients for excellent results
3. SMS Now! A Life Depends on It.

In addition, selected entries may be considered for additional grants totaling up to $1 million from the Amgen Foundation.

"The Patients | Choices | Empowerment winners demonstrate that it is possible to create innovative tools and resources that empower patients and offer collaborative solutions at every stage of healthcare," said Jean Lim, president of the Amgen Foundation. "This competition has helped to build a global community of innovators who are working to ensure that patients have an active role in their personal healthcare. We look forward to reviewing the entries to identify sustainable solutions that both the Amgen Foundation and other interested funders can support."

The winning entries are crowdsourcing quantitative data to help patients make more informed choices about their healthcare; removing the stigma around tuberculosis and encouraging and supporting treatment; and utilizing the internet and mobile technology to connect volunteer blood donors with patients. All of these innovations demonstrate global solutions.

"The Patients | Choices | Empowerment competition uncovered ideas that help patients make decisions with confidence and clarity, in concert with people who care and can help," said Diana Wells, president of Ashoka. "We are so pleased with the online community that joined the Changemakers platform, voted, and shared their feedback on these innovative solutions.  We are also incredibly thankful to our expert judges and commentators who contributed to the creation of a rich, global dialogue on the important issues that ultimately resulted in the selection of three outstanding entries."

In addition to the $10,000 cash prizes, the three Patients | Choices | Empowerment competition winners will be featured on Changemakers.com as innovative ideas for empowering the patient and providing avenues for informed decisions.  

About Ashoka's Changemakers

Ashoka's Changemakers is a community of action that connects social entrepreneurs around the globe to share ideas, inspire, and mentor each other.  Through its online collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers.com is one of the world's most robust spaces for launching, discussing, and funding ideas to solve the world's most pressing social problems. Changemakers builds on Ashoka's three decade history and belief that we all have the ability to be a Changemaker. www.Changemakers.com

About the Amgen Foundation

The Amgen Foundation (www.amgen.com/citizenship/overview.html) seeks to advance science education; improve patient access to quality care; and strengthen the communities where Amgen staff members live and work. Since 1991, the Foundation has made more than $140 million in grants to nonprofit organizations throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Europe that impact society in inspiring and innovative ways, and those that provide disaster relief efforts both domestically and internationally.

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SOURCE Amgen