High blood pressure is a killer. Nearly a billion people around the world and one out of three in the U.S. suffer from the condition. Yet no new therapy has been developed in a dozen years. Until now.

Scientists at Switzerland's Novartis AG and Speedel Holding Ltd. have developed a drug that promises to control hypertension by blocking an enzyme that can trigger it. The drug, Tekturna, has been approved by U.S. and European Union regulators.

Tekturna is the Gold winner in The Wall Street Journal's seventh annual Technology Innovation Awards contest. Judges from business, research and academic organizations chose winners in 12 categories, along with overall Gold, Silver and Bronze winners and one Honorable Mention.

A Wall Street Journal editor screened more than 800 applications, narrowing the field to about 150 entries. The judges picked the category winners and runners-up. A technology had to be a breakthrough from traditional methods, not just an incremental improvement.

COMPUTING SYSTEMS

NComputing Inc., Redwood City, Calif., won for a low-cost method of sharing a personal computer with as many as 30 users. People get a box on their desk, wired to a central PC, with connections for a monitor, keyboard and mouse -- as well as software that shares the processing power and applications of the host PC. NComputing says that 90% of its sales are to the U.S. K-12 market, and that it has signed a deal to provide its system to schoolchildren in Macedonia in partnership with China's Haier Group.

SEMICONDUCTORS

Discera, U.S., tiny silicon resonators for the frequency and timing-control markets. These devices can replace quartz timing components used in most consumer and military electronic devices.

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