Two people, including Katalin Kariko of Biontech, a German biotechnology company that made a major contribution to the development of the new coronavirus vaccine, were selected as winners of the "Lasker Award", which is considered to be the most prestigious medical award in the United States. I did.
The Lasker Foundation in New York will be the winner of the Lasker Award in the clinical field on the 24th, two people from Hungary, Katalin Kariko, senior vice president of German biotechnology company Biontech, and Drew Weissman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, USA Announced that he chose.
Kariko et al. Discovered a method to make the artificially created genetic substance mRNA function so that it is not recognized as a foreign substance in the human body, and contributed greatly to the development of a completely new type of vaccine "mRNA vaccine".
This has made it possible for German biotech company Biontech and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to produce a highly effective new coronavirus vaccine in a short period of time.
The Lasker Award is also known for having many Nobel Prize winners from the award-winning researchers, and Kariko and others are also attracting attention as candidates for the Nobel Prize.
"Even if the experiment fails, it will tell you something."
Regarding being selected for the Lasker Award, Kariko said, "I am reminded of the long way to go by being selected for the award. Even if the experiment fails, it will tell us something. I Produced a therapeutic RNA, but never imagined it would be used to develop a vaccine to overcome a pandemic, "he said.