Japanese Researchers Win Lasker Awards in Medicine

According to Nikkei Asia, Japanese sleep scientist Masashi Yanagisawa and three Japanese researchers who developed the hemophilia drug Hemlibra at Chugai Pharmaceutical won Lasker Awards in medicine on Wednesday. Yanagisawa, a professor at the University of Tsukuba, received the basic medical research award jointly with Emmanuel Mignot of Stanford University School of Medicine for work that advanced understanding of sleep through the identification of orexin, a brain peptide that helps maintain wakefulness. The other three winners, Kunihiro Hattori, Tomoyuki Igawa and Takehisa Kitazawa, received the clinical medical research award for developing Hemlibra, a treatment for hemophilia. The four are the first Japanese scientists in 12 years to receive the awards, which are presented by the New York-based Lasker Foundation.