Lifetime Achievement Award

This year Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer's Disease Therapeutic Research, MD, PhD in recognition for his pioneering work in Alzheimer's Disease Scientific Discoveries and Drug Development. 

Lars Lannfelt, MD, PhD - Professor, Uppsala University, Uppsala (Sweden)

Professor of Molecular Geriatrics at Uppsala University since 2001, elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2004. A major scientific achievement was the detection of the “Swedish” mutation. This genetic mutation causes Alzheimer’s disease in a large family and leads to 3-5 times increased production of amyloid β (Aβ). Another major scientific breakthrough was the detection of the “Arctic” mutation, found in a family from northern Sweden. The pathogenic effect of the mutation was a propensity to generate soluble aggregated Aβ, protofibrils. These species of Aβ are toxic. This inspired him to target Aβ protofibrils with immunotherapy and they developed an antibody selective for Aβ protofibrils, mAb158. In 2003, he co-founded BioArctic, based on the discovery of the Arctic mutation. BioArctic has signed a long-term license agreement with Eisai Pharmaceuticals of Japan on the clinical development of lecanemab. Results from phase 3 came in September 2022, and primary and all key secondary end-points were being met.

He was awarded the Bengt Winblad’s prize for increased understanding of the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (2022), the Rudbeck Medal for scientific discoveries, Uppsala University (2021), the Khalid Iqbql Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer’s Disease Research and the Swedish Alzheimer’s Foundation (Alzheimerfonden) Grand Research Prize (2019).