Lasker awards recognize advances in sleep, hemophilia, and Parkinson’s advocacy
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The Lasker Foundation awarded prizes for medical research and public service to scientists studying sleep and hemophilia, and to actor Michael J. Fox for his work with Parkinson’s disease.
In 2026, the foundation gave its Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award to Dr. Emmanuel Mignot of Stanford University and Masashi Yanagisawa of the University of Tsukuba in Japan. These researchers independently discovered a substance in the brain controlling the sleep-wake cycle and linked its absence to narcolepsy.
Their work clarified how sleep functions at a molecular level and led to new treatments for both insomnia and narcolepsy. The Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award went to Kunihiro Hattori, Takehisa Kitazawa, and Tomoyuki Igawa of Chugai Pharmaceutical for developing emicizumab, a treatment for hemophilia A. Hemophilia A prevents proper blood clotting due to a lack of factor VIII, leading to painful and debilitating bleeding.
The scientists created an antibody that mimics factor VIII’s function, helping patients form clots and reducing bleeding episodes. Over 30,000 people have received this treatment since its approval in 2017. Finally, the Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award recognized Michael J. Fox for his advocacy for Parkinson’s disease research. After being diagnosed at age 29, Fox founded The Michael J. Fox Foundation, which has funded over $3 billion in research toward treatments and a cure for the neurodegenerative condition.
The prizes, each worth $250,000, will be presented on September 17 in New York City.
