NEW YORK — Five scientists have won prestigious research awards for developing a life- saving leukemia treatment and for advances in “reprogramming” DNA, which led to a new kind of stem cell.
The $250,000 Lasker Awards will be presented Oct. 2 in New York by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. In addition, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will receive a Lasker prize for public service.
The clinical-medical-research award is shared by three scientists for work related to Gleevec, a drug that transforms chronic myelogenous leukemia from a fatal cancer into a manageable chronic condition:
• Brian Druker, 54, Oregon Health & Science University.
• Nicholas B. Lydon, 42, formerly of Novartis AG.
• Charles L. Sawyers, 50, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Druker and Lydon’s research led to development of the drug, which gained federal approval in 2001. Sawyers led efforts to overcome resistance to the drug that arises in some patients.
The award in basic medical research is shared by John Gurdon, 76, of Cambridge University and Shinya Yamanaka, 47, of Kyoto University in Japan and the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco.
