Japanese researchers receive Lasker Awards for medicine

Four Japanese scientists have attended a ceremony to receive the Lasker Awards, widely recognized as the most prestigious medical honor in the United States and a potential precursor to a Nobel Prize.

The winners of the 2026 Lasker Awards were presented with commemorative trophies at the event held in New York on Thursday.

University of Tsukuba Professor Yanagisawa Masashi shared the Basic Medical Research Award with a Stanford University professor for their discovery of a substance called orexin that is involved in sleep control.

The studies led to the development of medication for narcolepsy, a disorder that causes sudden, overwhelming urges to sleep.

Yanagisawa said a series of interviews with foreign media made the honor sink in. Noting that a drug based on the studies was approved last month, he said he believes he won the award as the basic research delivered results. Yanagisawa said studies on sleep had received little attention for a long time, so he's pleased to win recognition.

Three researchers from Japan's Chugai Pharmaceutical collected the Clinical Medical Research Award for developing a drug for hemophilia A.

Hattori Kunihiro, Kitazawa Takehisa and Igawa Tomoyuki found an antibody that mimics a protein, whose shortage makes it difficult to stop bleeding.

Kitazawa said he was deeply touched when a patient thanked him for changing the person's quality of life. As a pioneer, he said he hopes to further contribute to the future of medicine.