Professor Lars Lannfelt received prestigious international award for outstanding research in Alzheimer’s disease
Stockholm, Sweden, July 15, 2019 – BioArctic AB (publ) (Nasdaq Stockholm: BIOA B) announced that on Sunday, its co-founder, Lars Lannfelt, professor in geriatrics at Uppsala University and researcher, received one of the world’s most prestigious awards in Alzheimer’s disease research. The award is called the “Khalid Iqbal Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer’s Disease Research” and was given out during the ongoing Alzheimer’s Association International Conference® (AAIC®) 2019 in Los Angeles, USA.
The award recognizes individuals whose contributions have shown a lasting impact on the field and whose body of work has demonstrated a lifetime commitment towards progress against Alzheimer’s and dementia. Earlier this year, Professor Lannfelt was also the recipient of the Swedish Alzheimer’s Foundation’s Grand Research Prize.
The motivation for this international award, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, is Professor Lannfelt’s discoveries of mutations leading to understanding of the origins of Alzheimer’s disease and his following research, which has led to the drug candidate BAN2401. In March this year, BioArctic’s partner Eisai initiated a global confirmatory Phase 3 study with BAN2401 in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. This phase 3 study is based on the positive results from the Phase 2b study in 856 patients, which showed slowed clinical progression, clearance of amyloid beta in the brain and effects on neurodegenerative biomarkers, as well as good tolerability, after 18 months treatment.
“I am deeply grateful to receive the Khalid Iqbal Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer’s Disease Research from the Alzheimer Association. My thanks goes to the families and patients with Alzheimer’s disease, who have contributed so much by participating in the research,” said Lars Lannfelt at the award ceremony. He continued, “I would also like to thank the large number of skilled collaborators I have had during the years, and the international Alzheimer research scientific community.”
Professor Lannfelt received the award in Los Angeles from Dr. Khalid Iqbal himself, one of the co-founders of the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.
This release discusses investigational uses of an agent in development and is not intended to convey conclusions about efficacy or safety. There is no guarantee that any investigational uses of such product will successfully complete clinical development or gain health authority approval.
For more information, please contact:
Gunilla Osswald, PhD, CEO, BioArctic AB
E-mail: gunilla.osswald@bioarctic.se
Telephone: + 46 8 695 69 30
This information was submitted for publication at 5:00 p.m. CET on July 15, 2019.
Notes to editors
About Professor Lars Lannfelt
Professor Lannfelt was born in 1949 and received his medical degree in 1978, becoming a specialist in psychiatry in 1987 and in geriatrics in 2001. He received his PhD from Karolinska Institute in 1990 and became an associate professor in neurodegeneration at Karolinska Institute in 1993. He went on to become Professor in Geriatrics at Uppsala University in 2001 and Senior Professor in 2016. He has been a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 2004. Professor Lannfelt co-founded BioArctic AB in 2003 and was the Chairman of the Board of Directors until September 2017. He has been a member of the Board since September 2017 and is currently Senior Vice President in the company with responsibility for University Collaborations.
About BAN2401
BAN2401 is a humanized monoclonal antibody that is the result of a strategic research alliance between BioArctic and Eisai. BAN2401 has a unique binding profile and selectively binds to and eliminates soluble, toxic amyloid-beta aggregates (protofibrils) that are thought to contribute to the neurodegenerative process in Alzheimer’s disease. As such, BAN2401 has the potential to have an effect on the disease pathology and to slow down the progression of the disease. Eisai obtained the global rights to study, develop, manufacture and market BAN2401 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease pursuant to an agreement concluded with BioArctic in December 2007. In March 2014, Eisai and Biogen entered into a joint development and commercialization agreement for BAN2401. Currently, a global confirmatory Phase 3 clinical study (Clarity AD) of BAN2401 in patients with early Alzheimer´s disease is underway. According to Eisai, the final readout of the primary endpoint of the study is targeted for 2022.
About the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference®
The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference® is the largest and most influential international meeting dedicated to advancing dementia science. Each year, AAIC® convenes the world’s leading basic science and clinical researchers, next-generation investigators, clinicians and the care research community to share research discoveries that’ll lead to methods of prevention and treatment and improvements in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
About BioArctic AB
BioArctic AB (publ) is a Swedish research-based biopharma company focusing on disease-modifying treatments and reliable biomarkers and diagnostics for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The company also develops a potential treatment for Complete Spinal Cord Injury. BioArctic focuses on innovative treatments in areas with high unmet medical needs. The company was founded in 2003 based on innovative research from Uppsala University, Sweden. Collaborations with universities are of great importance to the company together with its strategically important global partners in the Alzheimer (Eisai) and Parkinson (AbbVie) projects. The project portfolio is a combination of fully funded projects run in partnership with global pharmaceutical companies and innovative in-house projects with significant market- and out-licensing potential. BioArctic’s B-share is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap (ticker: BIOA B). For more information about BioArctic, please visit www.bioarctic.com.