4 Japanese win prestigious U.S. Lasker Awards

The Lasker Foundation of the United States on Wednesday awarded University of Tsukuba professor Masashi Yanagisawa, 66, who discovered orexin, a brain peptide, in 1998, for the basic medical research division.

The discovery has significantly advanced the understanding of sleep and arousal mechanisms, according to the foundation. His research on transgenic mice lacking orexin found behavioral abnormalities similar to narcolepsy, a sleep disorder characterized by sudden excessive sleepiness, and contributed to the development of a fundamental treatment.

"The honor is more than I deserve," Yanagisawa said in a statement. "The fact that I received the highest academic award for my research in the field of sleep science, which has not attracted much attention, is very encouraging as I hope for further development in this field."

The foundation awarded three researchers from Japan's Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. in the clinical medical research division for their development of Hemlibra, a treatment for hemophilia A.

The three are Kunihiro Hattori, 66, a former senior fellow at the drugmaker, Takehisa Kitazawa, 57, deputy head of the company's research division, and Tomoyuki Igawa, 49, head of the division.

They developed an antibody that works as a clotting factor deficient in hemophilia A patients. Their work led to the development of the new drug, which is easier to administer and provides continuous protection against bleeding.

The four became the first Japanese recipients of the Lasker Awards since Kazutoshi Mori, a special professor emeritus at Kyoto University, in 2014.

Kyoto University professor Shinya Yamanaka, who developed induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells, received the prize in 2009, before he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012.