The motivation reads: “The prize is awarded for their groundbreaking research and strong business acumen, contributing to an important innovation in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease and for their outstanding effort in taking an academic discovery all the way to an approved drug with the potential to change the lives of millions of people.”

Lars Lannfelt & Pär Gellerfors

“I am very happy and proud. It feels both exciting and honorable to receive this prize”, says Lars Lannfelt, professor emeritus at Uppsala University and one of BioArctic’s two founders.

Lars Lannfelt succeeded in understanding what causes Alzheimer’s disease as early as the 1990’s. At the time he also got the idea to develop an antibody that could slow down the progression of the disease. Professor Lannfelt founded the company BioArctic in 2003 together with Pär Gellerfors, based on his research at Uppsala University, when development of the drug was still in its early stages. Early on, the two founders managed to establish a collaboration with the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, and since then they have worked together to develop the antibody-based drug lecanemab.

“A vision that Lars and I have had all along is that we want to build BioArctic into a fully-fledged pharmaceutical company that both conducts research and commercializes products. Sweden had a huge pharmaceutical industry before the decline in early 2000’s. Our goal is to try to change that by remaining in Sweden and creating a company of significance”, says Pär Gellerfors.

The drug is currently approved in eleven countries, including the USA, Japan, and China. BioArctic and Eisai are now waiting for approval in an additional 17 countries and regions, including Europe.

Gunilla Osswald

“My driving force has always been to help patients, and it is fantastic to feel that we are now helping patients around the world. It is a privilege to have worked together with Lars and Pär to realize their vision, along with colleagues at BioArctic”, says Gunilla Osswald, who holds a PhD from Uppsala University and has been CEO of BioArctic since 2014.