The prize is presented jointly by German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Piepenbrock Group. The award ceremony will take place in Bonn in November this year.

“I’m proud to have been awarded the 2025 Hartwig Piepenbrock-DZNE Prize. Being able to give hope and contribute to the treatment of patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease is what has driven me throughout my research life,” says Lars Lannfelt. “It is inspiring to see how research in this field now has begun to take quantum leaps with the development of treatments such as lecanemab which demonstrated benefits to patients in the global Phase 3 Clarity AD trial using gold standard endpoints. Coupled with the introduction of modern diagnostic methods, I am convinced that we are facing a paradigm shift where, in time, we will be able to offer not just a slowdown in the progression of the disease but eventually be able to  halt the disease process.”

Founded BioArctic in 2003

Professor Lars Lannfelt founded BioArctic together with Pär Gellerfors in 2003 to develop an antibody treatment based on Lannfelt’s groundbreaking discoveries of the role of amyloid-beta protein in Alzheimer’s disease. These discoveries are the basis for lecanemab, an antibody treatment developed in collaboration with the Japanese company Eisai. By binding to specific forms of amyloid-beta, which causes Alzheimer’s disease, lecanemab helps to clear them from the brain, thereby altering the course of the disease.

The Hartwig Piepenbrock-DZNE Prize

Since 2011, the Hartwig Piepenbrock-DZNE Prize has been awarded every two years for outstanding research on neurodegenerative disorders. The prize is sponsored by the Piepenbrock Group and is awarded in remembrance of its former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Hartwig Piepenbrock, who passed away after suffering from dementia. Prize winners are selected by an international committee, coordinated by DZNE. On this occasion, the prize will be awarded for the eighth time.