German virologist scoops Lasker Award

Ralf Bartenschlager is to receive one of the most respected medical science prizes in the US. The virologist at the Heidelberg University Hospital and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) shares a Lasker Award with Charles Rice of Rockefeller University and Michael Sofia, chief scientific officer at US drugmaker Arbutus Biopharma. The official award ceremony will take place in New York on September 23rd. The award comes with prize money of 250,000 dollars.

The achievement: Bartenschlager’s and Rice’s teams succeeded in coaxing the hepatitis C virus (HCV) to multiply inside lab-grown host cells. This step enabled the development of effective drugs to treat the infection. In cases of chronic infection, HCV can cause liver cirrhosis and cancer. The pathogen is a blood-borne virus and is most commonly transmitted through shared injection devices, such as syringes and needles, inadequately sterilized medical equipment or unscreened blood transfusions.

Better chances of recovery

Bartenschlager has been researching HCV for more than twenty years. He developed a novel cell culture system for HCV. The new and highly effective drugs against the virus would not have been possible without this approach. The first medication for HCV was approved in 2014. According to the DKFZ, about 95 percent of HCV patients can be cured with medication.

Between 130 and 150 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hepatitis C infection. So far, vaccines are available only for hepatitis A and B. Vaccine tests are currently underway for the hepatitis E virus.

Bartenschlager says that needs to change. "The award motivates us to understand these insidious pathogens," he announced in a statement. But the virologist warned that the global spread of the disease shows that it has yet been defeated. "A vaccine could prevent further infections, but it's still lacking, and far too many people have HCV infections without knowing it," he said.

Could the Nobel Prize follow?

Bartenschlager and Rice already shared the 2015 Robert Koch Award. It honored the two researchers for their contributions toward understanding the life cycle of the hepatitis C virus. The Robert Koch Award is one of Germany’s highest scientific prizes. Now with the Lasker Award, the scientists are receiving one of the most respected prizes in the world.

The New York-based Lasker Foundation awards medical science prizes in three categories every year. Mary Lasker was an influential health activist. She and her husband founded the Albert Lasker Foundation in 1942. Many Lasker awardees have gone on to win the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, the DKFZ points out. Good prospects for Ralf Bartenschlager and his team.