Lasker Awards honour sleep science, haemophilia and Michael J. Fox

The 2026 Lasker Awards, often described as America's Nobels, have recognised the discovery behind the sleep disorder narcolepsy, a breakthrough treatment for haemophilia and the actor and campaigner Michael J. Fox.

The awards, given by the Lasker Foundation, carry an honorarium of 250,000 dollars in each category. They were presented at a ceremony in New York City on Thursday 17 September.

The science of staying awake

The Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award went to Emmanuel Mignot of Stanford University School of Medicine and Masashi Yanagisawa of the University of Tsukuba in Japan. They were honoured for identifying orexin, a peptide in the brain that keeps us awake, and for discovering that a lack of orexin causes the uncontrollable sleepiness of narcolepsy.

The discovery transformed the understanding of how the brain controls sleep and wakefulness, and it has led to a new class of drugs for sleep disorders.

A new way to treat haemophilia

The Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award went to Kunihiro Hattori, formerly of Chugai Pharmaceutical, and his colleagues at the company. They invented a bispecific antibody that joins together two blood clotting factors, IX and X, restoring the activity of Factor VIII, which is missing or deficient in people with haemophilia A.

The treatment prevents severe bleeding in people with this inherited disorder and can be given as an injection under the skin, a significant change from the frequent intravenous infusions many patients previously relied on.

A voice for patients

The Lasker Public Service Award went to Michael J. Fox, whose foundation for Parkinson's research has become one of the world's biggest funders of work on the disease. He was recognised for empowering patients' voices and accelerating research towards better treatments and a cure.

Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 29, set up the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research in 2000.

A guide to the Nobels

The Lasker Awards have a strong track record of recognising work that later wins a Nobel Prize, which is why they are watched closely each September, just weeks before the Nobel announcements begin on 5 October.