Thursday 09 / May / 2024
Berlin: Three scientists from BioNTech, the German biotechnology company behind one of the main COVID vaccines, will receive Germany's most prestigious medical prize in 2022.
"Ugur Sahin, Özlem Türeci and Katalin Kariko are awarded the Paul Ehrlich- and Ludwig Darmstaedter-Preis 2022 for their vision and perseverance in the development of RNA as a therapeutic principle," said Thomas Boehm, chairman of the Paul Ehrlich Foundation.
The three scientists had cross-fertilized each other's work, he said. "This combination was ultimately the decisive factor for their success."
The award winners were initially aiming to develop and advance new cancer therapies.
"Imagine if you could individualize the therapy for every single cancer patient, based on the genetic characteristics of the respective tumor. Imagine if this individualized cancer therapy was reproducible, produced in a timely manner and at a low cost. We want to change the treatment paradigm for cancer patients worldwide," Sahin explained on BioNTech's website.
Sahin and his wife, Türeci, founded BioNTech, headquartered in Mainz, Germany, in 2008.
