CARLSBAD, Calif., June 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ionis
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IONS) today announced that
Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer C. Frank Bennett, Ph.D., is a co-recipient of
the 23rd Jacob and Louise
Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine for his
innovative work on antisense therapy. Established in 1998, the
Gabbay Award recognizes scientists in academia, medicine or
industry whose work has had outstanding scientific content and
significant practical consequences in the biomedical sciences. The
award, administered by the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences
Research Center at Brandeis University,
consists of a medallion and a cash prize. Dr. Bennett will also
present a lecture at Brandeis in the
fall.
Dr. Bennett shares this year's award with Adrian R. Krainer, Ph.D., of Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory. Drs. Bennett and Krainer collaborated on the discovery
of SPINRAZA® (nusinersen), an RNA-targeting antisense
medicine that today is the global foundation of care for the
treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, a devastating
neurodegenerative disease.
"I am deeply honored to be recognized by the Jacob and Louise
Gabbay Foundation," said Dr. Bennett. "Receiving this award would
not have been possible without the tireless efforts and dedication
of my Ionis colleagues, SMA clinical investigators and their staff
who are passionate in their pursuit of science that can deliver
hope to patients with unmet needs."
A founding member of Ionis, Dr. Bennett is responsible for
continuing to advance antisense technology and expand Ionis'
discovery platform. He is also the franchise leader for
neurological programs at Ionis. In 2020, Dr. Bennett received the
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics
Society. He is a co-recipient of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in
Life Sciences for his contributions to the discovery and
development of SPINRAZA (with Dr. Krainer) and a co-recipient of
the inaugural Healy Center International Prize for Innovation in
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Dr. Bennett also received the
2018 Hereditary Disease Foundation's Leslie Gehry Brenner Prize for
Innovation in Science for his leadership and continued commitment
to developing antisense therapies for Huntington's disease. He has
been involved in the development of antisense oligonucleotides as
therapeutic agents, including research on the application of
oligonucleotides for inflammatory, neurodegenerative diseases and
cancer, oligonucleotide delivery, pharmacokinetics and medicinal
chemistry. Dr. Bennett, who is on the global list of Highly Cited
Researchers™ – recognizing scientists whose peer-reviewed papers
rank in the top 1 percent by citations for field and publication
year – has published more than 230 papers in the field of antisense
research and development and he is an inventor on more than 175
issued patents.
About Ionis Pharmaceuticals
For more than 30 years, Ionis has been the leader in
RNA-targeted therapy, pioneering new markets and changing standards
of care with its novel antisense technology. Ionis currently has
three marketed medicines and a premier late-stage pipeline
highlighted by industry-leading neurological and cardiometabolic
franchises. Our scientific innovation began and continues with the
knowledge that sick people depend on us, which fuels our vision of
becoming one of the most successful biotechnology companies.
To learn more about Ionis visit www.ionispharma.com and follow
us on Twitter @ionispharma.
SPINRAZA® is commercialized by Biogen.
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Media Contact:
Roslyn Patterson
Vice President, Marketing and Communications
760-603-4679
Ionis Investor Relations Contact:
760-603-2331
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SOURCE Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.