Speaker: Dr. Lars Lannfelt

Moderator: Dr. Carmela Tartaglia

Dr. Lannfelt is the Founder and Senior Vice President of BioArctic. He is also a Professor at Uppsala University in Sweden.

From Dr. Lannfelt: A major scientific achievement was the detection of the “Swedish” mutation. This genetic mutation causes Alzheimer’s disease in a large family and leads to 3-5 times increased production of amyloid β (Aβ). Another major scientific breakthrough was the detection of the “Arctic” mutation, found in a family from northern Sweden. The pathogenic effect of the mutation was a propensity to generate soluble aggregated Aβ, protofibrils. These species of Aβ are toxic. This inspired me to target Aβ protofibrils with immunotherapy and we developed an antibody selective for Aβ protofibrils, mAb158. In 2003, I co-founded BioArctic, based on the discovery of the Arctic mutation. BioArctic has signed a long-term license agreement with Eisai Pharmaceuticals of Japan on the clinical development of lecanemab. Results from phase 3 came in September 2022, and primary and all key secondary end-points were being met.

Selected Honors

2022 Bengt Winblad’s prize for increased understanding of the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease

2021 Rudbeck Medal for scientific discoveries, Uppsala University

2019 Khalid Iqbql Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer’s Disease Research by Alzheimer’s Association

2019 Swedish Alzheimer’s Foundation (Alzheimerfonden) Grand Research Prize