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We are delighted to offer our congratulations to Tasuku Honjo and James Allison, both F1000Prime Immunology Section Heads, for being jointly awarded the Tang Prize in biopharmaceutical science earlier this month.

James, who is chairman of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, was one of the scientists who discovered cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) as an inhibitory receptor on T-cells, which then led to his team developing an FDA-approved drug for melanoma. In 1992, Tasuku, who is based at Kyoto University in Japan, discovered PD-1, another T-cell inhibitory receptor, and a drug based on the receptor is currently under development. Together, their work has led to remarkable progress in the treatment of cancer patients.

James and Tasuku will be honored at an awards ceremony in Taipei City on September 18th. For more information, see the Tang Prize Foundation’s news article.