Biopharmaceutical Science

Michel Sadelain

2026
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This year, the Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science focuses on cellular immunotherapy, a revolutionary treatment that uses a patient's own immune cells (including genetically modified CAR-T cells) to combat cancer. The impact of the three laureates' discoveries is profound. Since the first FDA approval in 2017, CAR-T cell therapy has already benefited over 30,000 patients with blood cancers worldwide. These therapies provide life-saving options for patient with recurrent and/or refractory blood cancers. Furthermore, TIL therapy has established a new option for treating advanced solid tumors, especially metastatic melanoma. By turning the patient's immune system into a powerful medicine, these breakthroughs have profoundly changed how cancer is treated today.

 

Dr. Rosenberg, the "father of cancer immunotherapy" and Chief of the Surgery Branch at the National Cancer Institute, developed adoptive cell transfer (ACT) and was the first to demonstrate that transferring a patient's own immune cells could shrink metastatic tumors. His pioneering work identifying TIL and using interleukin-2 (IL-2) to stimulate immune responses laid the foundation for all subsequent cellular therapies. In the 1990s, he achieved another milestone by receiving the first regulatory approval to introduce exogenous genes into human patients. Dr. Sadelain and Dr. June, they both pioneered the development of CAR-T cell therapy. Dr. Sadelain discovered that integrating a CD28 co-stimulatory domain alongside the CD3ζ chain yielded T cells with therapeutic potential, establishing the core architecture that has become the standard framework for all subsequently FDA-approved CAR-T therapies. He identified CD19 as a therapeutic target for B-cell malignancies and first demonstrated that human CD19 CAR-T cells could treat cancer in mice. Dr. June developed the anti-CD3/CD28 magnetic bead expansion protocol, enabling robust ex vivo T-cell expansion that became the manufacturing standard for CAR-T cells. He also helped develop CAR constructs incorporating the 4-1BB (CD137) co-stimulatory domain to enhance T-cell proliferation and long-term survival. He then led pioneering clinical trials of CD19-targeted CAR-T cells, achieving durable remissions in patients with CLL and ALL. His partnership with Novartis culminated in Kymriah becoming the first FDA-approved CAR-T therapy in 2017, marking a pivotal step in bringing CAR-T therapy from research into clinical medicine.

 

We are honoring these three brilliant scientists—Steven A. Rosenberg, Michel Sadelain, and Carl H. June—who laid the foundation of this remarkable therapeutic revolution through their key groundbreaking discoveries. The selection committee acknowledges that from basic discoveries to therapeutic applications is a long journey and many scientists in academia and industry are involved. Following the "3-awardees" guideline, the committee selected as the most deserving recipients of the 2026 Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science.

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