Scientists Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries that paved the way to develop Covid-19 vaccines, the award-giving body announced on Monday.
According to Reuters, the prize is selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute Medical University and also comes with 11 million Swedish crowns (approximately $1 million) to be shared between them.
“The laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times,” the Swedish award-giving body said in a statement.
Kariko worked as a senior vice president and head of RNA protein replacement at the German biotech firm BioNTech. She is currently a professor at the University of Szeged in Hungary and an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).
“We are not working for any kind of reward… The importance was to have a product which is helpful,” said Kariko in her remarks alongside Weissman at UPenn’s Philadelphia campus.
Meanwhile, Weissman recalled working intensely with Kariko for more than 20 years. Their journey together included middle-of-the-night emails as they both suffered disturbed sleep.
According to Weissman, winning the Noble Prize was a “lifetime dream.”
The medicine prize kicks off this year’s awards, with the remaining five to be revealed in the coming days.
