Gairdner Laureate James Allison wins the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine
2014 Canada Gairdner Award Laureate Dr. James P. Allison was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine this morning at an announcement held in Stockholm, Sweden.
The award, which he shares with Dr. Tasuki Honjo is for pioneering an approach to cancer treatment which harnesses the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells. The approach, called immune checkpoint theory completely changed the way cancer is treated and managed. Immune checkpoint theory opened a new field of cancer therapy and many patients are alive today because of the revolutionary idea.
Dr. Allison was awarded the Canada Gairdner Award in 2014 for “For his discovery of immune checkpoint blockade and its successful application to immune therapy of cancer” and becomes the 88th Canada Gairdner Award Laureate to go on and win the Nobel Prize.
