Lasker Foundation Announces Suspension Of Awards

Board cites need to reassess program's direction; moratorium surprises many in scientific community Mary Lasker, the octogenarian president of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, has notified jurors that the foundation's Medical Research Awards - considered by many to serve as a "predictor" of the Nobel Prize - will not be presented in 1990. The decision, which was made by Lasker along with other foundation board members and was not announced officially to the press, has surprised and disappointed many members of the scientific research community, who view the Lasker awards as one of the United States' most prestigious honors. Alice Fordyce, executive vice president of the Lasker Foundation and Mary Lasker's sister, says a moratorium was deemed necessary because "the foundation wished to take this time to review our whole program, our prior commitments, and our future objectives." Board members realized that "that would take some time," and that the foundation would not be able to make such an assessment and select this year's award recipients simultaneously, she says. Maurice Hilleman, who won an Albert Lasker Public Service Award in 1983, is disappointed by the board's decision. "I think [the awards are] something that people look to each year," says Hilleman, who is director of the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research in West Point, Pa. The program "has grown so prestigious, it would be a disaster not to have such a thing," he says. "It would be a serious deletion of incentive and recognition for American medical science." Fordyce says that although "people may have been surprised" by the announcement, the board had been considering the suspension for quite some time. "It had been discussed for about one month or six weeks," she notes. The foundation - named for the late owner of the Lord and Thomas advertising agency and his wife, both philanthropists and activists on behalf of medical research - has been giving its awards since 1944. The program includes citations for clinical medical research, basic medical research, and public service, accompanied by a $15,000 prize. Awards have been presented annually at a luncheon in New York. Over the years, nearly 50 Lasker award winners have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. "There are many awards, but this one had built up a meaning that comes with tradition," says Edwin G. Krebs, a senior Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor emeritus in the departments of pharmacology and biochemistry at the University of Washington, Seattle. Krebs, who shared last year's Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award with Alfred G. Gilman, Michael J. Berridge, and Yasutomi Nishizuka, worries that "any interruption of the tradition means that it would be difficult to go back" to the level of prestige that had been established. But Fordyce notes that a one-year suspension is not unprecedented; there was a similar layoff in 1960. That moratorium marked a major change in the program. Previously, the awards were given through several major health agencies, but after the hiatus "the foundation took over the operation of the entire program," the executive vice president says. In recent years, the Lasker awards have been a source of controversy. Anti-abortion activists were angered at the selection of Etienne-Emile Baulieu, professor of biochemistry at the University of Paris School of Medicine, as the recipient of last year's Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award. Baulieu was cited for his work on the antiprogesterone steroid analog RU 486, which is known as the "abortion pill" because it prevents a fertilized egg from developing. Additionally, there was some debate over the selection of John Hughes, Hans Kosterlitz, and Solomon Snyder as recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1978. Various critics believed that the award unjustly overlooked Candace Pert, a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow who collaborated with Snyder on the research for which he was cited. Pert contended that the Lasker jury was unfair in neglecting her while citing Hughes, who she contended worked for Kosterlitz just as she worked for Snyder. But Fordyce says such controversy was "no factor in this decision [to suspend the awards] at all." The foundation's executive vice president says that "there wasn't any controversy as far as we're concerned. The awards are selected by the jury, and we've always taken the opinion of the jury as to who the winners of the awards should be." p Michael E. DeBakey, chancellor of the Baylor College of Medicine and the longtime chairman of the Lasker awards jury, concurs. "I don't think [the controversy] amounted to anything, and I certainly don't think that had anything to do with" the suspension of the awards, he says. While the Lasker Foundation's assets have declined from roughly $4.5 million to about $2.4 million in the past 10 years, Fordyce asserts that the financial situation "was not a major factor" in the decision to reassess the program. But Hilleman says that if the board does consider monetary concerns when determining the future of the awards, he would suggest that the foundation "cut out the [prize] money, and cut out the luncheon, and just have the awards. I don't think people would be disappointed not to get the money," the past Lasker Award winner says. "The merit is in the award." Fordyce says the foundation board "will have to make some decision in the early fall," in order to be able to inform jurors and other interested parties about the future of the program. The executive vice president says the foundation would consider comments from the scientific community in its assessment of the awards. Such reactions "would be extremely useful to us," she says. "It's hoped that the scientific community would make their opinions known," regarding the awards, says Hilleman. "Maybe this is just testing the waters" on the part of the foundation, he speculates - "to find out how the scientific community feels. I would imagine there would be a tremendous amount of dismay if this is permanent." The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation can be contacted at 870 United Nations Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017; (212) 753-8222.

Lasker Foundation Announces Suspension Of Awards

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