Ionis' Chief Scientific Officer C. Frank Bennett, Ph.D., receives Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine

CARLSBAD, Calif., June 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IONS) today announced that Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer C. Frank Bennett, Ph.D., is a co-recipient of the 23^rd Jacob and Louise Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine for his innovative work on antisense therapy. Established in 1998, the Gabbay Award recognizes scientists in academia, medicine or industry whose work has had outstanding scientific content and significant practical consequences in the biomedical sciences. The award, administered by the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center at Brandeis University, consists of a medallion and a cash prize. Dr. Bennett will also present a lecture at Brandeis in the fall.

Dr. Bennett shares this year's award with Adrian R. Krainer, Ph.D., of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Drs. Bennett and Krainer collaborated on the discovery of SPINRAZA^® (nusinersen), an RNA-targeting antisense medicine that today is the global foundation of care for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, a devastating neurodegenerative disease.

"I am deeply honored to be recognized by the Jacob and Louise Gabbay Foundation," said Dr. Bennett. "Receiving this award would not have been possible without the tireless efforts and dedication of my Ionis colleagues, SMA clinical investigators and their staff who are passionate in their pursuit of science that can deliver hope to patients with unmet needs."

A founding member of Ionis, Dr. Bennett is responsible for continuing to advance antisense technology and expand Ionis' discovery platform. He is also the franchise leader for neurological programs at Ionis. In 2020, Dr. Bennett received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society. He is a co-recipient of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his contributions to the discovery and development of SPINRAZA (with Dr. Krainer) and a co-recipient of the inaugural Healy Center International Prize for Innovation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Dr. Bennett also received the 2018 Hereditary Disease Foundation's Leslie Gehry Brenner Prize for Innovation in Science for his leadership and continued commitment to developing antisense therapies for Huntington's disease. He has been involved in the development of antisense oligonucleotides as therapeutic agents, including research on the application of oligonucleotides for inflammatory, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, oligonucleotide delivery, pharmacokinetics and medicinal chemistry. Dr. Bennett, who is on the global list of Highly Cited Researchers™ – recognizing scientists whose peer-reviewed papers rank in the top 1 percent by citations for field and publication year – has published more than 230 papers in the field of antisense research and development and he is an inventor on more than 175 issued patents.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

For more than 30 years, Ionis has been the leader in RNA-targeted therapy, pioneering new markets and changing standards of care with its novel antisense technology. Ionis currently has three marketed medicines and a premier late-stage pipeline highlighted by industry-leading neurological and cardiometabolic franchises. Our scientific innovation began and continues with the knowledge that sick people depend on us, which fuels our vision of becoming one of the most successful biotechnology companies.

To learn more about Ionis visit www.ionispharma.com and follow us on Twitter @ionispharma.

SPINRAZA^® is commercialized by Biogen.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Media Contact:
Roslyn Patterson
Vice President, Marketing and Communications
760-603-4679

Ionis Investor Relations Contact: 
760-603-2331 

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SOURCE Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.