The Grand Prix Émilia Valori for the application of science 2021 is awarded to Catherine Llorens-Cortes, neuropharmacologist, Inserm research director at the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche en biologie (CIRB) of the Collège de France and appointed member of the European Academy of Sciences in 2021.
Catherine Llorens-Cortes is internationally recognized for the discovery of new therapeutic targets for the treatment of hypertension, heart failure and hyponatremia.
Her team's work has targeted two hormonal systems highly implicated in cardiovascular disease: the cerebral renin-angiotensin system and the apelinergic system. In particular, it has led to the development of a new pharmacological route for treating hypertension and heart failure: a drug called firibastat. Firibastat normalizes hyperactivity of the cerebral renin-angiotensin system, reduces blood pressure in several experimental models of hypertension and improves cardiac function in a model of heart failure.
These data have recently been confirmed by clinical trials in hypertensive patients, including some with difficult-to-treat hypertension, and in post-myocardial infarction patients.
The Grand Prix Émilia Valori for the application of science was created in 2004 by the French Academy of Sciences. This annual prize is awarded to a researcher who has made a significant contribution in a scientific field with potential technological applications.
The Académie paid tribute to Dr. Llorens-Cortes at the award ceremony held under the dome of the Institut de France.
