The Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded today to three scientists for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus, the Swedish Academy announced this Monday.
The award was awarded to North American scientists Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and to Briton Michael Houghton.
This year's Nobel Prize is awarded to three scientists who have made "a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world", announced the Assembly of the Nobel meeting at the Karolinska Institute.
Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice made "seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a new virus, the hepatitis C virus," they add, in the statement made available on your website.
“Before his work, the discovery of the hepatitis A and B viruses were essential steps, but most cases of blood-borne hepatitis remained unexplained. The discovery of the Hepatitis C virus revealed the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and enabled blood tests and new drugs that saved millions of lives”, says the Nobel Academy.
This was the first of the Nobel Prizes to be announced this year. In the coming days, the awards for Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace and Economics will be announced.
Comments