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Three win Nobel Prize for hepatitis C virus discovery

Health & Science
 

Thomas Perlmann, Secretary of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet and of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, announces Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice as the winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine during a news conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, October 5, 2020. [Reuters]

Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice, and British scientist Michael Houghton have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology on Monday for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus.

Announcing the prize in Stockholm today, the Nobel Committee noted that the trio’s work helped explain a major source of blood-borne hepatitis that couldn’t be explained by the hepatitis A and B viruses.

Their work makes possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives, the committee said.

“Thanks to their discovery, highly sensitive blood tests for the virus are now available and these have essentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world, greatly improving global health,” the committee said.

“Their discovery also allowed the rapid development of antiviral drugs directed at hepatitis C,” it added. “For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating hepatitis C virus from the world population.”

The World Health Organisation estimates there are over 70 million cases of hepatitis worldwide and 400,000 deaths each year.

The disease is chronic and a major cause of liver inflammation and cancer.

The prestigious Nobel award comes with a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor (over Sh121.9 million).

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