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All three were honored for their “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,” the jury said.
STOCKHOLM – Americans Harvey Alter and Charles Rice, along with Britain’s Michael Houghton, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, the Nobel jury said.
All three were honored for their “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,” the jury 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, vastly improving global health,” the Nobel committee said.
Its discovery also enabled the rapid development of antiviral drugs targeting hepatitis C.
“For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating the hepatitis C virus from the world’s population,” the jury said.
More information about 2020 #Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Press release: https://t.co/eGxjMgrZTQ
Advanced information: https://t.co/60S9MjmLek pic.twitter.com/gN32y3HT3X– The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 5, 2020
The award for work on a virus comes as the world battles the new coronavirus pandemic.
The trio will share the Nobel Prize sum of 10 million Swedish crowns (about $ 1.1 million, 950,000 euros).
They would normally receive their award from King Carlos XVI Gustav in a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the death in 1896 of scientist Alfred Nobel, who created the awards in his last will and testament.
But the in-person ceremony has been canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, replaced by a televised ceremony showing honorees receiving their awards in their home countries.
Last year, the honor went to American researchers William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza and Britain’s Peter Ratcliffe for their discoveries about how cells perceive and adapt to the availability of oxygen.
The winners of this year’s physics award will be announced on Tuesday, followed by the chemistry award on Wednesday.
The literature award will be announced on Thursday and the peace award on Friday, with speculation that Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg and other climate activists or press freedom groups could get the go-ahead for the latter.
The economics prize will conclude the Nobel Prize season on Monday, October 12.
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