The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice “for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus,” announced the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm on Monday, Sweden.
“For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating the hepatitis C virus from the world population,” the committee said in a statement.
Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice made fundamental discoveries that led to the identification of a new virus, the hepatitis C virus, according to the committee, which helped reveal the cause of some unexplained cases of chronic hepatitis.
Considered a major global health problem, blood-borne hepatitis has caused more than one million deaths each year worldwide.
The discovery also made possible blood tests and new drugs that have saved millions of lives, the award committee said.
Photo via @Nobel Prize Twitter
Photo via @Nobel Prize Twitter
How do the three scientists share the prize?
What were originally known were two main types of infectious hepatitis, type A and type B. It was only in the 1970s that Harvey Alter discovered non-A and non-B hepatitis, which he later studied blood transfusion patients in the US National Institutes of Health.
Later, Michael Houghton, who worked for the pharmaceutical company Chiron, undertook the arduous work necessary to isolate the genetic sequence of the virus, and named the unknown virus Hepatitis C in 1989.
Charles M. Rice was the person who provided the final evidence showing that the hepatitis C virus alone could cause hepatitis.
Screenshot from nobelprize.org
Screenshot from nobelprize.org
Meet the winners
Born in 1935 in New York, Harvey Alter, is a principal investigator for the Maryland National Institutes of Health. He received his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital and the University Hospitals of Seattle.
Michael Houghton He is a British scientist and is currently the Canadian Research Professor of Excellence in Virology and the Li Ka Shing Professor of Virology at the University of Alberta.
Charles M. Rice He was born in 1952 in the United States and is a professor at the Rockefeller University in New York. He was Scientific and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Hepatitis C at Rockefeller University during 2001-2018, where he remains active.
The committee has contacted two of the three recent laureates for their telephone interviews. Professor Charles Rice sent his first selfie just after hearing that he had been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The photo is now widely shared on Twitter.
The other is Harvey J. Alter, who told the committee that seeing so many people heal is amazing.
This year there will be no traditional Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm due to the coronavirus pandemic.
