US-UK trio wins Nobel Prize in Medicine for Hepatitis C discovery

BERLIN: Two Americans, Harvey Alter and Charles Rice, and a Briton, Michael Houghton, won the Nobel Medicine Prize 2020 for identifying the Hepatitis C virus, the Nobel jury said.

The three were honoured for their decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis. Their discovery also allowed the rapid development of antiviral drugs directed at hepatitis C.

The three scientists share the 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) award for discovering and proving that a blood-borne virus could cause Hepatitis C.

The award-giving body said that the discoveries by the scientists meant there was now a chance of eradicating the Hepatitis C virus, which afflicts 78 million people every year and causes 400,000 deaths.

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 Nobel committee said.

“Before the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus it was a bit like Russian roulette to get a blood transfusion,” Nobel Committee member Nils-Goran Larsson said, adding that it has benefited millions of people that now can have a safe blood transfusion and safe blood products.

Thomas Perlmann, secretary-general of the Nobel Assembly said, “Nominations for this year’s award preceded the global spread of the new coronavirus pandemic, but the choice of winners recognises the importance of identifying a virus as the first step in winning the battle against a new disease.”

They would normally receive their prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist Alfred Nobel who created the prizes in his last will and testament.

However, the in-person ceremony has been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, replaced with a televised ceremony showing the laureates receiving their awards in their home countries.

The winners of this year’s physics prize will be revealed on Tuesday, followed by the chemistry Prize on Wednesday. The literature prize will be announced on Thursday and the peace prize on Friday. The economics prize will wrap up the Nobel prize season on Monday, October 12.