Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to trio for Hepatitis C virus discovery - 9News

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.

A panel at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announced the recipient shortly after 11.30am local time (8.30pm AEDT).

The head of the Nobel Committee, Thomas Perlmann, announced the winners in Stockholm.

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 make 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."

Thomas Perlmann (R), Secretary of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet and of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, announces the winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine during a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 05, 2020. (AP)

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.

Gilbert Thompson, professor emeritus of clinical lipidology at Imperial College London, said: "It's long overdue. Hep C arguably has caused just as much, if not more deaths, than the current coronavirus pandemic.

"It was a major problem and this (work) was an enormous step forward."

The medicine prize carries particular significance this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has highlighted the importance that medical research has for societies and economies around the world.

Often the Nobel Assembly recognises basic science that has laid the foundations for practical applications in common use today.

FIL IMAGE - A national library employee shows a gold Nobel Prize medal in Bogota, Colombia. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File) (AP)

The award is the first of six prizes being announced through October 12. The other prizes are for outstanding work in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics.

It is common for several scientists who worked in the same field to share the prize.

Last year, British scientist Peter Ratcliffe and Americans William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza received the award for discovering details of how the body's cells sense and react to low oxygen levels.

The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.56 million), courtesy of a bequest left 124 years ago by the prize's creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.

The amount was increased recently to adjust for inflation.

The other prizes are for outstanding work in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics.

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2020-10-05 10:07:00Z
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