The Nobel Prize for medicine was jointly awarded on Monday to two American and one British scientist for discovering the hepatitis C virus.
The Nobel Committee announced British virologist Michael Houghton and Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice as the winners of the prize, The Associated Press reported.
The three first identified the virus in research that goes back to the 1970s and ’80s when they discovered a source of the liver disease that did not match the already-discovered A and B viruses.
“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.
The committee credited the laureates’ discovery for the quick deployment of hepatitis C-specific antiviral drugs, saying millions of lives were saved as a result.
“For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating hepatitis C virus from the world population,” the committee said.
University of Nottingham virologist Will Irving told the AP the discovery of the virus was the “holy grail” of medicine.
In the 1970s, he said, “we knew there was a virus in the blood supply, because when people had blood transfusions they would get liver damage. It was recognized as a risk but there was nothing we could do. We didn’t know what the virus was and we couldn’t test for it.”
Patrick Ernfors, a member of the Nobel Committee, said the stampede to develop treatment and vaccines for the coronavirus echo demand for treatment for hepatitis C.
“The first thing you need to do is to identify the causing virus,” he told reporters. “And once that has been done, that is, in itself, the starting point for development of drugs to treat the disease and also to develop vaccines against the disorder.”