Credit: University of Alberta
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 was just announced by the Nobel Foundation, and Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice were awarded the prestigious prize for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.
Dr. Michael Houghton is a British scientist who was the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Virology from 2010 to 2017 and is currently Director, Li Ka Shing Applied Virology Institute.
Dr. Harvey J. Alter is a Senior Scholar at the NIH Clinical Center’s Department of Transfusion Medicine and Charles M. Rice is from Rockefeller University, New York City.
Announcing the Nobel Prize, the foundation said that the three scientists made a 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 discovery of the Hepatitis C virus led to the development of highly sensitive blood tests for the virus. This has eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world and also allowed the rapid development of antiviral drugs directed at hepatitis C.
The foundation announcing the prize said for the first time in history, there is a high chance that the Hepatitis C virus can be eliminated from the world population.
Canada has only one other Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. It was won in 1923 by Frederick Banting and John Macleod for the discovery of insulin.
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