The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Dr. Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice on Monday for the discovery of hepatitis C virus, a breakthrough the Nobel Assembly said had “made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives.”
The Nobel Assembly announced the prize at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
“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 in a statement.
Who are the winners?
Dr. Alter, an American, is a medical researcher for the National Institutes of Health in Maryland.
Dr. Houghton, born in Britain, is the Li Ka Shing professor of virology at the University of Alberta, Canada. He is also director of the Li Ka Shing Applied Virology Institute at the university.
Dr. Rice, born in Sacramento, is a professor at Rockefeller University in New York. From 2001 to 2018, he was the scientific and executive director at the Center for the Study of Hepatitis C at the university.
