China’s first Nobel winner in medicine

Japan, Ireland scientists also win for finding drugs against parasitic diseases

STOCKHOLM: Three scientists from the US, Japan and China won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering drugs to fight malaria and other tropical diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people every year.

The Nobel judges in Stockholm awarded the prestigious prize to William Campbell, who was born in Ireland and became a US citizen in 1962, Satoshi Omura of Japan and Tu Youyou - the first-ever Chinese medicine laureate.

STOCKHOLM: Three scientists from Ireland, Japan and China won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering drugs against malaria and other parasitic diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people every year.

The Nobel judges in Stockholm awarded the prestigious prize to Irish-born William Campbell, Satoshi Omura of Japan and Tu Youyou — the first Chinese woman to do so and also the first Chinese to win it in the field of medicine. Campbell and Omura were cited for discovering avermectin, derivatives of which have helped lower the incidence of river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, two diseases caused by parasitic worms that affect millions of people in Africa and Asia. Tu discovered artemisinin, a drug that has helped significantly reduce the mortality rates of malaria patients.

“The two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually,” the committee said. “The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immensurable.” River blindness is an eye and skin disease that ultimately leads to blindness. About 90% of the disease occurs in Africa, according to the WHO.

Lymphatic filariasis can lead to swelling of the limbs and genitals, called elephantiasis, and it’s primarily a threat in Africa and Asia. The WHO says 120 million people are infected with the disease, without about 40 million disfigured and incapacitated. Campbell is a research fellow emeritus at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Omura, 80, is a professor emeritus at Kitasato University in Japan and is from the central prefecture of Yamanashi. Tu, 84, is chief professor at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Omura isolated new strains of Streptomyces bacteria and cultured them so that they could be analysed for their impact against harmful microorganisms, the Nobel committee said.

Campbell showed that one of those cultures was “remarkably efficient” against parasites in animals. The bioactive agent was purified and modified to a compound that effectively killed parasitic larvae, leading to the discovery of new class of drugs.