Published On : Mon, Oct 5th, 2015

Nobel Prize for Medicine-2015 bagged by 3 scientists from Ireland, Japan and China

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  • Remedies against roundworm parasites causing malaria, infections discovered
  • Prizes to be conferred on them on December 10, the birth anniversary of Alfred Nobel

Nobel Prize 3 Scientist
Stockholm/ Nagpur: This year’s Nobel Prize in the field of Medicine has been bagged by 3 eminent scientists from Ireland, Japan and China for their discovery of medicine against malaria and infections caused by roundworm parasites.

The panel of Nobel committee judges declared that the prestigious prize winners are William Campbell (Irish-born), Tu Youyou (Chinese) and Satoshi Omura (Japanese). The announcement was officially made before a press conference by Hans Forssberg, a members of Nobel Assembly in Stockholm on Monday, said the media reports.

According to reports, Campbell and Omura were cited for discovering a drug that has helped lower the incidence of river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, two diseases caused by parasitic worms. Tu discovered 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., adding, “The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immeasurable.”

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 is chief professor at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The medicine award was the first Nobel Prize to be announced. The winners of the physics, chemistry and peace prizes are set to be announced later this week. The economics prize will be announced next Monday. No date has been set yet for the literature prize, but it is expected to be announced on Thursday.

The winners will share the 8 million Swedish kronor (about $960,000) prize money with one half going to Campbell and Omura, and the other to Tu. Each winner will also get a diploma and a gold medal at the annual award ceremony on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel.

Last year’s medicine award went to three scientists who discovered the brain’s inner navigation system.