Chinese, Irish, Japanese scientists share 2015 Nobel Prize for physiology, medicine

( Xinhua)

Updated: 2015-10-06

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's Tu Youyou, Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura jointly won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute announced Monday.

   File photo taken on Sept. 23, 2011 shows Chinese pharmacologist Tu Youyou posing with her trophy after winning the Lasker Award, a prestigious U.S. medical prize, in New York, the United States. China's Tu Youyou, Irish-born William Campbell, and Japan's Satoshi Omura jointly won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute announced on Monday. Tu won half of the prize for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria.(Xinhua/Wang Chengyun)

Tu won half of the prize "for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria", while Campbell and Omura were jointly awarded the other half of the prize "for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites," said the assembly.

  A screen shows the portait of Tu Youyou,Chinese winner of 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, and her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2015. China's Tu Youyou, Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura jointly won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute announced Monday. Tu won half of the prize "for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria", while Campbell and Omura were jointly awarded the other half of the prize "for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites," said the assembly. (Xinhua/Rob Schoenbaum)

According to the statement, Tu discovered Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from Malaria.