A screen shows the 2015 Nobel laureates for Physiology or
Medicine including China's Tu Youyou, Japan's Satoshi Omura and
Irish-born William Campbell (R to L) 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)
William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura discovered a new drug,
Avermectin, the derivatives of which have radically lowered the
incidence of river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, as well as
showing efficacy against an expanding number of other parasitic
diseases.
Undated file photo shows Tu Youyou, a pharmacologist with
the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, working to make
artemisinin, a drug therapy for malaria, in 1980s. 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/Yang Wumin)
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua after the announcement,
Juleen R. Zierath, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physiology
or Medicine told Xinhua that Tu's "inspiration from traditional
Chinese medicine" was important.
