Nobel Prize for Medicine 2015 winners

Three scientists Youyou Tu (China), Satoshi Omura (Japan) and William Campbell (Ireland) have won 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
They have been chosen for their pioneering discoveries which have led to the development of potent new drugs against parasitic diseases such as malaria and elephantiasis.
The laureates will receive their prizes on December 10, 2015 at a formal ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden marking the anniversary of the death of prize creator Alfred Nobel.
William Campbell and Satoshi Omura: Both biochemists have won half of the Nobel Prize of this edition for discovering avermectin, a derivative which is used to treat hundreds of millions of people with river blindness and lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis).
Youyou Tu: She was awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has reduced malaria deaths and has become the mainstay of fighting the mosquito-borne disease. She is the 13th woman to win Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine and became first Chinese woman laureate.
Diseases: River blindness is skin and eye disease which ultimately leads to blindness. Lymphatic filariasis which is also known as elephantiasis causes painful swelling of the limbs.

About Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

• The Nobel award for medicine is given to persons whose discoveries have significantly enhanced the understanding of life or the practice of medicine.
• The winners are chosen by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute and are always announced before the Nobel Prize for other categories.
• The Nobel comes with prize money of 8 million Swedish kroner or 1.1 million dollars.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2015