The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine 2020 has been awarded to three scientists who have made a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world, Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice. The scientists made seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, hepatitis C virus (HCV).
Prior to their work, the discovery of the hepatitis A and B viruses had been critical steps forward, but the majority of blood-borne hepatitis cases remained unexplained. The discovery of hepatitis C virus revealed the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives.
We are also proud to be a part of this long-standing battle against HCV with our high-quality kits all around the world.
