STOCKHOLM — Three scientists from the U.S., Japan and China won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering drugs to fight malaria and other tropical diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people every year.
Tu Youyou — the first-ever Chinese medicine laureate — was cited for discovering a drug that's now the primary treatment against malaria, saving millions of lives worldwide. Inspired by Chinese traditional medicine, she made her discovery while working on an anti-malaria project for the Chinese military.
She will share the 8 million Swedish kronor (about $960,000) award with Japanese microbiologist Satoshi Omura of Japan and William Campbell, an Irish-born U.S. scientist, who made discoveries that have raised hopes of eradicating river blindness and lymphatic filariasis. Those diseases are caused by parasitic worms and affect millions of people in Africa and Asia.
The Nobel committee said the winners had given humankind powerful tools to combat debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people annually.
"The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immeasurable," the committee said.