Noble Prize for Medicine

Two Americans and a Briton won Noble Prize for Medicine for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.

The 2020 Noble Prize for Medicine is awarded to two Americans and a Briton won for identifying the Hepatitis C virus.
Identification of the virus led to limiting the spread of disease and develop drugs to treat it.
The discoveries of scientists Harvey J.Alter, Charles M.Rice and Briton Michael Houghton showed that there is a chance of eradicating the Hepatitis C virus with new medicines.
For the discovery, the three shared 10million Swedish crowns award.
They proved that a blood-borne virus could cause Hepatitis C.
Globally, 70 million people are infected with Hepatitis C and 4,00,000 deaths occur each year due to the virus.
This is the second Noble Prize for medicine for Hepatitis C.
Baruch Blumberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1976 for the discovery of a virus that causes blood-borne hepatitis which came to be known as Hepatitis B.

Each scientist found the virus in a differently. Dr. Alter found that blood transfusions are spreading a liver disease which wasn’t due to either Hepatitis A or B.
Dr Houghton created a clone of a new virus from the fragments found in the blood of an infected chimpanzee.
This virus belongs to the Flavivirus family and named it as Hepatitis C.
This identification made it possible to develop tests to screen blood bank supplies.
This reduced the spread of the disease which can cause liver cancer and cirrhosis.
Dr.Rice was able to use genetic engineering to generate a version of the Hepatitis C virus.
He demonstrated that it alone could cause symptoms in a chimpanzee comparable to an infection in humans.

Status of Hepatitis C in India

India has set a target to eliminate Hepatitis C in the country by 2030.
But now, the 10-year Hepatitis C elimination deadline seems difficult to achieve.
When the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme (NVHCP) was launched, India has managed to put 50,000 people on treatment since 2018.
As three scientists won the 2020 Noble Price for Medicine, it was a reminder to India to reach its elimination target.
It is estimated that 0.5-1 per cent of the country’s population suffers from Hepatitis C.
Hepatitis disease is hard to detect as it is asymptomatic for a longer period before leading to liver cirrhosis or liver cancer.
For each year, the WHO estimated 4 lakh global deaths due to Hepatitis C.
Treatment for Hepatitis C requires oral medication for 12 weeks and in severe patients, it may extend to 24 weeks.
In Maharashtra, 350 patients have been diagnosed and 180 of them are put on treatment.
Since 2016, Punjab has enrolled 87,000 patients and 93% of them have been cured.
Punjab has the burden of the disease due to high-drug abuse and injectable drug usage.
Before COVID-19, Punjab was recording 900-1000 new cases every month. But in March and April,2020 cases detection fell to 250-300.
Now in Punjab treatment centres have been increased in all HIV centres and nine central prisons.
Currently, it costs Rs. 3000 to treat a hepatitis C patient.