Leading article: A tale of two viruses
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
In recent years, the Nobel Prize for medicine has gone to eminent scientists recognised for important but, to the layman, arcane discoveries related to cell functioning and mouse genetics. Not this year. Everyone knows the devastation wreaked by Aids and the deadly potential of cervical cancer. The two French researchers who discovered the HIV virus, and the German scientist who identified the human papilloma virus (HPV) as the cause of cervical cancer, are certain to be popular recipients of the award.
Their work has saved millions of lives. But the outcome of the two discoveries has been very different. While both were made in the 1980s, and we now have a vaccine against HPV (to be rolled out in the UK this year), we are as far away as ever from a vaccine against HIV. Françoise Barre-Sinoussi admitted yesterday she and Luc Montagnier had been "naive" to think it would happen quickly. A future Nobel awaits the scientist who can crack that conundrum.
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Whilst I laud the work of the three prize winners, it is simply inaccurate to say that 'their work has saved millions of lives'.
On the contrary, their work OPENED UP THE POSSIBILITY OF DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE MEDICINES/VACCINES, which was ONLY MADE POSSIBLE by TWO DECADES of research/development and HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF FURTHER INVESTMENT by Govts, private investors and charities.
The difficulty I have with the Nobel Prize for medicine is that it far too often rewards those who fertilised the egg rather than those who nurtured the child.
It is an award for basic research and as such should be commended.
But until there are equally high profile prizes for all those other contributions to human medicine, we will continue to misdirect our research efforts and funding streams, rather than providing an holistic overarching framework for the solution of intractable medical conditions.
Apart from those where Mr Bill Gates has applied his wealth/acumen productively.
Posted by Rhys Jaggar | 07.10.08, 13:37 GMT
I'm amazed that we haven't yet had a post from an HIV denier explaining that these people are charlatans who blamed a harmless virus for a sickness caused by... I've been out of touch, so I don't know what is the current theory of the cause of AIDS: last time I looked it was poppers, plus the claim that there was no AIDS in Africa.
Posted by Runesmith | 07.10.08, 11:32 GMT