Japanese, American win Nobel medicine prize for cancer therapy
Oct. 1, 2018	08:00 pm JST	 Oct. 16, 2018 | 12:00 am JST
browny1
Oct. 1, 2018	07:54 pm JST
Congrats to both.
James Allison seems to be quite "The Dude".
Here's a video of him playing blues harmonica with his fellow professors, scientists, researchers at a Cancer Immunotherapy event. Love the vocalist and lead guitarist too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPsjsdNsdgs#action=share
plasticmonkey
These prizes are intended to recognize contribution to a given field, not nationality. This is not the Olympics (yet).
Hats off to these two scientists, wherever they may come from.
Keytruda (pembrolizumab) was just approved for use in Japan earlier this year, some 4 years after approval in the US. Opdivo (nivolumab) was approved here late in 2017, some three years after approval in the US. These 'delays' are one negative aspect of our national health insurance scheme. Many lives here could have been saved - or at least extended by three to five years, had approval matched that of the US FDA. On the plus side, Japan has been lowering the prices of these drugs rather dramatically.
This TRULY a great accomplishment. Congratulations to both of these men and all the people who aided them.
starpunk
plasticmonkeyToday 07:52 pm JSTThese prizes are intended to recognize contribution to a given field, not nationality. This is not the Olympics (yet).
Alfred Nobel made it specific that the awards go to whoever makes the achievement, whether or not the person is of Scandinavian origin. For all such purposes they could come from Enceladus, one of the moons of the planet Saturn for all it's worth. Anywhere.
So - to James Allison and Tasuku Honjo - *congratulations, guys!*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtMGoU9NcMo
Oct. 2, 2018	01:29 am JST
Congratulations Honjo and Allison for a well deserved Nobel Prize.
Their discoveries have saved my life this year as well as many others around the world. I have been on immunotherapy IV drugs for over 1 year for melanoma that spread to my brain. My immune system is now able to hunt down the melanoma cancer cells in my body. I have been cancer free for a year. I carry on with my usual daily activities and job. My oncologist, a leading researcher, told me that if I had been diagnosed 7 years ago he would have told me that I had 9 months to live.
Ketruda, Opdivo and Yervoy do not work for all patients with certain types of cancers. Some patients can't tolerate the boosted immune system. But each year, researchers are perfecting.
With their discoveries, you and your loved ones now have positive hope for a long term remission of several types of cancer without toxic chemotherapy. Since it is a new treatment, they can't call it a cure just yet. BRAVO. Well done!
obladi
If you are dependent on government research funds to make a living, then the prizes to your country are important. So I will stick with my "Omedeto Japan!" on this one. The medicine prize has been dominated by US and European researchers for most of the history of the prize. The recent recognition of Japan's contributions in the fields of medicine and basic science are remarkable. Let's face it, science is one of Japan's great national resources.
Good catch on the blues link, well done!
gokai_wo_maneku
Lots of people seem to think that Japan is falling behind. This is proof that we are not falling behind. And remember the advances in pluripotent stem cell research here in Japan is the top.
Omedetou!! Japan has now won Nobel prizes in physiology/medicine in 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2018. Quite an accomplishment!
cracaphat
When is all this prize giving going to lead to someone actually finding a cure for cancer? If the incremental gains warrant the NP,what would the person get who found the cure? A zillion dollars? All the tea in China?
I participate in two cancer patient forums. None of those are being used by cancer patients to treat their disease. Immunotherapy is a last-line treatment for metastic cancers, following surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy for good reason - these work.
The medicine prize has been dominated by US and European researchers for most of the history of the prize.
That's because the Nobel Prize was established in 1895, and for the next 50+ years only Europeans and North Americans were participating. Non-European scholars were evaluated and taken into consideration only after the end of WW2, and since it takes a lot of money and political stability to have research institutions and higher education institutions for people to produce good research, it makes sense why Japan is the only Asian nation with a lot of laureates, and it also explains why they gained recognition only after the 70s and 80s, which is when Japan became a high-income nation.
Of course there is a massive bias in all this. Imagine if i suggest the Nobel Prize was moved to China and Chinese academics were evaluating candidates. Most people would say that that would be biased, and that the Chinese would be biased towards themselves.. well if that is the case, then isn't it logical to then assume the same for Europeans? Double standards are at the center-core of discrimination and hypocrisy.
In any case, i personally think these awards have very little merit, and they are all BS and political. There are thousands of researchers and people who have came up with revolutionary new ideas and innovations for which they are not recognized, not even acknowledged. Remember, Obama won the Peace Prize for literally just getting elected. If this isn't enough to tell you how political and BS these awards are, i don't know what will.
BackpackingNepal
What protein they discover? Aren't these top 5 fight the cancer?
Graviola (Soursop Fruit)
Gardenia Fruit
Pure Green Macha Tea
(First 3 hard to find in UK)
Congrats to these two geniuses! We all know who will get the peace prize based on efforts in North Korea.
Lost-in-Nagoya
Congratulations on such an important research. As for the literature prize, it will take years to recover from the fiascos of Bob Dylan and the in-house sexual imbróglio.
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