အာရှ အမျိုးသမီး သိပ်ပံပညာရှင်တဦးအား အမေရိကန်ဆေးဘက်ဆိုင်ရာ ထူးချွန်ဆုချီးမြှင့်ခြင်း Asian Scientist awarded prestigious Medical prize II

Tu Youyou, Discoverer Of Malarial Drug, Receives Medical Prize

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/12/tu-youyou-malaria-medical-prize_n_958586.html

By MALCOLM RITTER  09/12/11 08:07 AM ET

W YORK — A scientist who discovered a powerful malaria drug and two others who illuminated how proteins fold within cells have won prestigious medical awards.

The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced the $250,000 prizes Monday and will present them Sept. 23 in New York.

Tu Youyou, 81, of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing, won the clinical research award for discovering the malaria drug artemisinin (ar-tuh-MIHS’-ihn-ihn), which the foundation said has saved millions of lives.

In the late 1960s, as part of a Chinese government project, Tu began combing ancient texts and folk remedies to find a treatment for malaria. She collected 2,000 potential recipes, from which her team made 380 extracts. One extract, from sweet wormwood, showed promise in mouse studies. Following a clue from an ancient document, Tu redesigned the extraction process to make the extract more potent. In the early 1970s, she and her colleagues isolated the active ingredient, artemisinin. 

The Lasker foundation was established in 1942. Albert Lasker was an advertising executive who died in 1952. His wife Mary was a longtime champion of medical research before her death in 1994

mebecarl

Why do some Foundation­s wait until a person (doctor or scientist) is near the age of death before honoring him or her for something they discoved in the 1970’s, and has saved millions of lives?? I hope they take immediate vacations before they pass on.

The Lasker Foundation – 2011 Awards

http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/2011_c_description.htm

The first known medical description of Qinghao lies in a 2000-year-old document called “52 Prescriptions” (168 BCE) that had been unearthed from a Mawangdui Han Dynasty tomb. It details the herb’s use for soothing hemorrhoids. Later texts also mention the plant’s curative powers. Tu discovered a passage in the Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies (340 CE) by Ge Hong that referenced Qinghao’s malaria-healing capacity. It said “Take a handful of Qinghao, soak in two liters of water, strain the liquid, and drink.” She realized that the standard procedure of boiling and high-temperature extraction could destroy the active ingredient. 

With this idea in mind, Tu redesigned the extraction process, performing it at low temperatures with ether as the solvent. She also removed a harmful acidic portion of the extract that did not contribute to antimalarial activity, tracked the material to the leaves rather than other parts of the plant, and figured out when to harvest the herb to maximize yields. These innovations boosted potency and slashed toxicity. At a March 1972 meeting of the Project 523 group’s key participants, she reported that the neutral plant extract —number 191—obliterated Plasmodia in the blood of mice and monkeys.

From branch to bedside 

Later that year, Tu and her team tested the substance on 21 people with malaria in the Hainan Province, an island off the southern coast of China. About half the patients were infected with Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of the microbial miscreants, and about half were infected with Plasmodium vivax, the most common cause of a disease variant that is characterized by recurring fevers. In both groups, fever disappeared rapidly, as did blood-borne parasites. …..

In 2001, the WHO signed an agreement with Novartis, the manufacturer of one of these drug combinations, Coartem®; it consists of artemether and lumefantrine, another antimalarial agent, which was originally synthesized by the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Beijing. The company is supplying the drug at no profit to public health systems of countries where the disease is endemic. To date, Novartis has provided more than 400 million Coartem® treatments. 

Tu pioneered a new approach to malaria treatment that has benefited hundreds of millions of people and promises to benefit many times more. By applying modern techniques and rigor to a heritage provided by 5000 years of Chinese traditional practitioners, she has delivered its riches into the 21st century. 

By Evelyn Strauss 

 http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110917/GJLIFESTYLES/110919848/-1/FOSLIFESTYLES

Chinese Scientist Presented “America’s Nobel”

http://english.cri.cn/6909/2011/09/24/2941s659796.htm

 Chinese scientist presented “America’s Nobel”_XINHUANET

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/photo/2011-09/24/c_131157451.htm

7 pictures

New York, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) — A Chinese scientist was presented a prestigious U.S. award on Friday for the discovery of artemisinin, a drug therapy for malaria that has saved millions of lives across the globe, especially in the developing world.

Pharmacologist Tu Youyou, 81, became the first scientist on the Chinese mainland to win Lasker Award, known as “America’s Nobels” for their knack of gaining future recognition by the Nobel committee.

Tu, a scientist at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing, pioneered a new approach to malaria treatment that has benefited hundreds of millions of people and promises to benefit many times more. By applying modern techniques and rigor to a heritage provided by 5000 years of Chinese traditional practitioners, she has delivered its riches into the 21st century.

“Not often in the history of clinical medicine can we celebrate a discovery that has eased the pain and distress of hundreds of millions of people and saved the lives of countless numbers of people, particularly children, in over 100 countries,” Lucy Shapiro, a member of the award jury and professor of Stanford University, said while describing Tu’ s discovery.

Shapiro said the discovery, chemical identification, and validation of artemisinin, a highly effective anti-malarial drug, is largely due to the “scientific insight, vision and dogged determination” of Professor Tu and her team. She thought Professor Tu’s work has provided the world with arguably the most important pharmaceutical intervention in the last half century.

“The discovery of artemisinin is a gift to mankind from traditional Chinese medicine,” Tu said while receiving the award. “Continuous exploration and development of traditional medicine will, without doubt, bring more medicines to the world.”

She advocated a global collaboration in the research of Chinese and other traditional medicines in order to maximize their benefits to the healthcare of the human beings.

An artemisinin-based drug combination is now the standard regimen for malaria, and the World Health Organization lists artemisinin and related agents in its catalog of “Essential Medicines.”

“Professor Tu’s achievement was one of the most important achievements in infectious diseases of all areas,” Anthony Fauci, director of U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Xinhua. “It is a good example that Chinese traditional medicine sometimes leads to global usable compound like artemisinin.”

The Lasker Awards are among the most respected science prizes in the world. Since 1945, the Awards Program has recognized the contributions of scientists, physicians, and public servants who have made major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of human disease.

In the last two decades, 28 Lasker laureates have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize, and 80 since 1945.