3 Scientists Win Nobel Prize For Parasite Treatments

William Campbell, Satoshi Omura and Youyou Tu were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday, for their discoveries of therapies for the treatment of parasitic diseases.

Campbell, of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and Omura, of Kitasato University in Tokyo, worked together to develop the drug Avermectin, a derivative of which has nearly eradicated African river blindness (onchocerciasis) and reduced elephantiasis. Tu, of Beijing, China, made discoveries to help reduce malaria by reading massive amounts of literature on traditional ancient Chinese medicines.

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson speaks with researcher Steven Williams of Smith College for a look at the importance of these discoveries.