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U.S. discoverers of Viagra principle get Nobel Prize
October 12, 1998Web posted at: 6:26 p.m. EDT (2226 GMT)
In this story:
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (CNN) -- Three U.S. scientists whose work going back decades led to the use of the wildly popular Viagra anti-impotence drug won a Nobel Prize on Monday. They discovered that the body uses nitric oxide to regulate blood vessels, a finding that helped in developing Viagra.
The discovery about nitric oxide -- a colorless gas long considered just an air pollutant -- also has applications for treating conditions ranging from heart disease to shock.
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| Furchgott | |
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| Murad | |
The winners
The $978,000 prize for the category "physiology and medicine" is awarded by Sweden's Karolinska Institute. This year's awards is divided equally among the three pharmacologists:
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Murad discovered in 1977 that nitroglycerin and similar substances release nitric oxide, which relaxes smooth muscle cells.
At a scientific conference in 1986, Furchgott and Ignarro presented their conclusions that nitric oxide transmits signals in the human organism. Their discovery "elicited an avalanche of research activities in many different laboratories around the world," the Nobel committee said in its citation announcing the prize. "This was the first discovery that a gas can act as a signal molecule in the organism."
Viagara connection
Nitric oxide is different from nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas.
The researchers discovered that nitric oxide tells blood vessels to relax and widen, an effect that helps control blood pressure.
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Nitric oxide makes blood vessels dilate by relaxing the vessels' smooth muscles. It can help trigger erection of the penis the same way, because the relaxation lets blood flow in. The wildly popular Viagra is designed to increase nitric oxide's effect.
The prizewinning work, while important for science and medicine, was "a small piece of information" that researchers used in creating Viagra, said Mariann Caprino, spokeswoman for Viagra maker Pfizer Inc.
The winners' research has sparked studies on a wide range of new drugs, including those that can be used in the treatment of atherosclerosis and shock.
Studies also show that white blood cells use the gas to kill infectious invaders, and to defend against tumors. This has led to tests to see whether nitric oxide could be used to halt tumor growth.
Winning research has Nobel link
The honored work touches on the personal life of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who established the prizes in his will.
In later life, Nobel's physician told him to take nitroglycerin -- one of the ingredients in dynamite -- to combat heart trouble. "However, it would take 100 years until it was clarified that nitroglycerin acts by releasing nitric oxide gas," the citation noted.
The medicine prize was the second of the six Nobels to be announced this year.
Last week, the literature prize went to Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago.
The physics and chemistry prizes will be announced Tuesday, the economics prize on Wednesday and the peace prize on Friday. All the announcements are in Stockholm, except for the peace prize which is given in Oslo, Norway.
The prizes are presented on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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