German, 2 French scientists share Nobel medicine prize

Associated Press

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Three European scientists shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for separate discoveries of viruses that cause AIDS and cervical cancer, breakthroughs that helped doctors fight the deadly diseases.

French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were cited for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, in 1983.

They shared the award with Germany’s Harald zur Hausen, who was honored for finding human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women.

U.S. researcher Dr. Robert Gallo was locked in a dispute with Montagnier in the 1980s over the relative importance of their roles in groundbreaking research into HIV and its role in AIDS. Gallo told The Associated Press that he was disappointed at not being included in the prize.

Luc Montagnier, French winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine
AP

Harald zur Hausen, German winner of the Nobel prize in medicine
AP

Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, French winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine
AP

Montagnier told the AP in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he is attending an international AIDS conference, that he was still optimistic about conquering the disease.

The prize, he said, “encourages us all to keep going until we reach the goal at the end of this effort.”

Montagnier said he wished the prize had also gone to Gallo.

“It is certain that he deserved this as much as [we] two,” he said.

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