Noble prize to Artemisinin discovery: A boost for traditional knowledge-based innovations

Abstract

On 5th October 2015, Youyou Tu has been
awarded Noble Prize in Physiology or Medicine
along with William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura
for her valuable discovery on the antimalarial drug,
artemisinin (Fig. 1). This Noble Prize in Physiology
or Medicine had some distinct importance,
especially because of nearly after 50 years’ Nobel
Assembly at Karolinska Institute recognized the
scientific contribution of one such a scientist, who
believed on traditional herbal medicine and
invented wonderful drug of all time ‘artemisinin’.
The whole journey of Youyou Tu about artemisinin
discovery was really an inspiring story and ideal
for researchers who are intended to carry out
traditional medicine guided drug discovery
research in future.