Recent announcement of the winners of the Nobel Prize in medicine marks, for some, the end of a long-running controversy surrounding which team of researchers are to be credited with discovering the AIDS virus. Two French researchers were named, along with a German scientist who discovered the link between human papilloma virus (HPV) and cervical cancer.
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Not named a winner was Dr. Robert Gallo, an American expert on retroviruses, including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency disease syndrome). He and the French researchers, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, engaged in heated debated during the 1980s, in the years immediately following the discovery of the virus although a professional truce has since been declared.
Once AIDS was officially identified in 1981, the race to find its cause was in full swing, with research teams from around the world hoping to be the first to discover the cause of this mysteriously horrifying disease. The French team, led by Barre-Sinoussi and Montagnier, announced its discovery of the AIDS virus (HIV) in 1983, followed by Gallo’s announcement of discovery the following year.
More than academic acknowledgment was at stake, with the person or team laying claim of discovery enjoying the chance to accrue a fortune from royalties generated by the sale of AIDS tests. The financial dispute was settled in 1987, when a joint announcement from France’s Prime Minister, Jacques Chirac, and US President Ronald Reagan awarded equal recognition and shared royalties to both Gallo and the French team.
Even though the financial controversy was quieted, the dispute continued in the scientific arena. Monday’s Nobel Prize announcement is thought to be the deciding factor but Montagnier told reporters that he’d rather Gallo had been included along with him and Barre-Sinoussi.
Barre-Sinoussi and Montagnier share their Nobel Prize with Harald zur Hausen, a German scientist who found that cervical cancer was often caused by infection from HPV. Cervical cancer is the second most common form of cancer affecting women around the world.
