William Campbell and Satoshi Omura worked together during the 1970s and 1980s to develop ivermectin. A drug described by many as a "wonder drug" because of its broad spectrum of action against intestinal and skin parasites. Ivermectin is now our main weapon against onchocerciasis (river blindness), a disease that wreaked havoc in rural areas of Africa and Latin America until recently, blinding entire populations. Ivermectin, donated by Merck for this purpose, although it does not cure the disease, it prevents blindness. Today it is taken annually by about 100 million people. Since the start of Merck's donation programme, more than two billion doses have been given away.

Youyou Tu, meanwhile, has played a role core topic in the finding and subsequent development of Artemisinin, a plant derivative used in traditional Chinese medicine that has become the most important drug for the treatment of malaria. Artemisinin and its derivatives have a rapid and potent action against malaria-causing Plasmodium parasites. Artemisinin derivatives, used in combination, are the drug of first choice recommended by the World Health Organization for the treatment of malaria worldwide. In 2013, there were an estimated 200 million malaria cases and nearly 500,000 malaria deaths worldwide. Without Artemisinin, there would have been many, many more.

For the group of research in malaria to which I belong, within the high school of Tropical Health of the University of Navarra, this year's award Nobel Prize in Medicine is of special interest because our line of research is in a way a combination of both topics. Ivermectin not only kills parasites but, when found in blood above a certain level, it is able to kill the mosquitoes (malaria vectors) that feed on the treated person. As a result, ivermectin - used appropriately - constitutes a potential tool for malaria control. It represents the additional use of a "wonder" drug that can help us eliminate a disease that, it is worth remembering, continues to kill a child every minute.