On October 5, 2020, a three-person research team (Harvey Alter, Charles Rice from the USA, Michael Houghton originally from the UK, currently living in Canada) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the Hepatitis C Virus. The discovery of HCV helps save millions of lives around the world every year, increases screening standards in blood donation and transfusion, helps develop the pharmaceutical industry to find anti-HCV drugs, and reduces the rate of liver cancer caused by HCV.