ROBERT EDWARDS, the British developer of the test tube baby, has been awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in recognition of research that has revolutionised efforts to tackle infertility round the world.
The Nobel committee, which awarded him 10 million Swedish Kroner (€1.08 million), concluded that his achievements “have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity including more than 10 per cent of all couples worldwide”.
It estimated that four million people had been born using the techniques of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) he had developed since the 1950s, which led to the pioneering birth of Louise Brown, the first test tube baby, in July 1978. IVF has been shown to be safe and effective, with 20-30 per cent of fertilised eggs leading to the birth of children without any long-term health problems.
“A new field of medicine has emerged, with Robert Edwards leading the process all the way from the fundamental discoveries to the current successful IVF therapy. His contributions represent a milestone in the development of modern medicine,” the committee said.
He overcame scientific challenges, practical difficulties, a lack of government funding and a fierce debate over ethics, before training generations of specialists.
Mr Edwards, now an emeritus professor at Cambridge University, initially studied others’ work in fertilising egg cells from rabbits in test tubes and identified the distinct ways in which human eggs mature, how hormones regulate their maturation and at which time point the eggs are susceptible to the fertilising sperm.
At Cambridge University and then at Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge, the world’s first IVF centre, he fertilised a human egg in a test tube in 1969 but it did not develop beyond a single cell division. With the gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe, he was able to perfect his technique. Their clinic was criticised by some scientists and religious leaders.
Mr Edwards was born in 1925 in Manchester and studied biology at the University of Wales and Edinburgh University. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)