Nobel laureate attends symposium

JAKARTA: Sir John Vane, a British Nobel laureate in medical science, visited Indonesia on Saturday to attend a symposium on rheumatic treatment at the Borobudur Hotel in Central Jakarta on Saturday.

In the one-day symposium, titled "Cox-2 Inhibitors From Discovery to Clinical Benefits", Vane expressed his support for the clinical discovery of Gurkipal Singh, a medicine examiner from the United States who discovered a nonsteroid medicine that can block the Cyclo-Oxygenase-2 enzyme, which causes rheumatism.

"There are no fatal side effects such as stroke or heart failure, which are common with other COX2 inhibitors," Vane said.

Sir John Vane was awarded the Nobel prize in 1982 after he discovered the enzyme from the human body that is the main cause of rheumatism.

Saturday's symposium was held by the Neurology, Orthopedic and Traumatology Divisions of the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital and Boehringer Ingelheim pharmaceutical company. -- Antara