is a Japanese virologist famous for his role in discovery of the anti-HIV drug zidovudine (AZT) as well as other anti-AIDS drugs including didanosine (ddI) and zalcitabine (ddC).
Mitsuya was born in Sasebo, Nagasaki and received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Kumamoto University. He joined the American National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1982, working initially on Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 before switching his attention to HIV. His identification of AZT as an anti-HIV drug, as well as the anti-HIV properties of didanosine and zalcitabine, was made in 1985. He was appointed Professor of Hematology, Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at Kumamoto University Graduate School of Medical And Pharmaceutical Sciences.
In December, 2006, he was awarded the first NIH World AIDS Day Award for his work in developing drugs for AIDS. Mitsuya has been chief of the NCI's Experimental Retrovirology Section since 1991.
Awards and honors 2006: NIH World AIDS Day Award 2007: Takamine Memorial Daiichi Sankyo Prize 2007: Medal of Purple ribbon2007年4月28日薬事日報 2007: Keio Medical Science Prize第12回慶應医学賞受賞者 2014: Yomiuri International Cooperation Award 2015: Asahi Prize朝日賞 2014(平成26)年度 受賞者一覧 2015: Japan Academy Prize (academics) 2023: Order of the Sacred Treasure『官報』号外232号、令和5年11月6日 2025: Person of Cultural Merit
References and Links
Page describing Dr. Mitsuya's research on NCI website Yarchoan R, Mitsuya H, Broder S. AIDS therapies. Scientific American 1988;259(4):110-9