Nobel Prize rocked by corruption claims

The reputation of the Nobel Prize was in question today after it emerged that two men involved in picking Harald zur Hausen as a co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize for Medicine - announced earlier this month - were also closely involved with the London-based pharmaceuticals giant that stood to benefit from zur Hausen's award.

Zur Hausen, a German scientist, was recognised for discovering the human papilloma virus which can cause cervical cancer. The London-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has a stake in two lucrative vaccines against the virus.

Bo Angelin, a member of the 50-strong Nobel committee that votes for the winner, sits on the board of AstraZeneca, while Bertil Fredholm, chairman of the five-strong committee that assesess Nobel candidates, was a paid consultant for AstraZeneca in 2006. As well as these links, AstraZeneca has recently begun sponsoring the Nobel website.

Swedish anti-corruption prosecutor Nils-Erik Schulz told reporters: "I have formally instigated a criminal investigation." Schulz is also looking into how the Chinese government was able to invite members of the Nobel committees for medicine, physics and chemistry to go on all-expenses-paid jaunts to China to talk to officials about the Nobel selection process, and what it takes to win a prize.

The last time China claimed a science price was in 1957, when two Chinese researchers won the physics award.