Obesity-drug pioneers win Lasker Award
Av Second to the Nobel Prize, the Lasker Prize is considered the most prestigious honour in medical research. The prize, which is awarded in three different categories, is also said to indicate whether the recipients are well-positioned for a future Nobel Prize.
The huge impact of GLP-1 analogues in recent years can hardly have escaped anyone’s notice. They work by stimulating receptors for the gut hormone GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1), which reduces hunger and lowers blood sugar levels.
The Lasker Prize jury has now chosen to honour three of the researchers behind the drug class. Joel Habener from Massachusetts General Hospital and Svetlana Mojsov from the Rockefeller University are honoured for discerning the physiologically active form of the hormone, while Lotte Bjerre Knudsen from Danish company Novo Nordisk is rewarded for turning it into medications that promote weight loss.
Lotte Bjerre Knudsen headed the research team that developed drugs containing liraglutide and semaglutide, the active ingredients in medicines such as Ozempic and Wegovy. She is also the Chief Scientific Advisor at Novo Nordisk.
"Historically, attempts to make safe and effective drugs that help people slim down have fallen short. Habener, Mojsov, and Knudsen have introduced a new era of weight management in which GLP-1-based pharmaceuticals promise to dramatically enhance health", the jury wrote.
The Lasker Prize in Basic Medical Research is awarded to Zhijian “James” Chen of UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, for discovering the cGAS enzyme and “for solving the mystery of how DNA stimulates immune and inflammatory responses.
In a third category – the Public Service Award – South Africans and married couple Quarraisha Abdool Karim and Salim S. Abdool Karim from Caprisa (an AIDS research centre in Durban, South Africa) and Columbia University, respectively, are honoured for "illuminating key drivers of heterosexual HIV transmission and introducing life-saving approaches to prevent and treat HIV", and for "their statesmanship in public health policy and advocacy".
The Lasker Prize is awarded by the Lasker Foundation, founded by American advertising pioneer Albert Lasker (1880-1952) and his wife Mary Woodard Lasker (1900-1994).
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