GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) is a gut hormone released after eating that stimulates insulin secretion, slows stomach and food movement, and reduces appetite, forming the biological basis for drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. The hosts trace the science from identifying the active peptide within the larger proglucagon protein to naming likely Nobel contenders: Svetlana Mojsov, who identified and synthesized active GLP-1 and established its intestinal origin; Jens Juul Holst, whose group independently confirmed its properties; Daniel Drucker, who showed its role in glucose-dependent insulin secretion; and Lotte Bjerre Knudsen at Novo Nordisk, who helped attach a fatty acid chain that turned the peptide into a usable drug. Since the Nobel Prize can only go to three people, the hosts discuss how the committee might have to choose among these four if GLP-1 research wins.
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All four scientists shared a Breakthrough Prize around 2024 or 2025, which the hosts note recognized both the basic discovery and its translation into a drug.
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The hosts mention that injecting unmodified GLP-1 alone causes vomiting, which is why Knudsen's fatty acid modification was needed to make it tolerable as a treatment.
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The hosts recall that GLP-1 research previously won a Golden Goose Award tied to earlier research involving Gila monster venom.
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The hosts joke that the prize committee might split the award between medicine and chemistry fields, or wait until one of the four scientists has died.
937 words · auto-generated from the episode video
2:03Next week, the Nobel prizes start on Monday with medicine and physiology. And we're going to jump right in to our first prediction for medicine. So, the first prediction for medicine is something that a lot of people have been calling GLP-1. This is the glucagon like peptide 1. It's a hormone that's released by the intestinal cells after a meal. It helps stimulate insulin secretion in the pancreas when glucose is elevated and it coordinates communication between the gut and the pancreas. It also importantly affects appetite and the movement of food throughout the stomach. It's been all the craze lately in Los
2:46Angeles and America and the world because the GLP-1 drugs like Ompic and Wiggoi have been used as a treatment for diabetes but also as a treatment for weight loss. Um there was an early scientific challenge in identifying what the active peptide is because you can't just look at what the big protein is. The big protein is called prolucagon, but it's really cut up into different products in different tissues. So you can imagine you can't just look at the gene because the gene is going to give you the giant protein. I want the peptide which is the smaller part of the protein. And that was a big challenge and the significant challenge was solved
3:28by a bunch of pioneers. We're going to go through some of them whom I think are going to be involved if GLP1 gets the Nobel Prize. So the first one is Svet Lana Majavv. She identified and synthesized the active form of GLP-1 and she helped establish its intestinal origin and the fact that it insulates it the fact that it stimulates insulin. So she's a research professor at the Rockefeller University in New York. She did her PhD there also at Rockefeller. The next one that I think would probably be involved is Jen's Jewel Holtz. his group independently helped establish those same properties. So frequently the
4:09Nobel Prize will be given to both if it happened like concurrently at the same time. And that's why I think he's probably in the contention. University of Copenhagen is his home. And finally, Daniel Duker, he contribute to he contributed experiments showing that the glucose dependent insulin secretion and the broader physiology is in fact these glucagon like peptides. >> So he's a professor um at the University of Toronto and also he's affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital in Harvard. >> Now that's already three, right? >> Yeah. >> Um and the Nobel Prize very famously is only given to three. maxes out >> maxes out at three. The trouble with
4:53GLP-1 which is why I think you know this is kind of a far chance because there is a fourth involved that is very heavily involved. Lahi Vieri Nudson she was at Novo Nordisk and she's part of the team that attached a fatty acid chain to the GLP1 analoges and this is what turned it into a drug. Mhm. >> Okay. It went from just a peptide that's found normally, but if you just like inject GLP-1, you're going to throw up. You need a kind of mediary that helps it do the types of regulation that we know from the GLP1 associated drugs. So, um, she's a strong possible recipient. She's the chief scientific adviser for
5:35research and development at Nova Nordisk right now. And um you know the the there was a breakthrough prize I believe in 2024 or 2025 that was given to all four of them. >> Interesting. >> Okay. Yeah. >> So there were the three scientists and then there was this person who really like pushed it to become the kind of treatment option that it's available today. >> The practical application. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, if GLP1 is something that the Nobel Prize Committee deems worthy, it's going to be interesting how they distribute it. Like, who are the three out of the four that they choose? >> Uhoh. Uh-oh. And for listeners of the
6:16pod, you will recall that we discussed uh GLP1 in the context of uh also having been a former winner of the Golden Goose Award. >> That's right. uh based on some research as it relates to Gila Monsters, >> not Gila Monsters. >> Gila, thank you Monsters. Thank you for everyone correcting our American uh pronunciation. And it's obviously something that people get inundated with with ads on Instagram, etc. Yeah. >> And I think the through line is yes, great, you know, we have something that is attacking an issue that impacts a lot of people and has been beneficial to
6:57many. Um but it does again start with some fundamental understanding that then leads to the practical application. Uh this I think was the mo one of the is one of the most popular um >> predictions out there >> predictions on all of the markets and all this other stuff. >> Yeah. Yeah. The only reason why I think it's a far-fetch is because there's four involved. You know, I think this is one of those where um maybe they'll have a deal with the chemistry people >> to like give some of it to the chem and some of it to bio or something like that, >> you know? Or they do the classic thing where they wait for one of them to die >> and then and then immediately give it to the three that are left standing, >> which if you watch our last year's Nobel
7:38coverage, we talk about that that context which