Three scientists were recognized by the Lasker Awards for their work on the GLP-1 hormone. Others were honored for work to stop H.I.V. and for immune system discoveries.
The Lasker Awards, a prestigious set of prizes given for advances in medicine and public health research, were given on Thursday to scientists whose research helped lead to the discovery of a new class of obesity drugs, infectious disease specialists who worked on the drivers of H.I.V. infection and how to stop it, and a scientist who discovered a way the body protects itself from infectious diseases and cancer.
The Laskers are highly regarded in the fields of biomedicine and are sometimes seen as foretelling recipients of the Nobel Prizes in the sciences.
This year’s Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award went to three scientists for their work on GLP-1, the hormone that led to drugs like Wegovy (the same compound is the basis for Ozempic), which have transformed the treatment of obesity. They are Dr. Joel Habener, Svetlana Mojsov and Lotte Bjerre Knudsen.
Each of the three honorees played a role at a key moment: finding the new hormone; finding the biologically active shorter form of GLP-1; and, finally, showing that the shorter form elicits weight loss.
Of course, as almost always happens in science, many others also played key roles, and the Lasker Foundation mentioned some as part of its citation. And one of the honorees, Dr. Mojsov, is receiving what many deem a long overdue recognition.