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A Canadian researcher won the 2025 Life Science Breakthrough Award for discovering GLP-1 hormones used in diabetes and obesity drugs, including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, that have transformed the lives of millions of people around the world.
The endocrinologist and clinician at the University of Toronto, Dr. Daniel Drucker, Ph.D., and the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Institute of Health and Health in Sinai shared a $3 million bonus with four colleagues from the United States and Denmark.
They were all involved in the development of the now-famous drug produced by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Drucker and three joint winners have discovered findings about glucagon-like peptide-1 in their lab. Another winner of the award is Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, who works at Novo Nordisk, leading the path to developing it as a drug.
Breakthrough Prizes (commonly known as the “Science Oscars”) are distributed in Los Angeles and include basic physics and mathematics, in addition to life sciences.
The Breakthrough Foundation said the prize was created to “celebrate the wonders of our scientific age.” Maaike van Kooten, another Canadian at the National Research Council of Canada, shared a $100,000 prize in physics with two international colleagues for watching external events.
In an interview a week before the event, Drucker said the award made sense because it was awarded by other scientists and “has received a lot of attention in the scientific community.”
“We have students like this, students and awards telling them that the world is watching and thinks the work is rewarding. I think it’s very useful for morale and for young people,” he said.
Drucker began studying genetic sequencing of glucagon-like peptides in a Boston laboratory in the 1980s, and then returned to Canada to continue his work at the University of Toronto.
He talked to the Canadian press about early days, his views on how producing drugs has changed the world’s perception of obesity and other health issues that GLP-1 may address in the future.
CP: Why did you study this particular hormone when you started in that lab in Boston?
Drucker: There might have been about twelve projects in the lab at that time. Therefore, some people are studying pituitary hormones. Some people work in basic cell biology projects. Others are studying different genes, and glucagon is one of the projects in the lab. When I got there they said, “Well, you’re working on the glucagon gene.” () could be another gene () and you’ll never hear me again.
CP: Do you have a critical moment, you think, “Wow, is this important?”
Drucker: I don’t think there is a “Eureka!” moment, but I’m going to say that one day I walk into the lab and my notebook disappears, I might mean to value me. I said, “Oh my goodness, someone broke into the lab and stole my notebook.” Then, it turned out – my supervisor (and the award winner) Joel Habener took my notebook because he was excited that the result was enough to file a patent.
CP: When did you come to the University of Toronto?
Drucker: I came back in 1987…. When we and others discovered that GLP-1 inhibited food intake in 1996, it was in my lab in Toronto where we did experiments on heart disease and inflammation as well as kidney disease and liver disease. So I’ve been literally studying it for 40 years.
CP: When will Novo Nordisk (maker of Ozempic and Wegovy) participate?
Drucker: I think big companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, and even others have tried to develop drugs based on GLP-1 from the beginning. But we learned through some painful lessons that if you give too many GLP-1s too fast, people will throw them away. It’s still a side effect today, right? Some people just feel uncomfortable and they have some nausea and vomiting. Therefore, it took a long time for the pharmaceutical industry to figure out how to make GLP-1 last longer to avoid decomposition, how to start with a small amount, how to slowly increase the dose, etc. That took years.
CP: What job are you working on now and what are some other applications of GLP-1 drugs?
Drucker: If we only looked at it over the past few years, in addition to lowering blood sugar and losing weight, we have seen that these drugs can slow down the rate of heart attacks and strokes, slow down the rate of diabetic kidney disease, and help with obstructive sleep apnea, and for people with disabilities in patients with arthritis and prevent the development of severe metabolic liver disease. In Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, trials are underway in drug use disorders.
So I kind of looked at it and I went, “Wow, what’s going on? What’s the matter with GLP-1 doing in the brain, blood vessels, or kidneys to improve the health of these organs?” So we do focus on this aspect of GLP-1, including how GLP-1 reduces inflammation, which we think is a major part of the benefits that GLP-1 brings.
CP: Are cardiovascular benefits due to GLP-1 drugs that lose weight or manage diabetes and improve cardiovascular health?
Drucker: What we are starting to see is that in many trials, the benefits are not strictly related to weight loss or blood sugar control. So, there is no doubt that if you have type 2 diabetes, make your blood sugar normal and if you weigh too high, you can lose weight, which is helpful.
But when we really look at the trial and we see who is good and who is not good, there is no perfect correlation with glycemic control or weight loss. Therefore, we believe that independent action of GLP-1 may be through independent action to reduce inflammation, which is also beneficial. This is exactly what we try to learn in the lab.
CP: We now see how we view the cultural shift in obesity. How do you do it?
Drucker: This is a very complicated discussion. So, suppose that 10 years ago our movement was very easy to understand, it was “healthy at any scale”. Don’t focus on your weight itself, focus on your health, I still think it’s a very powerful message. Part of the messaging is because we have no other solution besides bariatric surgery that can make people healthier and perhaps lower weight…. In society, a part of our society tends to look at obese people and say, “Well, you know, that’s willpower. If you really want to lose weight, you can, you just don’t try” or “you’re lazy,” or “you know,” or you know, “you’re weak.” And we know that many of the people we’ve seen in clinical practice are reducing their calories and exercising and doing everything we ask them to do. But their brains are defending higher weights…. Now, with GLP-1 drugs, we see…we can help people lose weight. And I think it’s very powerful because people who struggle before they can’t do it can now lose 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 pounds.
CP: Do you have any fears or thoughts about people who may not need these medications?
Drucker: Well, you’re talking to people who are worried about everything, so of course I’m worried…
A little like the Hunger Games. People have to call six pharmacies, find a medication that has a month’s worth and drive to that pharmacy as quickly as possible to get them, which is not great. So while this happens, seeing others get a prescription because Uncle Harry’s wedding starts within two months, they just want to lose weight so they can look more suitable for Uncle Harry’s wedding- you know, as a doctor, I said, wait, wait, wait, “wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, because these drugs require a certain risk, because there is a certain risk, and it can make your risk more important, and it can make your risk more important for Uncle Harry’s wedding.” So that’s a dilemma.
Then, another big challenge we still face is that these drugs are very expensive. In many jurisdictions, we don’t have access to the drug program for everyone. We do not have all drug plans agree to repay the drug….
Finally…we did not have clinical trials for healthy people without diabetes, and no higher weight (know), “Well, are there any particular side effects in this group of individuals?” They were not studied in clinical trials. What should we worry about when you want to lose weight… health? We don’t know. Therefore, we must always pay attention to the knowledge we do not know about the safety of these drugs.
– This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
This report by Canadian media was first published on April 5, 2025.
News Insurance Canada is supported through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is completely responsible for this content.
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