A Canadian researcher has received the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for discovering the GLP-1 hormone, which is used in diabetes and obesity medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, and has greatly enhanced the quality of life for millions worldwide. Dr. Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist and clinician-scientist associated with the University of Toronto and the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health, will share the US$3 million prize with four colleagues from the United States and Denmark.
The well-known medications developed by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly were created with the contributions of these scientists. Drucker and three other recipients made key discoveries about glucagon-like peptide-1 in their respective research labs. The fourth awardee, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, who works with Novo Nordisk, was instrumental in turning it into treatment options. The Breakthrough Prizes, often referred to as the “Oscars of Science,” were presented on Saturday in Los Angeles across several fields, including Fundamental Physics, Mathematics, and Life Sciences.
According to the Breakthrough Foundation, these awards were created to “celebrate the wonders of our scientific era.” Another Canadian, Maaike van Kooten from the National Research Council Canada, was awarded a US$100,000 prize called New Horizons in Physics, along with two international peers, for their work in optics to study exoplanets. In a pre-event interview, Drucker noted that the award is meaningful because it is given by fellow researchers and “attracts considerable attention within the scientific community.”
“We have students and trainees, and awards like this demonstrate that their contributions are acknowledged and appreciated globally. I think this greatly enhances morale and motivates young individuals,” he stated. Drucker began his research journey in the 1980s, focusing on the genetic sequencing of glucagon-like peptides in a lab in Boston, before returning to Canada to continue his education at the University of Toronto.
