Lotte Knudsen, who pushed Novo Nordisk into the Ozempic era, wins STAT Innovation award

Back in the 1990s, scientist Lotte Bjerre Knudsen was tasked with revitalizing a floundering program at Novo Nordisk that had been trying to harness the newly-discovered GLP-1 hormone into viable diabetes drug candidates.

At the time, many of Knudsen’s bosses had already lost hope for the program. Novo’s focus, after all, was on insulin, and the naturally occurring GLP-1 hormone had too short a half-life to use as a drug.

But Knudsen continued to see potential in treating not only diabetes, but also obesity, with drugs based on GLP-1, she said Wednesday during the STAT Summit in Boston. “I was always the one saying, ‘don’t forget about GLP-1’ and challenging decisions at the company.”

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