Lotte Bjerre Knudsen

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Lotte Bjerre Knudsen (born March 10, 1964) is a Danish scientist and university professor. She has led the development of liraglutide and semaglutide, two notable drugs against diabetes and obesity.[1]

Life[edit]

Knudsen originally studied chemical engineering at the Technical University of Denmark, later obtaining a doctorate in medicine from the University of Copenhagen, and started her career as a scientist at the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk in Denmark in 1989. From 2015 to 2020, she also worked as an adjunct professor in translational medicine at Aarhus University. Since January 2022, Knudsen has been employed as the Chief Scientific Advisor Research at Novo Nordisk.[2][3]

Contributions[edit]

While still a student, Knudsen worked at Novo Nordisk, initially working on laundry detergent enzymes. Alongside fellow student Shamkant Patkar, she discovered an enzyme capable of removing microscopic strands of cotton that pill up on clothing from repeated wear.[4]

After this project, Knudsen joined full-time as part of a research group at Novo Nordisk that aimed to identify new treatments for diabetes, by developing small molecule drugs targeting specific metabolic pathways. One project revolved around glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone that stimulates the production of insulin but has a short half-life of minutes in the body.[1]

Glucagon-like peptide-1 had been previously identified by researchers such as Jens Juul Holst in Denmark, who joined Novo Nordisk as a consultant,[4] and Joel Habener, Daniel J. Drucker, and Svetlana Mojsov at Massachusetts General Hospital.[5][6]

Knudsen's team screened numerous chemical compounds to identify whether they could bind to the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor sufficiently to stimulate insulin secretion.[4]

Eventually, they developed a new compound called liraglutide, which is an agonist for the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor.[4] It is a chemical analogue of glucagon-like peptide-1 with a fatty acid and spacer attached. These modifications increased its ability to dissolve in water and bind to albumin, which help maintain its retention in the bloodstream and lengthen its duration of action in the body.[1]

Liraglutide was approved as a treatment for diabetes under the brand name Victoza in the United States in 2010.[7]

Knudsen's team then worked on what became semaglutide, which had greater stability and affinity to albumin, lengthening its duration of action further to a once-weekly drug.[8]

Semaglutide was approved in the United States under the brand name Ozempic as a treatment for type 2 diabetes in 2017[9] and under the brand name Wegovy for chronic weight management in 2021.[10]

Honors[edit]

  • In 2023, she received the Paul Langerhans Medal by the German Diabetes Society for her work developing the GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) Liraglutide.[11][12]
  • In October 2023, she received the STAT Biomedical Innovation award.[13]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c L. B. Knudsen, J. Lau: The Discovery and Development of Liraglutide and Semaglutide. In: Frontiers in Endocrinology. Band 10, 2019, S. 155, doi:10.3389/fendo.2019.00155, PMID 31031702, PMC 6474072.
  2. ^ "Experience | Lotte Bjerre Knudsen | LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  3. ^ Müller, Martin U.; Preker, Alexander (2024-01-04). "Interview with Weight Loss Drugs Inventor Lotte Bjerre Knudsen: "I'm Experimenting with Periodic Fasting"". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  4. ^ a b c d "How one scientist's determination made Novo Nordisk an obesity-drug powerhouse". Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  5. ^ "Discovery, characterization, and clinical development of the glucagon-like peptides". Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  6. ^ "Weight-loss-drug pioneer: this biochemist finally gained recognition for her work". Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  7. ^ Iepsen, E. W.; Torekov, S. S.; Holst, J. J. (2015). "Liraglutide for Type 2 diabetes and obesity: a 2015 update". Expert Review of Cardiovascular Therapy. 13 (7): 753–767. doi:10.1586/14779072.2015.1054810. PMID 26106933.
  8. ^ Lau, Jesper; Bloch, Paw; Schäffer, Lauge; Pettersson, Ingrid; Spetzler, Jane; Kofoed, Jacob; Madsen, Kjeld; Knudsen, Lotte Bjerre; McGuire, James; Steensgaard, Dorte Bjerre; Strauss, Holger Martin; Gram, Dorte X.; Knudsen, Sanne Møller; Nielsen, Flemming Seier; Thygesen, Peter; Reedtz-Runge, Steffen; Kruse, Thomas (2015). "Discovery of the Once-Weekly Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) Analogue Semaglutide". Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 58 (18): 7370–7380. doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5b00726.
  9. ^ "Ozempic (semaglutide) Injection".
  10. ^ "FDA Approves New Drug Treatment for Chronic Weight Management, First Since 2014". Food and Drug Administration.
  11. ^ Angela Monecke (2023-09-13). "Für ihre Forschung zu Liraglutid und Semaglutid erhält Dr. Lotte Bjerre Knudsen beim Diabetes Kongress die höchste Auszeichnung der DDG". Medical Tribune. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  12. ^ "Paul-Langerhans-Medaille für die Entwicklung von Liraglutid bei Adipositas und Typ-2-Diabetes". journalmed.de (in German). 2023-05-26. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  13. ^ Chen, Elaine (2023-10-18). "Lotte Knudsen, who pushed Novo Nordisk into the Ozempic era, wins STAT Innovation award". STAT. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
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