Unraveling the Secrets of Ozempic: A Journey Through Biomedical Breakthroughs

For decades, obesity has been a growing concern, with nearly a quarter of Europeans and over 40 percent of Americans affected. The journey to understanding and treating this issue began with a curiosity-driven physician-scientist, Joel Habener, who started his career in the mid-1970s. Initially focused on diabetes, Habener's interest in the pancreatic hormone glucagon led him to the emerging field of molecular biology. However, his plans were derailed when the US National Institutes of Health banned research on mammalian genes.This unexpected turn led Habener to study the anglerfish, a unique creature with an endocrine organ outside the pancreas. In a surprising twist, he isolated a precursor protein that gave rise to glucagon and a second hormone resembling glucagon, which would later become known as GLP-1. Although Habener didn't realize its significance at the time, this discovery laid the foundation for today's diabetes and obesity drugs. Svetlana Mojsov, a scientist who emigrated from Yugoslavia, built upon Habener's early discoveries. She correctly predicted the active form of GLP-1 and devised innovative chemistry methods to synthesize it. Her work revealed that GLP-1 would be released in the intestines and trigger insulin production, a theory later proven through lab experiments and human trials.