Canadian scientist wins Breakthrough Prize for discovery of hormone used in Ozempic, Mounjaro [Video]

A Canadian researcher has won a 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for discovering the GLP-1 hormone used in diabetes and obesity medications — including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro — that have changed the lives of millions of people around the world.

Dr. Daniel Drucker, an endocrinology researcher at the University of Toronto, said he has spent 40 years learning about the hormone’s ability to spur weight loss and stimulate insulin production to treat diabetes.

Drucker shares a prize worth three-million-dollars U-S with four colleagues from the U-S and Denmark also involved in G-L-P-one’s journey from the lab to pharmacies.

He said it’s rewarding to see it result in medications that help people living with obesity lose weight and live healthy lives.

Drucker says research now shows that G-L-P-one medications can help reduce heart attacks, strokes and death from cardiovascular disease.

He said there is also promising research suggesting it could also reduce inflammation and possibly treat arthritis, kidney disease and Alzheimer’s …