Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Medicines such as Ozempic and Wegovy have achieved blockbuster status due to their effectiveness promoting weight loss. These drugs mimic the activity of GLP-1, a natural hormone that is released after eating. Originally developed for type 2 diabetes, this drug class is now offering new hope to individuals who have struggled unsuccessfully to control their weight through diet and exercise.
Jeffrey Friedman, a physician-scientist at The Rockefeller University, sees the new weight loss drugs as both a medical milestone and a dramatic turning point in the quest to understand the causes of obesity. Dr. Friedman, a recipient of the Albert Lasker Award, the Breakthrough Prize, and many other honors, is an innovator in research on metabolism. In the mid-1990s, he and his colleagues isolated an obesity-related gene and showed that it encoded a previously unknown hormone, dubbed leptin, that plays a key role in controlling appetite, energy expenditure, and fat storage. The discovery of leptin provided compelling evidence of a genetic contribution to obesity and established a model for chemical signaling between the digestive tract and the brain that continues to inform basic research and drug discovery related to obesity.
Medicines such as Ozempic and Wegovy have achieved blockbuster status due to their effectiveness promoting weight loss. These drugs mimic the activity of GLP-1, a natural hormone that is released after eating. Originally developed for type 2 diabetes, this drug class is now offering new hope to individuals who have struggled unsuccessfully to control their weight through diet and exercise.
Jeffrey Friedman, a physician-scientist at The Rockefeller University, sees the new weight loss drugs as both a medical milestone and a dramatic turning point in the quest to understand the causes of obesity. Dr. Friedman, a recipient of the Albert Lasker Award, the Breakthrough Prize, and many other honors, is an innovator in research on metabolism. In the mid-1990s, he and his colleagues isolated an obesity-related gene and showed that it encoded a previously unknown hormone, dubbed leptin, that plays a key role in controlling appetite, energy expenditure, and fat storage. The discovery of leptin provided compelling evidence of a genetic contribution to obesity and established a model for chemical signaling between the digestive tract and the brain that continues to inform basic research and drug discovery related to obesity.
