TAIPEI, June 19,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In a continuing series of
laureate announcements, the Tang Prize Foundation today (June
19th) announced the 2024 Tang Prize in
Biopharmaceutical Science recipients. The prestigious award has
been jointly awarded to Joel F.
Habener, Svetlana Mojsov, and Jens
Juul Holst, for the discovery of GLP-1 (7-37) as an
insulinotropic factor and the development of GLP-1 (7-37)-based
anti-diabetic and anti-obesity drugs.
Of the 8 billion people in the world today, as many as 500
million have diabetes, and nearly 1 billion are obese. The two
diseases lead to many severe complications, resulting in a heavy
medical burden for both the individual and society. Fortunately,
GLP-1-based therapeutics have recently become blockbuster drugs to
treat obesity and diabetes. At present, there are at least 13 GLP-1
RA (GLP-1 receptor agonists) drugs approved by the FDA for treating
diabetes and obesity, benefiting hundreds of millions of users with
prospects of even greater benefits in the future.
The journey of the exciting discovery began with cloning
the anglerfish preproglucagon gene in the early 80s by Dr.
Joel Habener from Mass
General Hospital/ Harvard Medical
School. He discovered this precursor protein contains
glucagon and another glucagon-related peptide (GRP). Subsequent
cloning of the rat preproglucagon gene showed that it contained
glucagon and two additional peptides designated GLP-1 and GLP-2,
and that the anglerfish GRP is a GLP-1. Dr. Svetlana Mojsov,
working at the Endocrine Unit and head of the HHMI peptide
synthesis facility at Mass General Hospital, later identified the
active form of intestinal GLP-1 to be GLP-1 (7-37). She
collaborated with Dr. Habener to show that GLP-1 (7-37) can induce
insulin release from the pancreas rather than the entire GLP-1
(1-37). This is an important discovery that identified the
long-sought-after incretin and led to its application as an
anti-diabetic strategy. The efforts of Dr. Mojsov in the synthesis
of GLP-1 (7-37) and the development of several experimental
approaches to detect the GLPs in the intestines were critical. Dr.
Habener, Dr. Mojsov, and their collaborators showed in healthy and
type 2 diabetic human subjects that GLP-1 (7-37) is insulinotropic,
paving the way for clinical application. Independently at the
University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Dr.
Jens Juul Holst also isolated
and identified GLP-1 (1-37), and subsequently GLP-1 (7-36) amide as
an active incretin. His lab characterized the biology and
physiology of GLP-1 (7-37), demonstrated its therapeutic potential,
and has been actively involved in developing anti-diabetic drugs.
Dr. Holst also reported that GLP-1 (7-37) inhibits gastric acid
release and slows down gastric emptying, with anti-obesity
potential. During clinical trials, it was found that diabetic
patients receiving this type of drug had weight loss tendencies,
further promoting its application in the treatment of obesity.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tang-prize-in-biopharmaceutical-science-honoring-three-scientists-302176244.html
SOURCE Tang Prize Foundation