Lotte Bjerre Knudsen

Lotte Bjerre Knudsen (born 10 March 1964) is a Danish scientist and university professor. She led the development of liraglutide and oversaw the development of semaglutide,

Early life and education Knudsen originally studied chemical engineering at the Technical University of Denmark, and obtained a doctorate in scientific medicine (DMSc) from the University of Copenhagen in 2014.

Career Knudsen began work as a scientist at the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk in Denmark in 1989. She served as an adjunct faculty member at Aarhus University from 2015–2020, as a professor in translational medicine.

Contributions 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.

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.

GLP-1 had been previously identified by researchers such as Jens Juul Holst in Denmark, who joined Novo Nordisk as a consultant, Knudsen's team screened numerous chemical compounds to identify whether they could bind to the GLP-1 receptor sufficiently to stimulate insulin secretion.

Eventually, they developed a new compound called liraglutide, which is an agonist for the GLP-1 receptor. It is a chemical analogue of GLP-1, with a fatty acid and spacer attached. These modifications increased its ability to dissolve in water and bind to albumin, which increase its bioavailability—its lifetime in the bloodstream, and so the duration of its action in the body.

Knudsen’s team, specifically Jesper Lau and Thomas Kruse, 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.

Semaglutide was approved in the United States under the brand name Ozempic as a treatment for type 2 diabetes in 2017, and under the brand name Wegovy, as a first injectable (at 2.4 mg once weekly), for chronic weight management in June 2021. In January 2025, the FDA approved a pill form of Wegovy with doses ranging from 1.5 mg to 25 mg.

Impact

Martin Müller and Alexander Preker, writing for Der Spiegel in January 2024, have referred to Knudsen discovery in inventing the semaglutide weight-loss injections as "revolutionary", with the "drug Wegovy... [having] changed the world," and having made Novo Nordisk "Europe's most valuable company, [more valuable] than Daimler, Bayer, Lufthansa and BMW combined". In October 2023, she received the STAT Biomedical Innovation award, and in 2024, she received the Mani L. Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award. In 2024, Knudsen received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, presented by Awards Council member Robert S. Langer. In 2025, Knudsen received the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.