Interview with a senior Novo Nordisk scientist

Fascinating and very... European interview in Der Spiegel with the inventor of liraglutide, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen: 

DER SPIEGEL: We have a different supposition: Novo Nordisk grew up with insulin, which will now be used less in the fight against diabetes. And your company didn’t want to give up its old revenue generator.

Knudsen: I’m not buying that. Why didn’t Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and all the other manufacturers prioritize anti-obesity drugs?

DER SPIEGEL: But you had to struggle against resistance within the company.

Knudsen: It’s true that over the years I’ve clashed with some colleagues who focus on insulin. People told me directly that they thought the GLP-1 peptide was a bad idea. We wouldn’t need new injectors for diabetes or obesity. Even our former CEO jokes today that he didn’t believe in a successful anti-obesity drug. But I was allowed to continue researching.

I'm genuinely very impressed with people who worked on a hard problem for many years and have had it shown fruit. I suspect that all of us have these moments, but it's always very cool when their passions turn out to be very, very successful. Congratulations to her, and best wishes to all of us in our individual endeavors.