Weight-loss drug research tipped for Nobel medicine prize as 2026 announcements begin

Mixed · 2The 2026 Nobel season begins on Monday 5 October with the medicine prize, announced at 11:30 am (0930 GMT), and the six prizes will be revealed daily through 12 October. 1 2 Mixed · 2Nobel watchers told AFP the medicine prize could go to research that paved the way for weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, including microbiome research, the discovery of the hormones leptin and ghrelin, and work on glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), the intestinal hormone that signals satiety and which drugs like Ozempic mimic. 1 2 Mixed · 2David Pendlebury, who heads research analysis at Clarivate, a data firm that predicts Nobel winners from citation counts, said a prize for any of that work is likely and that he would put GLP-1 at the top of the list because of its enormous worldwide clinical impact. 1 2

Mixed · 2Three scientists regularly mentioned for the field are Canadian endocrinologist Daniel Drucker, Danish physician Jens Juul Holst and Yugoslav-born American chemist Svetlana Mojsov. 1 2 Mixed · 2Other possible medicine laureates include stem-cell skin research by American Elaine Fuchs and Briton Fiona Watt (suggested by SR science reporter Annika Ostman), optical coherence tomography imaging, immune-system adhesion receptors identified by US immunologist Timothy Springer, and breast cancer or coronavirus-related DNA sequencing research. 1 2 Mixed · 2Physics follows on Tuesday 6 October and chemistry on Wednesday 7 October; literature is due Thursday 8 October, with some pundits suggesting a woman writer, possibly from Latin America, such as Argentine author Samanta Schweblin, 48, after Laszlo Krasznahorkai won in 2025. 2 1

Mixed · 2The peace prize, due on 9 October and the only Nobel awarded in Oslo, is described as the most keenly anticipated; some experts suggest the jury may pick a consensus laureate after the 2025 winner, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, stirred controversy. 2 1 Mixed · 2US President Donald Trump lobbied intensively in 2025 for the peace prize, and Machado ended up giving him her Nobel medal; the committee is aware he will be watching again, and its secretary Kristian Berg Harpviken said there is always lobbying and perhaps attempts to pressure the committee, which it is very used to. 1 2 Mixed · 2Peace prize names in speculation include a joint award to Save the Children and Ukrainian children's rights activist Mykola Kuleba, Sudan's Emergency Response Rooms, and the Committee to Protect Journalists; the economics prize concludes the season on 12 October. 1 2