The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announced the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday, honoring research on hormones that regulate appetite.
The prize, worth 12 million Swedish kronor (€1.06 million), was awarded for discoveries linked to GLP-1, a hormone released by the intestine after meals that signals satiety. These findings paved the way for widely used weight-loss and diabetes medications such as Ozempic and Mounjaro. Analysts at Clarivate, a data analytics firm, had previously identified GLP-1 research as a leading contender, citing its "immense global clinical impact," according to David Pendlebury, a Clarivate executive .
The announcement marked the start of Nobel Week, with the medicine prize traditionally unveiled first. The 2025 laureates in the same category—Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi—were recognized for their work on immune system tolerance .
