Revealed: The VERY bizarre suburban domestic of the lady who invented Ozempic… and whilst she’ll by no means transfer area – in spite of making her bosses £150billion

Hurrying previous Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens on methods to town’s major educate station, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen seems to be similar to all of the different commuters crossing the Danish capital.

But the lady dressed casually in denims and a baseball cap with a small rucksack on her again could be very a long way from bizarre.

Her contribution to science has modified our international for ever. 

She is the mum of the ‘miracle’ drug contained in Wegovy and Ozempic, which has made her employers, Novo Nordisk, value £150 billion, turning it into the largest corporate in Europe within the procedure.

Yet in spite of that, Knudsen, 61, isn’t to be discovered quaffing Dom Perignon on her personal Caribbean island, nor criss-crossing the arena in a personal jet.

She lives conveniently on this delightful, however no longer showy, £900,000 condo in central Copenhagen along with her husband, Peter Mads Olsen, a secondary faculty sports activities instructor and chairman of Volleyball Denmark.

Mr Olsen drives a Tesla, however Lotte steadily prefers to take the educate or stroll. And the one conceivable pointer to her large contribution to the science of meals and consuming is her personal widespread posting of mouth-watering footage of meals from graceful eating places across the world.

She has an excessively refreshing retort to people who may counsel she will have to be grabbing a proportion of the ones billions.

Lotte Bjerre Knudsen’s (pictured proper) contribution to science has modified the arena perpetually

Knudsen (pictured preserving a cocktail) is the mum of the ‘miracle’ drug contained in Wegovy and Ozempic

When requested lately whether or not she used to be disenchanted along with her contract, she advised Der Spiegel: ‘Never, why will have to I be?

‘I do not care that a lot about cash, I’m a socialist! Here in Scandinavia, we train our youngsters teamwork from an early age. It’s no longer in regards to the person. And that is how I’m too. I’ve by no means requested for a carry in 34 years.’

The mother-of-one nonetheless commutes every day to Novo’s ultra-secure laboratory within the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, the place she is Chief Scientific Adviser and head of IDEA (Innovation & Data Experimentation Advancement).

Of direction, she’s had wage hikes alongside the best way, however by no means ‘driven’ for them, she says. ‘I will’t see that capitalism and cash make other people glad.

‘At Novo Nordisk, I’ve at all times most popular to make use of my credibility to call for extra investment for science, no longer extra wage for myself. I additionally don’t have any highbrow belongings rights. They belong to the corporate as a result of I gave them up when I used to be hired.’

That stated, this month she used to be one in every of 5 winners of a prestigious Breakthrough Prize (referred to as the ‘Oscars of science’) at a star-studded rite in Hollywood. The winners proportion a cheque for $3million (£2.25million) of round £450,000 each and every.

And there’s no doubt it used to be Lottes’s sheer choice that were given Novo Nordisk to the place it’s these days with a marketplace capitalisation higher than AstraZeneca and BP mixed.

It’s nearly unattainable to overstate the importance of Ms Knudsen’s discovery which reaches a long way past its financial worth.

The drugs reasons the pancreas to unencumber extra insulin which is helping guard in opposition to diabetes and make other people really feel fuller extra briefly.

Knudsen, 61, is steadily dressed casually in denims and a baseball cap

Peter Mads Olsen (proper) is a secondary faculty sports activities instructor and chairman of Volleyball Denmark

The mother-of-one (pictured when she used to be more youthful) nonetheless commutes every day to Novo’s ultra-secure laboratory within the northern suburbs of Copenhagen

Knudsen is pictured out climbing along with her instructor husband

As other people far and wide the arena, specifically in Hollywood, clamour for Ozempic, Novo Nordisk’s factories merely can’t produce sufficient of the drug to stay alongside of call for.

The British executive even has plans to make the modern weight-loss drug to be had over-the-counter from the NHS at pharmacies for the price of a prescription, the Mail has published.

And it isn’t simply waistlines which might be converting. Airlines predict to make use of much less jet gasoline as a result of passengers will weigh much less and kidney dialysis suppliers worry their marketplace sector will shrink, at the side of their sufferers.

Lotte Bjerre Knudsen used to be pivotal to the advance of the medication with the energetic elements liraglutide and semaglutide, the important thing aspect of Ozempic.

Her first level used to be on the Danish Academy of Engineering, the place she graduated in chemical engineering in 1989 after which started paintings at Novo Nordisk. 

She joined a analysis staff on a hormone known as GLP-1, recognized a couple of years previous through scientists on the University of Copenhagen.

She returned from maternity go away in 1994 and located a lot of her former colleagues were moved directly to different initiatives.

Her new boss advised her the crew had failed up to now to show GLP-1 into a brand new drug for diabetes. But they (and particularly she) could be granted another check out.

‘You wish to determine what to do with GLP-1 and it must be now,’ he advised her.

She used to be best elderly 30, and some of the youngest scientists in her division, and in contrast to a lot of them, had no Ph.D. She had by no means prior to led a drug building programme.

Knudsen, 61, is steadily dressed casually in denims and a baseball cap

Lotte Bjerre Knudsen used to be pivotal to the advance of the medication with the energetic elements liraglutide and semaglutide, the important thing aspect of Ozempic

Lotte Bjerre Knudsen speaks onstage all the way through the 11th Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at Barker Hangar on April 5

Lotte (proper) won a doctorate in drugs from the University of Copenhagen in 2014

‘I bear in mind feeling a little bit bit scared,’ she advised science site STAT in a contemporary interview. ‘The factor I saved going over in my head used to be, did I’ve the braveness to in truth lead?’

She discovered that she did. Eventually she created a longer-lasting model of GLP-1 that was liraglutide, licensed in 2010 and offered as Victoza, which helped diabetics regulate their blood sugar and drop pounds.

In time, and with enter from different scientists, an much more efficient model would quickly observe in semaglutide, the energetic aspect in Ozempic and Wegovy.

Now hundreds of thousands of individuals are being prescribed those medicine, weekly injections that curb urge for food, tame meals cravings, and soften the fats away. Demand is so top that Novo Nordisk can not stay up, and has needed to limit shipments to the U.S. for brand new sufferers till the corporate can build up manufacturing.

Lotte won a doctorate in drugs from the University of Copenhagen in 2014.

Considering the have an effect on that her discovery is having — and may have at the weight problems epidemic — it is in all probability no longer sudden to find that Lotte’s personal existence has been inextricably connected with meals from an early age.

Her mom used to be a chef and her father used to be an cutting edge farmer who wasn’t afraid to check out new plants others eschewed. He used to be the primary in Denmark to develop courgettes and spring onions.

And Lotte’s personal Instagram account finds one thing of an obsession with fantastically offered eating place dishes she has loved all over the world when on work trips and vacations – and in Denmark itself.

The meals adventure enthusiastically chronicled levels from Brussel sprouts, Cajun-style in New Orleans, to artichoke and cauliflower rice pilaf at ‘my absolute Oxford fav position’ Pompette, in addition to many Copenhagen eateries – and a few of her personal makes an attempt from domestic.

Her favorite eating place is an Italian, known as L’Enoteca di Mr. Brunello, handily with reference to the circle of relatives condo.

Owners Jennifer and Gildo Russo have change into pals, says supervisor Marco Cenedese, 26, and all the way through the 2020 lockdown, Lotte even posted that with the eating place closed, she used to be cooking pasta with the couple.

The Michelin-listed eating place is known for its home-made mushroom ravioli with desserts. Marco says that Lotte steadily holds circle of relatives foods and celebrations within the former bodega’s vintage environment, with wine bottles stacked everywhere in the partitions.

Her non-public favorite, as her Instagram attests, is the Brunello di Montalcino which Marco proudly plucks from his intensive wine cellar.

‘Lotte is a really nice woman,’ he advised MailOn-line.

‘We know she is an excessively well-known scientist, but if she comes herea, she simply needs to have a great time along with her circle of relatives and benefit from the meals and wine.

‘She does not have a tendency to devour meat that steadily – extra steadily greens and fish dishes.’

In truth, as Lotte advised Der Spiegel lately, she’s in truth seeking to speedy — in order that she will devour no matter she needs with out being worried.

‘I really like meals, however that still approach I’ve to restrain myself,’ she stated. ‘I’m experimenting with periodic fasting. That approach I do not devour anything else prior to 11am or midday, after which just for 8 hours.

‘I do not do that to drop pounds, however in order that I will devour with out considering an excessive amount of: even the scrumptious cake this is passed out in conferences.

‘But fasting has taught me how tough it may be to regulate your urge for food and say ‘no.’ Because it’s steadily no longer true when overweight individuals are faced with the concept that it’s their very own fault for his or her weight. This is the place genetics and biology meet the trendy, prosperous society.’