Analogues and inhibitors

Dr. Daniel Drucker received a 2011 CIHR/CMAJ Top Achievements in Health Research Award and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2015 for conducting research that led to the development of two new classes of drugs for Type 2 diabetes. A Senior Investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Drucker studies hormones produced in the pancreas, digestive tract and brain. His laboratory researched ways to mimic the functions of the hormone GLP-1 which is made by cells in the intestine and tells the pancreas to release insulin after a meal and stop releasing glucagon, therefore lowering blood glucose. His research led to the development of GLP-1 analogue treatments and DPP4 inhibitors, meaning they blocked the DPP4 protein from removing GLP-1 from the body. Drucker’s research has led to the creation of drugs such as liraglutide (Victoza), exenatide (Byetta) and sitagliptin (Januvia).  

www.diabetes.ca/research/progress-in-research