This special award session honours the legacy of Hellmut Mehnert and celebrates the 2025 recipient, Professor Matthias Tschöp, for his groundbreaking contributions to obesity and diabetes research. Professors Eberhard Standl and Rury Holman introduce the history and global significance of the Hellmut Mehnert Award before Professor Tschöp delivers his lecture, “The Discovery of Multi-Receptor Drugs: The End of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes?”. He traces the path from early gut–brain signalling research to the development of multi-receptor incretin-based therapies, highlighting how dual and triple agonists can achieve surgery-like weight loss and substantial metabolic improvements. The session offers both a tribute to past pioneers in diabetology and a forward-looking perspective on how next-generation poly-agonists may transform the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes.