Latest / Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson
From Gila Monster to GLP-1 Revolution
Meanwhile, in a Laboratory
In 1990, researchers isolated a peptide from Gila monster venom. Two years later, work from the Bronx VA Medical Center described exendin-4, a molecule that resembled human GLP-1 but lasted far longer in circulation.
Human GLP-1 survives only minutes before the body breaks it down. Exendin-4 resisted that breakdown. That difference changed everything.
Soon afterward, the first GLP-1 receptor agonist reached patients under the brand name Byetta. At the time, physicians used it to treat diabetes. No one called it a weight-loss drug. No one predicted it would reshape…
The skinny
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