One of the most unlikely turns in GLP-1 history runs through the desert Southwest. The Gila monster, a slow-moving venomous lizard that can go months between meals, turned out to carry a molecule that changed diabetes research.
A discovery at the VA
In the early 1990s, John Eng, an endocrinologist at the Bronx VA Medical Center, was screening animal venoms for new hormones. In 1992 he reported exendin-4, a peptide from Gila monster venom that shares about half its sequence with human GLP-1 and activates the same receptor.
Built to last
The key difference: exendin-4 resists breakdown by the DPP-4 enzyme. Where human GLP-1 lasts only minutes in the bloodstream, exendin-4 lasts for hours. That durability solved the main obstacle that had kept GLP-1 from becoming a practical therapy.
Exenatide reaches the market
Eng patented the peptide and licensed it to Amylin Pharmaceuticals, which developed a synthetic version called exenatide with Eli Lilly. The FDA approved it as Byetta in April 2005, making it the first GLP-1 receptor agonist on the market. It was taken by injection twice a day.
The race for longer action
Exenatide opened the door. Novo Nordisk took a different route, modifying human GLP-1 with a fatty acid chain that binds albumin and slows clearance. The result, liraglutide, was approved in the U.S. in 2010 for type 2 diabetes as a once-daily injection, setting up the next decade of longer-acting compounds.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Products sold by Cacti Research Solutions are for research/laboratory use only.
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