Venom, Diabetes, Weight-loss, High Blood Pressure - Wonder How They're Connected?!

What have diabetes, ozempic, high blood pressure medication etc. have in common with the most powerful venoms of animals in the world? Venoms saves lives! Crazy.

Here’s the gift NYT article if you want to read it all (it’s long but very exciting) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/magazine/venom-animals-drugs-ozempic.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Zk4.QJx2.u6wwtbKHOEaI&smid=url-share

Some important notes:

• The discovery of exendin-4 (a peptide in Gila Monster venom) led to the creation of Ozempic and Wegovy.
• Unlike poison, which is considered ‘passive’, venom needs to be produced, stored and deployed by animals so it’s a surprizingly complex protein with myriad of peptides doing a lot of things and hence a great recipe for research for new useful medications.
• The key to the usefulness of venom for drug discovery is their interaction with cell receptors.
• And the most chilling and unbelievable trait and I quote: “Jewel wasps sting cockroaches with a serum that turn them into “zombies” that willingly accompany the wasps back to their lair, to be devoured by their larvae”.

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