Ozempic’s drug class began in the mouth of a venomous lizard.
In 1992, a Bronx VA doctor, John Eng, screened the venom of the Gila monster, a lizard with no fangs that works its modified saliva into prey by chewing. He isolated a molecule that copies only half of a human gut hormone, but lasts far longer. It became the first GLP-1 drug. Ozempic’s semaglutide is a synthetic cousin, not venom-derived.
Ozempic on Brandseum