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How Studying Venomous Lizards Led To The Creation of Ozempic
The surprising origins of semaglutides
Few drugs have taken the world by storm the way that Ozempic has. The rise of Ozempic has led to a revolution in weight loss around the world. From treating severe cases of obesity to celebrities just trying to lose a few pounds, it seems as though everyone is on weight-loss drugs. Now, any time someone loses a few pounds, people whisper and gossip, wondering if they are on Ozempic or lost weight the old-fashioned way. The cynics in us always blame Ozempic.
For all of its fame, Ozempic has an unlikely origin. Few people know how Ozempic came to be. This remarkable drug comes from the venom of the Gila monster, a sluggish, desert-dwelling lizard native to the American Southwest.
The Gila monster (pronounced HEE-luh) is not your average lizard. It’s one of only a handful of venomous lizards in the world and lives in the hot deserts of the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. It moves slowly, eats rarely, and spends most of its life hiding in the shade. To most people, they are unremarkable or unknown.
Gila monsters seldom hunt, but when they do, they are capable of inflicting serious punishment. The bite of a Gila monster can be terribly dangerous to humans, and in rare cases even fatal. People living…
