Anecdote◆Article

The GLP-1 drug now known as Ozempic is a synthetic version of a peptide first isolated from Gila monster venom by endocrinologist John Eng in the early 1990s.

Ozempic traces back to a peptide endocrinologist John Eng isolated from venomous Gila monster lizards in the early 1990s while investigating how the animal survives eating only once or twice a year. ✦ AI generated

Mario · The Generalist · 2026-07-03 · original ↗

Share card ↓Export .md Export .txt

He soon isolated a novel peptide in the reptile's venom that dramatically lowered blood sugar, just like the human body's naturally occurring GLP-1 hormone, only it lasted for hours instead of minutes.

Read full article ↗excerpt · fair-use quotation

✳ Gila monster ✳ Ozempic ◉ John Eng

Related moments

Data◆Video · 11:33 · 2m

AlphaFold turned protein structure determination, which used to take about a year and $100,000 of specialist experimental work per protein, into a prediction that takes 5-10 minutes, and has now been used to predict 200 million protein structures.

John Jumper · Machine Learning Street Talk

ClaimAudio · 13:12 · 3m

The drug discovery system is fundamentally inefficient not just because of clinical trial costs, but because most molecules are simply not good enough — and the industry's ability to predict clinical outcomes is poor, as shown by the near-misses of blockbusters like GLP-1s and Keytruda that were almost overlooked.

Sajith Wickramasekara · No Priors

Claim◆Article · 29 words

Ozempic and similar GLP-1 drugs are quietly upending capitalism itself.

Mario · The Generalist