Ozempic and other remedies inspired by animal venom – 09/24/2023 – Science

Few know, but many of the medicines we use today have exotic origins.

One example is semaglutide, known under the trademarks Wegovy and Ozempic.

The popular medicine, used to treat overweight and obesity, was actually inspired by the venom of the lizard known as the Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum).

Scientists have discovered that a hormone from this reptile’s venom, called exendin-4, could be used to treat type 2 diabetes.

Exendin-4 is similar to a hormone found in humans called GLP-1, released after eating and important for controlling blood sugar levels.

Research on exendin-4 generated semaglutide, which is a derivative of the molecule that remains in the body for much longer, producing the desired pharmacological effect.

This is how Wegovy and Ozempic, which contain semaglutide, appeared.

The Gila monster isn’t the only reptile that has inspired innovative medications.

The venom of the Brazilian jararaca (Bothrops jararaca) led to the development of a class of drugs known as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs).

In the late 1960s, researchers studied this snake’s venom and its effects on blood pressure.

They isolated a peptide from the venom, which could inhibit an enzyme known as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and thus reduce blood pressure.

The experiment resulted in the development of a synthetic version of the peptide, called captopril.

Although captopril is rarely prescribed today, it led to the next generation of ACE inhibitors, such as enalapril, which is widely used to treat high blood pressure and heart problems.

The venoms of land and sea creatures are a rich source of medicinal compounds.

Snails are known to produce a series of peptides in their venom that serve to immobilize their prey.

And a synthetic version of one of the peptides found in snail venom is used in the painkiller drug ziconotide.

Another sea creature, the Caribbean sea squirt, provided the cancer drug trabectedin.

Studies carried out with trabectedin have demonstrated positive results in the treatment of advanced soft tissue cancer, such as liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma, malignant and aggressive tumors that are difficult to treat.

In 2015, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American health surveillance agency, urgently approved the use of trabectedin for the treatment of these types of cancer in patients with tissue cancer. Advanced moles that have not responded to chemotherapy.

Anticoagulants

Leeches used in medicine have also provided life-saving medications.

When these creatures latch onto a person to suck their blood, they inject compounds, such as hirudin and calin, to prevent their victims’ blood from clotting.

The anticoagulant drugs bivalirudin and desirudin are derived from hirudin.

These medications are given to people at high risk of blood clots, such as those with atrial fibrillation, a type of heart arrhythmia.

In them, if a blood clot obstructs an artery, it can cause cardiac arrest or CVA (Cerebral Vascular Accident, popularly known as stroke).

Another coagulant called warfarin dates back to the 1920s, when cattle began to die in the United States and Canada, victims of a mysterious disease that caused the animals to bleed.

The cause was found to be moldy sweet clover used to feed livestock. The harmful compound in the mold that caused the bleeding is called dicumarol, which was developed to create warfarin.

Warfarin was initially sold as a rodenticide because it was very effective in causing internal bleeding in rodents.

But researchers soon realized its possible therapeutic use in humans as an anticoagulant.

The medication really took off in 1955, when then-American president Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969) suffered a heart attack and was successfully treated with warfarin.

Explosive discovery

Nitroglycerin was discovered in the 19th century.

It is derived from glycerol and was initially noted for its explosive properties. But its medicinal power was soon recognized.

Middle-aged men who worked with explosives, such as railroad builders, sometimes found their chest pains lessened after handling sticks of dynamite.

Medical researchers heard this story and developed a nitroglycerin-based medicine to reduce symptoms of angina (chest pain caused by lack of blood) by dilating blood vessels and increasing blood flow to the heart.

The drug is still used today, despite its irritating side effect of triggering explosive detectors at airports.

Finally, we need to thank mustard gas, a deadly chemical weapon, for giving us chemotherapy.

During World War I, scientists observed that mustard gas destroys lymphatic tissue.

They then began to consider whether the substance could destroy cancer cells in lymph nodes.

But it was only in the 1940s that nitrogen mustard (a derivative of mustard gas) was first used to treat a patient with blood cancer.

And several medications derived from mustard agents were subsequently developed.

Modern medications will continue to be designed primarily on computers – and, increasingly, using artificial intelligence. But researchers will continue to look for inspiration for new medicines in strange and wonderful places.

*Craig Russell is Professor of Pharmacy at Aston University, in the United Kingdom.

This article was originally published on the academic news website The Conversation and republished under a Creative Commons license. Read the original English version here.