Bear, a captive Heloderma suspectum cinctum, photo courtesy of kingsnake.com user DennisDeLapJr from our galleries.

Venom is a magical thing, it can both destroy and save. When the diabetic drug Byetta hit the market, it was originally marketed as derived from the "spit" of Gila Monsters. The stigma of the destructive properties of venom was too much for the marketing team. Now Ozempic is on the market and making waves for more than it's ability to balance A1C. Ozempic is the newest rage in medical weight loss. But it is the where it came from that interests us. A second medication made from the venom of Gila Monsters moving forward and advancing medicine thanks to the venom of our cold blooded friends.

It all started back in the early 1990s, when government researcher Dr. John Eng discovered that Gila monsters have a special hormone in their venom. The hormone is quite similar to a hunger-regulating hormone humans harbor in the small intestine, which helps control blood sugar levels.

In people, it's called glucagon-like peptide-1. In Gila monsters, Eng named it exendin-4.

Thankfully now, they are marketing it as a venom protein, something we herpers already knew! Here is to hoping this helps increase understanding and conservation into venomous species! To read the full article, click here.