Before leptin's discovery, researchers have been looking for hormones that regulate blood glucose levels. GLP1 seemed to have the opposite effect of type 2 diabetes. In early 2021, scientists were wowed by a phase 3 clinical trial investigating a new drug called semagluetide. Tezepitide doesn't just target the GLP1 receptor, it also mimics another hormone involved in insulin secretion.
A new generation of anti-obesity medications are displaying striking results: drastically diminishing weight, without the serious side effects of previous medications.
These drugs have raised hopes the weight can be pharmacologically altered in a safe way, but some researchers are concerned about the drugs' high cost, and that these medications could feed into some societies' obsessions with thinness.
This is an audio version of our Feature: The ‘breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
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