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There are only a handful of known venomous lizards in the world.
The Gila monster, found primarily in the American Southwest and Mexico, is one of them.
Gastroenterologist Jean Pierre Raufman analyzed animal venoms from various species,
including the Gila monster.
Raufman eventually discovered some intriguing molecules in the lizard's venom,
a discovery he declined to patent.
Other scientists took interest in the Gila monster,
and eventually those molecules became the foundation for GLP1 drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro.
These drugs are best known for their help treating diabetes and obesity.
But recent studies have raised hopes that they could address chronic kidney disease,
reduce the risk of heart problems, and even cognitive issues and addictions to opioids.
As David Deming recently wrote for the Atlantic,
you can imagine a member of Congress in the 1980s denouncing the NIH's wasteful spending
on useless studies of Gila monster venom.
Today, we're talking about another,