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Sad that as a scientist or a supporter of science that you don’t mention that lizards are important to ecosystems and that the loss of lizards will have a negative impact.

Hi! Unfortunately there’s only so much space in a social media post, so there is a lot that had to be left out. But lizards are not harmed by the production of Ozempic, as a synthetic hormone is used, rather than one straight from a lizard.

Ozempic and its relatives seem to have appeared out of nowhere. Now more than 10% of American adults take them. But this “overnight” sensation was decades in the making, and it involved a hormone in your gut, a failed first attempt, and a desert lizard.

Your cells run on glucose, so your body keeps its level in the blood tightly controlled, mainly with two pancreas hormones: insulin, which helps cells absorb sugar,& glucagon, which releases stored sugar. In type 1 diabetes, the body stops making insulin. In type 2, cells stop responding to it.

Insulin from pig pancreases was a medical triumph in 1922, and in 1982 human insulin became the first drug made with recombinant DNA technology. About 0.6% of Americans have type 1, while type 2 affects roughly 16% of US adults, and about a quarter of those need insulin.