Scientists discover potential Ozep competitors that can help people lose nausea weight
Wegovy, eat your heart. Scientists say in a new research paper they have discovered a naturally occurring hormone that can help people lose weight while avoiding side effects that are often associated with semaglutide, an active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, and similar drugs.
A team of researchers from Stanford Medical Researchers conducted the study, which was published last week in the journal Nature. With the help of artificial intelligence, the team identified a previously unknown peptide that appears to safely reduce the appetite and weight of mice and micropigs without causing nausea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. More research is needed to verify the safety and effectiveness of the molecule in people, but these findings provide an attractive preview of the future of obesity treatment.
The emergence of Semaglutide and similar drugs in obesity medicine has indeed revolutionized in recent years. These drugs are also used in type 2 diabetes and have been shown to help people lose weight more effectively than diet and exercise alone, resulting in a 15% to 20% weight loss in clinical trials. Semaglutide works by mimicking GLP-1, a hormone that helps regulate appetite and metabolism, and other functions such as Tirzepatide Mimic Mimic GLP-1 and other related hormones.
As groundbreaking as these drugs, they often cause annoying gastrointestinal symptoms and rarely cause more serious complications such as gastroparia (gastric paralysis). Scientists have also been working to find and develop new generations of drugs that can provide greater weight loss or provide other conveniences, such as being available as pills. In this way, Stanford researchers have developed a new strategy to find their drug candidates.
Many hormones in the body are activated only when a particular enzyme cleaves its precursor. These precursors are called medulones, and the family of enzymes that they chop are called inflammatory convertases. The researchers studied one of the enzymes, hormone converting enzymes, which helps produce GLP-1. They decided to see if they could find other useful starvation-related hormones that the enzyme naturally produces. To greatly speed up this discovery process, they developed a computer algorithm (nicknamed as a peptide predictor) to narrow down the list of potential molecules that meet their criteria.
The screen found a batch of 373 prothrombones that could produce about 2,700 different peptides (peptides are usually the basis of larger proteins, but they can have unique functions in the body). From there, the researchers tested 100 peptides they knew or suspected could affect the brain’s hunger drivers (including GLP-1 for comparison). Ultimately, they identified a molecule that seemed particularly promising, a 12-acid-long peptide called a BRINP2-related peptide or BRP.
The scientists then tested BRP on lab mice and minipigs (Minipigs are thought to be similar to metabolism). They found that single dose of BRP significantly reduced the appetite of both animals in the short term, sometimes significantly reduced by up to 50%. Obese mice lost BRP weight over a two-week range, most of which were stored fat.
Further experiments show that the reduction of starvation effects of BRP on the brain do not involve the GLP-1 receptor at all and do not cause animals to experience GI symptoms that are usually associated with Ozempics. The animal at doses has not experienced changes in its exercise, anxiety behavior level or intake, suggesting that BRP can be safely tolerated when used as a drug.
“Receptors targeted by halterotide are found in the brain, but are also found in the intestine, pancreas and other tissues. That's why Ozempic has a wide range of effects, including slowing down the movement of food through the digestive tract and lowering blood sugar levels,” Katrin Svensson, a senior researcher at Stanford University's assistant professor of pathology, said in a statement from the university. “In contrast, BRP appears to play a special role in the hypothalamus that controls appetite and metabolism.”
Of course, at this point, the team's discovery is preliminary. Before BRP is seen as the next big thing in obesity treatment, it will require more time and research, including early successful clinical trials in humans. However, the team's findings are latest, suggesting that Semaglutide does trigger ocean changes in obesity treatment. Now, dozens of experimental drugs in the pipeline threaten to compete and even surpass Ozempic/Wegovy, including different Semaglutide formulas. Svensson and her colleagues have patented on BRP, and she co-founded a company that she hopes will develop molecules for clinical use.
There are no medications and no side effects, but the future of obesity treatment may one day involve much less nausea.
