Archives of The Cold Blooded News

The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

Volume 31, Number 1;   January, 2004

Lizard Hormone May Stabilize Blood Sugar Levels

WAFF.com, Huntsville, Alabama, 11/26/03

"It's a derivative of secretion of an animal that only eats four times a year so to replicate that in humans, obviously we have to eat more than every four months; if it has this effect in humans it would have a tremendous effect as a weight loss drug." Dr. Stephen Clement is an endocrinologist at Georgetown University Medical Center. He treats hundreds of patients who could benefit from the drug, a synthetic version of the lizard hormone that's created in the lab. Gut hormones like this one are produced in the body's gastro-intestinal tract. They influence the body's metabolism and blood sugar levels.

Richard Kahn, American Diabetes Association said, "We've now gotten a much better understanding, on how food intake and digestion and metabolism are regulated and of course from that comes potential new drugs."

Researchers believe that the lizard hormone drug has the potential to stabilize diabetics blood sugar levels. If it works: patients would no longer need insulin injections or strict diets. And it could help obese patients control their appetites. But there's one problem.

"This is not an oral pill, this is an injection, it's given as a shot, two to three times a day, so that is a detriment," says Clements.

That's a problem the scientists are working on. They hope to develop a new pill as they continue to study how lizard hormones can help humans.

"It does show that this drug does have a huge benefit on reducing sugars and reducing weight, but it's going to take some more work to develop it to something that a person would be comfortable taking on a day to day basis." Researchers are now working on more human studies with this drug.