A lizard's venom led to one of the world's best-selling diabetes drugs

In the 1990s, endocrinologist John Eng isolated a hormone-like peptide called exendin-4 from Gila monster venom. It mimics a human gut hormone that triggers insulin release, and a synthetic version became exenatide (Byetta), an FDA-approved treatment for type 2 diabetes. A slow-moving desert lizard's bite venom quietly reshaped modern diabetes medicine.

— John Eng, Isolation and characterization of exendin-4, an exendin-3 analogue, from Heloderma suspectum venom — Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1992