The Danish laboratory Novo Nordisk has announced the marketing in France of its flagship drug against obesity, Wegovy. But this will be without reimbursement and within a very strict prescription and administration framework. In Belgium, only Ozempic which uses the same active ingredient is currently on sale.
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Journalist at the Society department
By Anne-Sophie LeurquinPublished on 9/10/2024 at 6:35 p.m.
Reading time: 3 min
Cis a large venomous lizard from the deserts of the southern United States, whose impressive size earned it the nickname “Gila monster”. It is called lazy because it can go without eating for a very long time thanks to a slowed metabolism. Seemingly nothing, the American saurian has completely revolutionized the management of diabetes and obesity.
The work of a Canadian endocrinologist, Dr Daniel Drucker, first opened the way, by showing that the venom of the Gila monster contains a protein with a structure similar to the human hormone GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) secreted in response to a meal. This hormone produced naturally by the intestine plays a key role in regulating blood sugar and appetite: it not only stimulates the secretion of insulin from the pancreas, which helps lower blood sugar levels, but also slows gastric emptying, prolonging the feeling of satiety.
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