People looking to lose weight and lower their blood sugar may someday be able to get a single injection that turns their cells into tiny factories churning out a protein that is essentially the active ingredient in drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mounjaro.That’s the ambition of two biotech startups, New York-based RenBio and Fractyl Health in Massachusetts. Both companies have completed initial tests showing that their approaches work, at least in mice, and both have started tests in larger animals — pigs and monkeys — to see whether their gene therapies can work in larger animals.With continued success and enough funding, they hope to bring the therapies to human patients — although it may take years more research to prove that their ideas work and are safe.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNewer GLP-1 medications – available as injections and pills – have proven to be highly effective for weight loss, ushering in a new era of obesity treatment.GLP-1, which stands for glucagon-like peptide-1, is a hormone made by the body that helps signal to the brain and the gut that it’s full and doesn’t need to eat any more. The new weight loss drugs mimic the action of this hormone by increasing the secretion of insulin to lower blood sugar. They also slow the movement of food through the digestive tract, which helps people feel full more quickly and for longer, and they work in the brain to reduce appetite.In less than two years, the percentage of American adults using these meds for weight loss has roughly doubled, rising from 5.8% to 12%, according to a recent Gallup report. Their popularity may finally be making a dent in the nation’s o …
