Scientists Develop Potential GLP-1 Therapies Aiming to Bypass Ozempic & Wegovy
BOSTON, MA – Researchers at biotech companies Fractyl and RenBio are pursuing novel gene therapies designed to instruct the body to produce its own GLP-1, possibly offering a long-term choice to medications like Ozempic and Wegovy. The approaches, currently tested in mice, aim to replicate and even surpass the benefits of GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are used for weight loss, diabetes management, and increasingly, to reduce the risk of heart disease, and improve kidney health.
Fractyl HealthS therapy, dubbed Rejuva, utilizes a virus to deliver DNA instructions for GLP-1 production directly into cells. In obese mice, Rejuva resulted in approximately 20 percent body weight loss within three weeks.Normal-weight mice maintained healthy blood sugar levels even when fed a high-fat diet after treatment. “It outperformed semaglutide,” fractyl Health cofounder and CEO Harith Rajagopalan told CNN. Rajagopalan believes the localized delivery of the virus will require a low dose, potentially minimizing safety concerns.
RenBio is taking a different tack, injecting a saline solution containing GLP-1-producing DNA instructions into muscle tissue. Short electrical pulses then facilitate delivery of the instructions into cells, effectively turning them into “protein factories,” according to CNN. Mice treated with RenBio’s method lost roughly 15 percent of their body weight and maintained the loss for at least a year, alongside improved blood sugar regulation.
While both approaches show promise, experts caution that permanently altering pancreatic function could pose long-term risks. Rajagopalan anticipates “human data in the next year,” but acknowledges the significant challenges ahead. ”There’s a long way to go before you get there, and we can’t minimize the work involved,” he told CNN. “I mean, that’s equivalent to saying we’re going to colonize Mars, in terms of the magnitude of effort involved to get there.”
The advancement of these therapies arrives alongside increased access to GLP-1 medications, following a recent announcement by the Trump administration of huge government-mediated discounts on GLP-1s.
