Brand Spotlight: Novo Nordisk’s Semaglutide

The first glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapy to enter the market, in 2005, was a synthetic version of a unique peptide hormone found in the venom of Gila monster. That hormone – named exendin-4 by Dr. John Eng, a New York-based endocrinologist who discovered it in 1990 – eventually became Byetta (exenatide; Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly) and marked the launch of a new diabetes product category that would grow to be worth over $12bn in 2020. 

The category is still growing (see sidebar), with GLP-1 therapy development expanding into areas adjacent to diabetes, such as obesity, cardiovascular and fatty liver diseases