Gene Therapy Breakthrough for Weight Loss
Researchers have discovered a method for the body to generate its own supply of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).
GLP-1 is a hormone that the body naturally produces, and its functions are mimicked by medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide—active ingredients in widely used weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Zepbound.
As reported by CNN, two biotech firms are developing gene therapy techniques that, ideally, would only need one injection to enable the body’s cells to produce this hormone, moving away from the current reliance on weekly shots. The goal is to stimulate existing cells to make the hormone, so patients can gain the benefits of GLP-1 drugs without needing continual treatments.
Both companies have demonstrated the efficacy of their methods in mice and are now testing them in larger animals, like pigs and monkeys.
However, the applicability of this treatment for humans is not yet confirmed. Further research will take time, possibly years, to assess its effectiveness and safety.
The potential benefits are considerable. Recent Gallup data indicates that the use of GLP-1 injectables has doubled in the U.S. within just the last year. Encouragingly, rates of obesity have started to decline since 2022, leading experts to suspect that GLP-1 drugs are playing a role in this trend.
These treatments offer more than just aesthetic benefits. They’ve been found to help prevent chronic diseases, regulate blood sugar, lower blood pressure, reduce heart disease risk, and even enhance kidney health.
The news follows a major announcement from the Trump administration regarding significant government-backed discounts on GLP-1 drugs.
This week, Fractyl, a biotech company, revealed promising outcomes from its gene therapy, known as Rejuva, which resulted in obese mice losing approximately 20% of their body weight within three weeks. Interestingly, normal-weight mice retained their weight and managed healthy blood sugar levels even on a high-fat diet.
“It outperformed semaglutide,” stated Fractyl Health’s CEO, Harith Rajagopalan, in an update to CNN.
The technique utilizes a small virus to deliver DNA instructions for producing GLP-1 into individual cells.
“Since we are delivering it locally, we expect to use a very low dosage of this virus, which lends us confidence regarding potential safety in humans,” Rajagopalan noted.
However, experts caution that this method might be irreversible and could pose long-term risks to the pancreas, which plays a crucial role in regulating blood sugar.
Another competitor, RenBio, is pursuing a different method by injecting DNA instructions into muscle tissue via saline solution. Following this, short electrical pulses assist in directly delivering these instructions into cells, essentially transforming them into protein production facilities, according to CNN.
Mice treated with this solution lost about 15% of their body weight—an improvement over the placebo group—and maintained that weight loss for over a year, with better blood sugar regulation as well.
While Rajagopalan looks forward to “having human data in the next year,” the path toward a viable human treatment remains long.
“There’s considerable work ahead, and we should not underestimate that effort,” Rajagopalan remarked. “It’s akin to saying we’ll colonize Mars—not an easy feat.” He added, “But why not aim high?”
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