{"id":4308,"date":"2026-04-02T14:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/python-blood-could-pave-way-for-new-weight-loss-drugs\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:00:39","slug":"python-blood-could-pave-way-for-new-weight-loss-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/python-blood-could-pave-way-for-new-weight-loss-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Python blood could pave way for new weight-loss drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>2026-04-02 14:00:37<\/b><br \/>\n<BR>Scientists say a molecule found in python blood may help create new weight-loss drugs \u2013 without the nasty side effects linked to current treatments.<BR><br \/>\nPythons are famous for their extreme eating habits. They can swallow huge prey whole, then go months \u2013 even years \u2013 without eating, all while maintaining muscle mass.<BR><br \/>\nNow researchers believe they\u2019ve figured out how.<BR><br \/>\nThe study, led by the University of Colorado Boulder and published in Nature Metabolism, identified a molecule that appears to switch off hunger signals in the brain.<BR><br \/>\nAfter feeding, pythons produce a compound called pTOS, which surged by around 1,000 times during digestion.<BR><br \/>\nWhen tested on mice, it reduced appetite and triggered weight loss \u2013 without muscle loss or nausea.<BR><br \/>\nExpert Leslie Leinwand said: &#8220;This is a perfect example of nature-inspired biology. You look at extraordinary animals that can do things that you and I and other mammals can\u2019t do, and you try to harness that for therapeutic interventions.&#8221;<BR><br \/>\nCurrent weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are effective \u2013 but not perfect.<BR><br \/>\nUp to half of patients quit within a year due to side effects, and as much as a third of weight lost can come from muscle.<BR><br \/>\nScientists hope python-inspired treatments could offer a gentler alternative.<BR><br \/>\nThe molecule appears to act on the hypothalamus \u2013 the brain\u2019s hunger control centre \u2013 and while it exists in humans, it\u2019s only found at low levels.<BR><br \/>\nJonathan Long of Stanford University said: &#8220;If we truly want to understand metabolism, we need to go beyond looking at mice and people and look at the greatest metabolic extremes nature has to offer.&#8221;<BR><br \/>\nResearchers have now launched a start-up, Arkana Therapeutics, to explore turning the discovery into real treatments.<BR><br \/>\nAnd the potential doesn\u2019t stop at weight loss.<BR><br \/>\nPythons\u2019 ability to preserve muscle while fasting could even help tackle age-related muscle decline.<BR><br \/>\nLeinwand added: &#8220;There\u2019s a lot more to be learnt.&#8221;<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Visit Bang Bizarre (main website) <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/xtbac.js\" data-video=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2026-04-02 14:00:37 Scientists say a molecule found in python blood may help create new weight-loss drugs \u2013 without the nasty side effects linked to current treatments. Pythons are famous for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bizarre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4309,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308\/revisions\/4309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}