Amylin used Eng's Gila monster research to create a synthetic hormone, called extenatide. Extenatide was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2005 to treat type 2 diabetes.

Inspired by these findings, Drucker and his team acquired and dissected a Gila monster. Their work confirmed that the reptile’s genes produce the protein exendin-4.

Pet Gila monster bites man, who dies in what experts call a "rare event" 03:03 The Jefferson County coroner has confirmed that a 34-year-old Colorado man died this month, days after being bitten ...

Eng set about studying the Gila monster's venom and discovered a compound that had never been identified, one he dubbed exendin-4. It seemed similar to a human gut hormone called GLP-1, ...

A 34-year-old Colorado man died last month after getting bitten by a Gila (pronounced HE-la) monster. Christopher Ward’s death may have been the first from a Gila monster in the US in almost a ...

The Gila monster, which is native to the deserts of North America, can survive on just a few meals a year, thanks to a digestion-slowing hormone in its venom.