Hypothalamus

• The research highlights the ability of affron®, a standardized extract of saffron developed by Pharmactive Biotech Products to enhance resilience to occasional stress.
• Results demonstrated significant improvements following repeated oral administration of the extract in stress model animal subjects.
• The HPA axis is a vital brain signaling system involved in orchestrating responses to stress.
• We are realizing these extend beyond influencing serotonin expression but actually demonstrates a potential to boost resilience to occasional stress and prevent its detrimental impact on overall mental and physical health."

• GLP-1 receptor agonists represent a class of non-insulin medications employed in conjunction with diet and exercise to manage type 2 diabetes.
• Trulicity holds the largest market share due to the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes, driving demand for effective treatments.
• The global GLP-1 market encompasses five major regions: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa.
• The prevalence of diabetes has surged, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, boosting demand for diabetes medication, thereby propelling the global GLP-1 market.

• Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the study explored a centuries-old observation in humans and other mammals that when a baby begins a feeding session, its cries alone can prompt its mother to release breast milk.
• This sensory hub then sends signals to oxytocin-releasing brain cells (neurons) in another region called the hypothalamus, a control center for hormone activity.
• In addition, the mothers' brain circuitry only responded to her pups' cries and not to computer-generated tones designed to mimic natural wails.
• Then, in a form of "reverse engineering," they traced how sound information travels through different areas of the brain to trigger milk flow.

• That’s been the holy grail of weight-loss ever since 19th century English undertaker and weight-loss celebrity William Banting’s 1863 Letter on Corpulence spruiked his “miraculous” method of slimming down.
• Since then, humans have tried many things – diet, exercise, psychotherapy, surgery – to lose weight.
• But time and again we return to the promise of a weight-loss drug, whether it’s a pill, injection, or tonic.

Ozempic is a recent arrival

• Ozempic and its sister drug Wegovy, both manufactured by Novo Nordisk, are the latest offerings in a long history of drug treatments for people who are overweight.
• This has helped drive a shortage of Ozempic for diabetes treatment.

From ‘gland treatment’ to amphetamines

• For example, organotherapy (gland treatment) was hugely popular in the 1920s to 1940s.
• Doctors prescribed overweight people extracts of animal glands – either eaten raw or dried in pill form or injected – to treat their supposedly “sluggish glands”.
• Amphetamines were first used as a nasal decongestant in the 1930s, but quickly found a market for weight-loss.
• Amphetamines too, fell from treatment use in the 1970s with Nixon’s “war on drugs” and recognition they were addictive.

Another decade, another drug

• For example, the popular diet drug of the 1980s and 90s was fen-phen, which contained appetite suppressants fenfluramine and phentermine.
• And as history recognises, multiple complexities can combine to push a drug into popularity or damn it to history’s rubbish bin.
• One noticeable contrast with past diet drug experiences is that now, many people are happy to talk about using Ozempic.
• It seems to be increasingly socially acceptable to use a drug to achieve weight-loss for primarily aesthetic reasons.

Our enduring search for weight-loss drugs

• Ozempic is predicted to earn Novo Nordisk US$12.5 billion this year alone, but it’s not just industry interests stoking this enduring desire for weight-loss drugs.
• Patients on an endless cycle of dieting and exercise want something more convenient, with a more certain outcome.
• It is no wonder demand for weight-loss drugs continues to soar.