JUST IN TIME –
Feb. 1, 2022 – The FGF21 analogue tested by Flippo and his team was originally developed by Pfizer as a long-lasting version of the original hormone, with the goal of treating diabetes and obesity in humans. Unfortunately it petered out in clinical testing: The compound was great at helping humans lose weight, but not very effective at reducing blood glucose levels for diabetics.
So Flippo and his team took this compound off the shelf to see if it might have a new life as an inhibitor for alcohol cravings.
Don’t worry—the monkeys in this study weren’t plied with alcohol until they developed an addiction. Flippo and his team turned to a colony of green vervet monkeys on St. Kitts island that are predisposed to finding and consuming alcohol, most likely due to genetic traits that are passed down from generation to generation. “Just as in humans, a certain percentage of monkeys exhibit an innate preference for alcohol,” said Flippo.
