Research

Hormonal

Multi-targeting agonists (tirzepatide and peptide 20) that activate GIPR, GLP-1R, and GCGR provide superior metabolic efficacy compared to GLP-1 mono-agonists (like semaglutide) by leveraging distinct structural binding modes and retaining glucagon receptor function.

For individuals managing Type 2 Diabetes or Obesity, newer multi-targeting therapies (like tirzepatide) that activate multiple metabolic receptors (GIP, GLP-1, and Glucagon) have demonstrated superior weight loss and glucose control compared to older GLP-1-only medications. This suggests that targeting multiple hormonal pathways simultaneously may offer better clinical outcomes than single-pathway treatments.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Tirzepatide is an investigational once-weekly GIPR/GLP-1R dual agonist with a profound therapeutic superiority in reducing blood glucose and body weight beyond several approved drugs such as semaglutide and dulaglutide... Retention of glucagon function is required to achieve such an advantage over GLP-1 mono-therapy.
Fenghui Zhao et al. · Nature Communications · 2022

Why this rating

The paper combines high-resolution cryo-EM structural data with referenced clinical trial outcomes, providing strong mechanistic and efficacy evidence.

Source

Structural insights into multiplexed pharmacological actions of tirzepatide and peptide 20 at the GIP, GLP-1 or glucagon receptors

Fenghui Zhao et al. · Nature Communications · 2022

DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-28683-0

mechanism_onlyCited 135×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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