Patent ID: 8729017

Claim:
An isolated peptide comprising: (a) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 37; (b) or a variant peptide thereof, wherein the variant peptide comprises: (i) an amino acid sequence that is at least 95% identical to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 37 wherein the variant peptide exhibits enhanced activity at the GLP-1 receptor, as compared to native glucagon, and exhibits at least 100-fold selectivity for the human GLP-1 receptor versus the GIP receptor, or (ii) an amino acid sequence based on SEQ ID NO: 37, but differs in one or more of the following ways: a. the variant peptide comprises an acylated amino acid or an alkylated amino acid; b. an acylated amino acid or an alkylated amino acid is replaced with the corresponding amino acid of native glucagon (SEQ ID NO: 1) at that position or a conservative substitution of the native amino acid, and optionally a new acylated or alkylated amino acid is introduced at a different position; c. the variant peptide comprises an amino acid covalently attached to a hydrophilic moiety; d. an amino acid covalently attached to a hydrophilic moiety is replaced with the corresponding amino acid of native glucagon (SEQ ID NO: 1) at that position, and optionally a new amino acid covalently attached to a hydrophilic moiety is introduced at a different position; e. the C-terminal amino acid of the variant peptide comprises a C-terminal amide in place of a C-terminal alpha carboxylate; f. an amino acid at any of positions 1 through 29 is replaced with the corresponding amino acid of native glucagon (SEQ ID NO: 1) at that position; or g. or any combinations thereof; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the peptide or variant peptide.