Cagrilintide
Cagrilintide (Long-acting Amylin Analog)
Also called cagrilintide, AM833, long-acting amylin analogue
The amylin analog
Cagrilintide copies amylin, the hormone your pancreas releases alongside insulin whose job is to tell your brain the meal is finished. Natural amylin is useless as a drug because it clumps together, so this version was engineered not to, with a fatty tail added so one injection lasts a week. It works on a different hunger channel from Ozempic, which is why the two get combined.
A long-acting copy of amylin, a fullness hormone your pancreas releases alongside insulin that works through a completely different route from the GLP-1 drugs. It is mostly discussed as half of CagriSema, where it is paired with semaglutide so that two separate fullness signals are pushed at once.
- Half-life
- Around a week
- Route
- One injection under the skin, once a week
- Typical dose
- Up to 2.4 mg weekly, built up gradually
- Availability
- Research-only
Human trials published, with more underway
93 papers · 13 clinical trials
What people use Cagrilintide for
Reported uses, roughly in order of how often they are the reason someone goes looking. Whether it works for any of them is a separate question, answered under each one.
- Weight loss
- On its own it took people to roughly 10% down over 26 weeks in its dose-finding trial, which is real but below what the GLP-1 drugs manage.
- Paired with semaglutide
- Where it is most interesting, and where most of its future lies. Combined as CagriSema it beat semaglutide alone, which is the argument that the second hunger channel is worth having.
- When appetite is not the whole problem
- Amylin appears to act on the weight your body defends rather than only on hunger in the moment, which is the theory behind using it when weight loss has stalled.
Mechanism of Action
How Cagrilintide works
When you eat, your pancreas releases insulin. It also releases something else at the same time, in roughly equal amounts, that almost nobody has heard of: amylin.
Amylin's job is slowing things down. It slows how fast your stomach empties, damps the glucagon signal that would otherwise push your liver to release stored sugar, and reaches a part of the brainstem to say you have had enough. It is a fullness hormone, and it works through an entirely different route from GLP-1.
Why it was hard to turn into a drug
Human amylin has an unhelpful habit: it clumps. Left to itself it aggregates into clusters, which is useless in a syringe and is also a feature of the pancreatic damage seen in type 2 diabetes.
Cagrilintide is amylin redesigned so it does not clump, and given a fatty tail so it hitches onto a blood protein and rides around for a week instead of clearing in minutes.
Why it is paired with semaglutide
This is the interesting part. GLP-1 and amylin are two separate fullness signals with different receptors and different routes into the brain. Pushing both at once is not the same as pushing one harder, and it is the reason the combination product, CagriSema, exists at all.
That reasoning is unusually well-founded for this field, and it is being tested properly in large trials rather than asserted on a supplier page.
Cagrilintide dosage calculator
Opens at 2.4 mg, from the doses reported for Cagrilintide. Change any box to match your own vial. It works out where to pull the plunger to.
How much is in the vial?
Printed on the label, in milligrams
How much water did you add?
Bacteriostatic water, in millilitres
What dose are you taking?
The dose you already intend to use
Which syringe?
Barrel size, printed on the wrapper
Draw to
48 units
on a 0.5 mL insulin syringe (0.48 mL)
- Strength once mixed
- 5 mg/mL
- Doses in the vial
- 4
10 mg in 2 mL makes 5 mg/mL. A 2.4 mg dose is 0.48 mL of that, which is 48 units.
Want a rounder number? Adding 0.42 mL instead would put this dose at exactly 10 units, which is easier to draw accurately.
This is arithmetic, not advice. It converts a dose you already have into a mark on a syringe. It does not tell you what dose to take, and Cagrilintide is not prescribed by us. Dosing belongs with a qualified clinician.
Cagrilintide side effects: what people reported
Stomach complaints again, and again mostly while the dose is climbing. People describe it as milder than the GLP-1 drugs at comparable stages.
What most people notice
- Nausea
- Reduced appetite, which is the point
- Constipation
- Injection-site reactions
Worth keeping an eye on
- Because it slows the stomach, anything else you take by mouth may absorb more slowly than you expect
Dose matters. Nausea tracked the dose and settled once people reached their maintenance level.
Source: Phase 2 dose-finding trial, Lancet, 2021. This is a summary of published findings, not a complete safety profile and not medical advice. Cagrilintide should only be considered with a qualified clinician who knows your history.
Your Genetics & Cagrilintide
The genes involved in how Cagrilintide works
Cagrilintide works through the receptors these genes build, and the genes vary from person to person. Researchers have linked some of that variation to differences in how people respond. A DNA report tells you which versions you carry.
LEPR · ••
The Gln223Arg variant impairs leptin-receptor signaling. Because cagrilintide's mechanism is leptin re-sensitization, carriers of the impairing allele are precisely the population the drug is built for — a clearer genetic rationale than for a GLP-1 alone.
FTO · ••
FTO risk alleles raise the defended weight set-point and hunger drive. A high set-point is the scenario where targeting amylin/leptin signaling is most relevant.
The calcitonin receptor forms the core of the amylin receptor complex. Variation in CALCR expression can influence receptor availability and therefore the magnitude of the amylin signal cagrilintide produces.
The dots after each gene are where your own result goes. Your report fills them in with the two letters you carry at that position.
Which variants do you carry?
Upload your DNA data, or get tested through our partner, to find out.
Commonly combined with
What Cagrilintide is most often paired with, and why:
Semaglutide
CagriSemaStrong EvidenceSemaglutide (GLP-1 Receptor Agonist)
A weekly injection sold as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss. It is a rebuilt copy of a hormone your gut releases after eating, the one that tells your brain you are full, engineered to last a week instead of minutes. It is also the only weight-loss drug shown to cut heart attacks and strokes rather than just weight.
Tirzepatide
Metabolic StackStrong EvidenceTirzepatide (GIP/GLP-1 Dual Receptor Agonist)
A weekly injection for weight loss and type 2 diabetes, sold as Zepbound and Mounjaro. It copies two of the gut hormones that tell your brain you have eaten enough, where most drugs in this class copy one. That second signal is why it beat semaglutide when the two were compared directly: about 20% of body weight against 13.7% over 72 weeks.
Tesamorelin
Visceral Fat StackStrong EvidenceTesamorelin (GHRH Analog)
A stabilized growth-hormone-releasing-hormone (GHRH) analog and the only GH-axis peptide with an FDA approval (Egrifta, for visceral fat in HIV-associated lipodystrophy). It stimulates your own pulsatile GH release, which drives IGF-1 and preferential breakdown of visceral (deep belly) fat — backed by real randomized trial data on VAT reduction. Off-label use for visceral fat is common. WADA-banned in sport.
3
Gene variants
40+
Studies
Sourcing & access
Where to buy Cagrilintide
Cagrilintide is sold as a research compound, not a licensed medicine, so quality and legal status vary widely by country and vendor. If you're sourcing it, treat independent purity testing as non-negotiable.
- Insist on a recent third-party Certificate of Analysis (COA) for the exact batch — labs like Janoshik verify purity and identity.
- Check the legal status where you live before ordering — it differs from country to country.
- Reconstitute correctly with bacteriostatic water and start at a conservative dose.
Before you buy: see whether your DNA actually responds to Cagrilintide, and at what dose. Analyze my DNA — $99 →
Educational information only, not medical advice. Some outbound links are affiliate links (disclosed, at no extra cost to you). Most peptides are not FDA-approved — consult a qualified professional and check your local laws before purchasing.
Worth knowing before you consider Cagrilintide
Interactions and situations where there is a specific reason to be careful. Where the honest answer is that nobody has studied something, it says so and says what that leaves open.
- Not approved on its own
- It has been through Phase 2 as a standalone and is mostly being developed as half of a combination. There is no approved single-agent product.
- Weaker alone than the drugs it is compared to
- Judged by itself it does less than semaglutide. Its case rests on doing something different rather than something stronger.
The evidence behind Cagrilintide
Unusually solid for this catalogue: 13 registered clinical trials, and the compound is a pharmaceutical in active development rather than a research chemical. What it is not yet is approved. Most of the current attention is on the combination with semaglutide, which is being tested in large trials.
The literature, counted
Counted in PubMed on 3 August 2026 for cagrilintide. Every figure links to the search that produced it, so you can re-run it. “Tagged human” is not the same as a human trial: that tag also covers work on human cells and reviews discussing people, which is why the trial count is given separately.
Studied in people
2 of 2The only kind that directly answers whether it works in humans.Lancet · 2021
HumanOnce-weekly cagrilintide for weight management in people with overweight and obesity: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled and active-controlled, dose-finding phase 2 trial
Lau DCW, Erichsen L, Francisco AM, et al.
The trial that established cagrilintide works on its own rather than only as a partner to semaglutide. Dose-finding, placebo-controlled, and it also compared against an active drug rather than only placebo.
Once-weekly cagrilintide for weight management in people with overweight and obesity: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled and active-controlled, dose-finding phase 2 trial — source for Cagrilintide (opens in a new tab)Phase 2
Read the paperJournal of Medicinal Chemistry · 2021
HumanDevelopment of Cagrilintide, a Long-Acting Amylin Analogue
Kruse T, Hansen JL, Dahl K, et al.
How the molecule was engineered: stopping natural amylin from clumping, and adding a fatty tail so it lasts a week. Useful for understanding why you cannot simply take amylin itself.
Development of Cagrilintide, a Long-Acting Amylin Analogue — source for Cagrilintide (opens in a new tab)Read the paper
Every source behind this page42 more
- Amylin analogs for the treatment of obesity without diabetes: present and futureMathiesen DS, Lund A, Vilsbøll T, et al. · Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology · 2024Review
- Cagrilintide: A Long-Acting Amylin Analog for the Treatment of ObesityNguyen T, Nguyen TT, Le TT, et al. · Cardiology in Review · 2024Review
Everything we cite for Cagrilintide, including animal work and early research. Each link goes to the source itself, so you can judge it rather than take our word for it.
Last updated · literature counts verified against PubMed on
Frequently Asked Questions
What is cagrilintide used for?
Cagrilintide is an investigational long-acting amylin analog for weight management. It slows gastric emptying, increases satiety, and restores leptin sensitivity — making it especially relevant for people whose obesity is driven by a high genetic set-point and leptin resistance rather than a pure incretin problem.
How is it different from semaglutide or tirzepatide?
Those are incretins (GLP-1, and GLP-1/GIP). Cagrilintide works on the amylin system instead — a separate appetite pathway. That's why it's combined with semaglutide in CagriSema: the two mechanisms add up rather than overlap.
Is cagrilintide approved?
No. As of 2026 cagrilintide is investigational, studied within Novo Nordisk's amylin and REDEFINE programmes. It is not an available prescription on its own.
Your next move
Two ways forward with Cagrilintide.
Not sure it's for you?
How does Cagrilintide relate to your genes?
Your report scores Cagrilintide against your receptor, pharmacogene and pathway variants and shows the genetic markers relevant to it, with commonly cited dosing information to review with a clinician.
Analyze my DNA — $99