On this page
What it is
A long-acting analogue of amylin, a hormone co-secreted with insulin from pancreatic beta cells, engineered for weekly administration.
How it is proposed to work
Amylin receptor agonism affecting satiety, gastric emptying and glucagon secretion. Because this is a distinct pathway from GLP-1, combining the two is expected to be additive rather than redundant — the rationale behind the combination programme.
Approved medical uses
None. Cagrilintide has no approved human medical indication in the jurisdictions we track. Any use is outside an approved label.
Human research
Each entry states what the study found and, separately, what it cannot show.
- Randomised controlled trial2021n = 706
Dose-finding phase 2 trial of cagrilintide alone in overweight and obesity
Finding. Over a 26-week treatment period in adults with overweight or obesity and without diabetes, mean weight reduction from baseline was 6.0%-10.8% across the cagrilintide dose groups versus 3.0% with placebo (p<0.001), and the highest dose group reduced weight more than once-daily liraglutide (10.8% vs 9.0%, p=0.03). Gastrointestinal adverse events were more frequent than with placebo (41%-63% vs 32%).
Limitation. Phase 2, 26 weeks, monotherapy only — this trial tested cagrilintide alone and says nothing about the semaglutide combination the dossier describes elsewhere. Participants were adults without diabetes, so it does not speak to type 2 diabetes populations, and masking held only for active versus placebo, not between the active treatments. Effect sizes frequently shrink in phase 3, and no cardiovascular or long-term outcome data exists. The trial was sponsor-funded with sponsor employees among the authors.
Preclinical research
Animal and laboratory work. Useful for generating hypotheses; it cannot establish that something works in people.
No preclinical studies catalogued.
Potential safety concerns
- CautionPromising
Gastrointestinal adverse effects are common and dose-related, as with the incretin class it is combined with.
- SeriousEstablished
As an unapproved compound in active development, anything sold to consumers is outside any regulatory framework, with unverified identity and concentration.
Known interactions and contraindication considerations
- Delayed gastric emptying can alter absorption of oral medicines.
- Combination effects with incretin therapies on glycaemia require clinical supervision.
This list is not exhaustive and is not a substitute for a clinician reviewing your full medication history.
Regulatory status
Status is shown per jurisdiction and is accurate only as of the date stated. Where a compound is approved, the approval is bound to a specific formulation, manufacturer and indication — shown in the detail column.
| Jurisdiction | Standing | Detail |
|---|---|---|
United States FDA | Under review as of 1 Jun 2026 | Investigational, in late-stage development in combination. Under review is not approval — verify current standing before relying on this. |
European Union EMA | Unapproved / investigational as of 1 Jun 2026 | Investigational. No marketing authorisation. |
India CDSCO | Unapproved / investigational as of 1 Jun 2026 | Not approved. New-drug pathway would apply. |
How it is being used
What the grey community actually runs, the reasoning they give, and our read on whether it follows from known biology. This is observation, not evidence, and not a recommendation.
Appetite suppression alongside an incretin
What is run
Run in parallel with a GLP-1 agonist, mirroring the combination being formally developed.
Their mechanistic reasoning
That amylin signalling affects satiety through a pathway separate from GLP-1, so the two should be additive.
Reported in the community’s own terms. Not our position.
Stacked with
- Semaglutide—The pairing under formal development, which is where the community pattern comes from.
Regimen shape
- Dose
- figure withheld
- Scale
- Inferred from published trial arms
- Route
- Subcutaneous injection
- Frequency
- Weekly
- Timing
- Often the same day as the incretin
- Duration
- Continuous blocks
Our read
The pathway separation is real and it is why the combination is in phase 3. The gap is that a combination under investigation is not a combination established — dose relationships between two agents are precisely what those trials determine, and self-directed pairing skips that.
What the community reports
The comparison is between how sure the community is and how much is actually known — evidence strength, not direction. A compound can have solid research that came out negative.
Discussed with more caution than the incretins, largely because far fewer people have used it and supply is less certain. Interest tracks the published combination programme closely.
Commonly reported as helping
- Additional satiety on top of an incretin, reported by people already on one
- Described as a different quality of fullness rather than simply more of the same
Also reported, when it goes wrong
- Compounded gastrointestinal effects when combined
- Nausea reported as harder to manage with two agents
- Uncertainty about what is actually in grey-supplied material
Why these reports can mislead
Almost nobody uses this alone, so essentially every report is confounded by the incretin running alongside it. Separating the contribution of one from the other is exactly what the formal trials are designed to do and what self-report cannot.
Direct quotations are not published here yet. We will only carry verbatim reports once they are sourced, dated and checked — an unattributed quote is a testimonial, and testimonials are exactly what this section exists to replace.
Watch for, in this use specifically
- Gastrointestinal effects compound when two agents that both slow gastric emptying are combined.
- Neither agent is verifiable in grey supply, and attribution of any adverse effect becomes impossible.
Active clinical trials
No registered trials currently tracked for Cagrilintide.
What remains unknown
The questions that would change our assessment if they were answered.
- Do phase 2 weight reductions hold in phase 3?
- What do cardiovascular and long-term outcomes look like?
- Does the combination affect lean mass differently from incretin monotherapy?
References
Editorial change history
When we change a grade or a regulatory note, we log it here rather than editing quietly.
Dossier created.
Spotted something wrong? Tell us — we publish corrections.