Cagrilintide
Cagrilintide is a long-acting amylin analogue from Novo Nordisk. On its own it is investigational. It is also half of the CagriSema combination, which is under FDA review.
Also searched as: cagri.
Educational information. This page does not give dosing instructions or tell you what to take. Ask a prescriber about your own care.
In plain English
Amylin is a hormone your pancreas releases along with insulin after meals. It slows stomach emptying and tells the brain you are full. Cagrilintide is a long-acting lab-made version that can be injected once a week.
On its own, a phase 2 trial of 906 adults found weight loss of 6.0% to 10.8% over 26 weeks across the doses, versus 3.0% on placebo. The top amount (4.5 mg) also did a little better than daily liraglutide (10.8% vs 9.0%). That is a short, early trial.
Cagrilintide's main role today is inside CagriSema, where it is paired with semaglutide. See the CagriSema page for the large phase 3 results. Novo Nordisk is also running a phase 3 trial of cagrilintide alone in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes. It is not approved as a stand-alone medicine.
Brand names and products
A generic name identifies the drug itself. A brand name identifies one company's product. One drug can come in several products with different forms and approved uses, so the brand name often tells you more about what a prescription is for.
No brand name is recorded for this medicine because there is no approved product.
Approved and investigational. As a stand-alone medicine, every use of cagrilintide is investigational.
How it works
Cagrilintide activates amylin receptors. Natural amylin slows gastric emptying, lowers glucagon release after meals and promotes meal termination through the brain. Cagrilintide is designed to last long enough for weekly injection. It is a different mechanism from GLP-1, which is why it is being combined with semaglutide.
Forms and approval status
| Form | How it is taken | U.S. status |
|---|---|---|
| Cagrilintide injection (investigational as a stand-alone medicine) | Once weekly in trials. Available only inside clinical trials, or as part of CagriSema if that is approved. | Not approved on its own. Cagrilintide is one component of CagriSema, which is under FDA review (see the CagriSema page). A phase 3 trial of cagrilintide alone in obesity with type 2 diabetes is listed as active. |
What the trials found
These are group averages from published trials in adults without diabetes unless stated. See how to read trial numbers before comparing.
Cagrilintide phase 2 (obesity)
Average change in body weight. Every bar uses one scale, 0 to 25 percent.
- People studied
- 906 adults without diabetes and with a BMI of 30 or more, or 27 or more plus high blood pressure or abnormal cholesterol
- Length
- 26 weeks
- Compared with
- Placebo and liraglutide 3.0 mg daily. Five cagrilintide amounts from 0.3 to 4.5 mg once weekly
- What was measured
- Average change in body weight at week 26
- Analysis approach
- Trial-product estimand: effects if everyone took the treatment as assigned. The authors report similar results under the treatment-policy estimand
- Other results
- Cagrilintide 4.5 mg beat liraglutide 3.0 mg by 1.8 percentage points (10.8% vs 9.0%).
- Safety
- Stomach and gut side effects (such as nausea, constipation and diarrhea) occurred in 41% to 63% of people on cagrilintide vs 32% on placebo. Nausea alone was 20% to 47% vs 18%. Injection-site reactions were also more common.
- Limits
- Phase 2 with a short 26-week treatment period. Funded by the manufacturer. The abstract gives a range across the five cagrilintide groups, not one figure per group. People knew which active medicine they were taking. Group averages do not predict one person's result.
Sources: Lau DCW 2021
Safety
No FDA label exists for this medicine yet. The information below comes from published trial reports. The points below are a summary and may be incomplete.
Boxed warning and label notes
- Cagrilintide injection (investigational as a stand-alone medicine): Not applicable. Not approved on its own.
Warnings labels describe
- Not approved on its own, so no official label exists. Safety information comes from trial reports.
- The CagriSema label, once it exists, will describe cagrilintide's safety in combination with semaglutide.
Most common in trials
- Nausea
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Injection-site reactions
Less common but serious
- The phase 2 abstract reports that treatment was discontinued by about 10% of participants, 4% for side effects, and does not list serious events. Details are in the full paper.
What is still unknown
- Whether it will be approved on its own. Novo Nordisk's lead use is CagriSema.
- Results from the phase 3 trial of cagrilintide alone in type 2 diabetes. It is listed as active, with a primary completion date of May 2027.
- Weight loss and safety over longer than 26 weeks as a single medicine.
- How it compares with newer, more selective amylin drugs such as eloralintide.
Compiled from public information: FDA-approved labels, manufacturer websites, ClinicalTrials.gov and published journal articles. Sources are listed at the bottom of this page.
Sources
- 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 Lau DCW, et al. Lancet. 2021;398(10317):2160-2172. PMID 34798060. Funding: Novo Nordisk. Journal article
- Cagrilintide for weight management in overweight or obesity with type 2 diabetes (NCT07220759) ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT07220759. Sponsor: Novo Nordisk. Trial registry
- ClinicalTrials.gov U.S. National Library of Medicine. Trial registry
- Amylin analogs: the next major class of weight loss therapy? A review of experimental data and early-phase clinical trials Alhazmi A, le Roux CW. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2026;28 Suppl 5:42-50. PMID 42452898. Funding: Not stated in the abstract. Journal article