Short answer: Exenatide has a half-life of about 2.4 hours. Levels peak about 2.1 hours after a dose. People vary, so treat these as estimates.
Exenatide is a GLP-1 receptor agonist, a 39-amino-acid peptide that partly matches human GLP-1. It is sold as Byetta, a pen injected under the skin twice a day before meals for type 2 diabetes.
Also known as: Byetta.
Byetta comes in two ready-to-use pens at 250 mcg/mL, each holding 60 doses: a 5 mcg-per-dose pen (300 mcg in 1.2 mL) and a 10 mcg-per-dose pen (600 mcg in 2.4 mL). The FDA label starts at 5 mcg twice a day, injected within the 60 minutes before the morning and evening meals (or the two main meals, about 6 hours or more apart), and it may go to 10 mcg twice a day after 1 month. It is not injected after a meal, and it is never mixed with insulin in the same injection.
If you also use a powder peptide, the free peptide reconstitution calculator handles the vial math.
The FDA Byetta label approves it, with diet and exercise, to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. It has no boxed warning. It is not used in people who have had a severe allergic reaction to exenatide or low platelets caused by exenatide, and it is not recommended with severe kidney impairment (creatinine clearance below 30). With insulin or a sulfonylurea, the risk of low blood sugar goes up. The label also warns about pancreatitis and gallbladder disease. See the Byetta side effects page for the label's numbers.
The FDA Byetta label gives a mean terminal half-life of 2.4 hours and a median time to peak of 2.1 hours after an injection under the skin in people with type 2 diabetes. The label says exenatide is measurable for about 10 hours after a dose in most people. Exposure was similar in the abdomen, thigh and upper arm.
Numbers shown are taken from the source above. Half-life varies from person to person and with injection site.
How Dose Track handles GLP-1s · Reconstitution calculator · Half-life calculator