What Is an Amylin Analog? Pramlintide and Cagrilintide
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Amylin analog

Also called amylin agonist, amylin analogue, pramlintide, cagrilintide · Reviewed

Definition: An amylin analog is a man-made version of amylin, a hormone your pancreas releases together with insulin after meals. Amylin slows stomach emptying, lowers glucagon after meals and reduces appetite. Pramlintide (Symlin) is an FDA-approved amylin analog; cagrilintide is a long-acting one still being studied.

How it works

The Symlin label says amylin is stored with insulin in the same granules of pancreatic beta cells and released together with it. Pramlintide is a synthetic 37 amino acid version, approved for people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes who use mealtime insulin.

Cagrilintide is built to last much longer and is being developed alongside semaglutide (the pair is called CagriSema). The idea is that amylin and GLP-1 act on appetite through different paths, so the effects may add up (D'Ascanio 2024).

What the evidence shows

In the REDEFINE 1 trial (3,417 adults with overweight or obesity, no diabetes), weekly cagrilintide 2.4 mg plus semaglutide 2.4 mg lowered body weight by an average of 20.4% at 68 weeks, against 3.0% on placebo (Garvey 2025). Stomach and gut side effects were reported by 79.6% on the combination and 39.9% on placebo, mostly mild to moderate and short-lived.

We found no cagrilintide product listed on DailyMed, the FDA label database, as of October 22, 2026. FDA has named cagrilintide among products sold as "research use only" in warning letters.

Why it matters when you track doses

Micrograms vs milligrams

  1. The Symlin label writes doses in micrograms: for type 2 diabetes it starts at 60 mcg before major meals.
  2. 60 mcg = 0.06 mg. Cagrilintide in REDEFINE 1 was 2.4 mg, which is 2,400 mcg.
  3. Same drug class, a 40-fold difference in the number. Always log the unit with the dose.

The Symlin label also carries a boxed warning: used with insulin, it raises the risk of severe low blood sugar, mostly within 3 hours of the shot.

Read more on Dose Track: Cagrilintide · Semaglutide

General education drawn from labels and published studies, not personal medical advice. Your prescriber, pharmacist and the label that came with your product are the final word.
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Frequently asked questions

Is cagrilintide FDA approved?+
We found no FDA-approved cagrilintide product on DailyMed as of October 22, 2026. It has been tested with semaglutide in phase 3 trials such as REDEFINE 1.
What is CagriSema?+
The name used in trials for cagrilintide and semaglutide given together. In REDEFINE 1, 2.4 mg of each weekly lowered body weight by an average of 20.4% at 68 weeks.
Is pramlintide the same as cagrilintide?+
Both copy amylin, but pramlintide is a short-acting mealtime shot approved for diabetes, while cagrilintide is a long-acting weekly molecule still in trials.

Sources

  1. SymlinPen (pramlintide) US prescribing information, DailyMed
  2. D'Ascanio et al. Cardiol Rev 2024 (cagrilintide, a long-acting amylin analog, review). PMID 36883831
  3. Garvey et al. N Engl J Med 2025 (REDEFINE 1: cagrilintide with semaglutide, 68 weeks). PMID 40544433
  4. FDA warning letter to a research peptide seller, December 10, 2024 ("research use only" peptides treated as drugs)

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