Amylin dosage and evidence
Written by Aaron CuhaReviewed Sep 2026
The short answer
Amylin is a hormone that comes out of the same pancreas cells as insulin, at the same time. Cagrilintide and CagriSema are built from it. Human amylin clumps into sticky deposits, so it can never be a drug in its own form.
Evidence grade for Amylin: Moderate. The rule: at least one finished study in people, and at least 100 people who took it. The sum on this page: 2 completed trials, 651 people given it. A grade counts how much has been done to people, not whether it works.
- People given it
- 651
- Human studies
- 2
- Found nothing
- 0
Dose
No human dose established
Amounts that were given in studies sit in Human evidence on this page. None of them is a personal dose.
2 completed trials, 651 people given it
4 effects reported, 2 unwanted, 2 wanted, by people using it, not a trial
Goal pages: Fat loss and metabolism
In plain English
In plain English, from Aaron
This is how I would explain it to a friend. The evidence, with the numbers, is further down the page.
Amylin is a hormone your pancreas lets out at the same time as insulin. It slows your stomach, keeps a sugar-raising hormone down after meals, and makes you feel full. Human amylin clumps together, so it cannot be a drug. The drugs are redesigned copies, like pramlintide and cagrilintide.
What people take it for
- Nobody takes the hormone itself. People look it up to understand cagrilintide and CagriSema.
- Weight loss, through the copies.
- Better blood sugar in type 1 diabetes, alongside insulin, through pramlintide.
What studies in people showed
The hormone itself has never been given as a treatment, because it clumps. The copies have real trials. In the biggest one, 3,417 adults with obesity took cagrilintide plus semaglutide for 68 weeks. They lost about a fifth of their body weight. People on a dummy shot lost about 3 percent. In 651 people with type 1 diabetes, a year of pramlintide with insulin cut average blood sugar by about a third of a point. That is real and small. People lost weight instead of gaining it. No trial shows any copy clears the clumps from a pancreas.
What people report
Reports, not study results
The good
- In the big combination trial, people lost about a fifth of their body weight.
- In type 1 diabetes, people on pramlintide lost weight instead of gaining it on insulin.
The bad
- Stomach and bowel upset was common on the combination, mostly mild.
- Pramlintide, the only approved copy, is listed as Discontinued in the US.
Where these come from: All of this comes from the human trials on this page. We have not collected forum or clinic reports on amylin drugs for this page.
My bottom line
Amylin is the hormone. The drugs are copies, and the combination with semaglutide is where the big weight loss is. If you see plain amylin for sale, walk away. It clumps, and it cannot be the real thing.
An opinion, not a finding. I am a coach, not a doctor.
What it has been measured to do
Measured in people
Goals Amylin has been tested for in people, biggest studies first. We count only what the studies on this page say, so the real numbers may be higher.
- Blood sugar and insulin651 people · 1 study
35 of the 36 indexed goals have no study of any kind behind Amylin
No study in people, animals or cells on this page reports a result for these. That does not prove Amylin does nothing for them. It does mean anything you have heard about Amylin and one of these did not come from a study cited here.
Show full evidence
What is Amylin?
Amylin is a hormone that comes out of the same pancreas cells as insulin, at the same time. Cagrilintide and CagriSema are built from it. Human amylin clumps into sticky deposits, so it can never be a drug in its own form.
Your pancreas releases amylin together with insulin, in a roughly fixed ratio. That has a result people miss. Someone with type 1 diabetes is short of two hormones, not one. Amylin slows how fast food leaves your stomach. It keeps glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar, down after a meal. And it makes you feel full, through a spot in the brainstem.
The key fact about human amylin is that it clumps. It sticks together into the deposits found in the pancreas, which is where its other name, islet amyloid polypeptide, comes from. That is not a side note. It is why human amylin can never be made into a medicine, and why every amylin drug is a redesigned copy. Pramlintide swaps in three building blocks to stop the clumping. Cagrilintide is built to last a long time in the body. Neither is amylin.
How does Amylin work?
Amylin has no receptor of its own. It works through the calcitonin receptor paired with one of three helper proteins, which makes three versions of the amylin receptor. Because it borrows the calcitonin receptor, amylin drugs overlap with calcitonin. In the body, amylin slows how fast the stomach empties. It keeps glucagon down after a meal. And it makes you feel full through a spot in the brainstem called the area postrema.
What have studies in people found about Amylin?
Deep for the copies, almost nothing for the hormone itself. Pramlintide has year-long trials in type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and cagrilintide has large final-stage data. Human amylin has never been given as a treatment, because it cannot be.
- Cagrilintide, a long-acting copy, has large final-stage data both on its own and with semaglutide as CagriSema, including in type 2 diabetes.
- Pramlintide taken with mealtime insulin in type 1 diabetes: 651 people for 52 weeks. Average blood sugar (HbA1c) fell 0.29 to 0.34 points, against 0.04 on the dummy shot. People lost weight instead of gaining it, as they often do on insulin.
- A mix of pramlintide and insulin in one shot lowered body weight compared with insulin lispro in type 1 diabetes.
- The approved copy's brand is marked Discontinued in the FDA drug database. We checked that with the regulator directly.
What this does not tell you: No trial shows that amylin or any copy stops or reverses the amylin deposits in a person's pancreas, which is what the hormone is named for. No amylin copy has heart attack or stroke data on its own. CagriSema's data come from a mix that includes semaglutide, so the amylin part cannot be pulled out. The wiring that makes you feel full is mostly worked out in rats and mice.
The state of the research
Amylin shows the gap between a hormone and a drug. Scientists have understood it for thirty years, yet it has few treatments, because the molecule works against itself. Human amylin clumps, and you cannot put a clumping protein in a vial.
There is also a legal fact most peptide sites leave out. Pramlintide was the only amylin copy ever approved for diabetes, and every Symlin product is now listed as Discontinued. Meanwhile cagrilintide is in large final-stage trials inside a combination product. The class went from approved and then withdrawn, to experimental and promising. That is unusual. It is worth knowing before you read any confident claim about amylin drugs.
The evidence, in charts
Fig. 1a · how many people
651people, across 1 study in people cited here
| Study | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Diabetic Medicine 2004 | 651 | 100% |
The whole total is one study of 651. Counts are the number of people each study on this page says it signed up. That includes studies that only watched people and gave nobody the compound. 1 more study in people gives no headcount and is not counted here. Studies still signing people up are left out, and only studies cited on this page are counted.
Fig. 1b · evidence mix
2 of 3 sources here are studies in people. The rest is not.
- Study in people · done in people267%
- Review of studies · sums up other studies133%
Counted from the list of sources on this page. It counts only what we cite, so there may be more studies out there. A review counts once, however many studies it sums up.
Fig. 2 · evidence over time
The studies cover 3 different years, 2004 to 2025, counted from the list of sources on this page.
Fig. 3 · legal status at a glance
US
Not approved
UK
Not approved
AU
Not approved
CA
Not approved
Not approved in any of the four countries shown. This is what the law says, not a verdict on the science. See Legal status below for the full text and any notes.
Fig. 4 · how much does what
Nobody has tested different amounts in people
This chart would show how the effect changes as the amount goes up. For this compound, nobody has measured that in people. So we leave it empty. We will not borrow an animal chart and pretend it works the same in people.
Fig. 5 · what the molecule is
- Kind of compound
- Peptide
- Molecule weight
- Mature peptide is 37 amino acids, amidated, with one intramolecular disulfide. Precursor 9,806 Da (UniProt P10997). Pramlintide acetate is 3,949.4 Da per its FDA label.
- Half-life
- About 48 minutesUltra-short, minutes
- Chain length
- 37 amino acidscounted from the chain below
Half-life as stated on file: Native amylin is short-lived in circulation. For the approved analogue pramlintide the label gives roughly 48 minutes.
KCNTATCATQRLANFLVHSSNNFGAILSSTNVGSNTY
- Water-shy 14
- Water-loving 20
- Basic 3
One square per amino acid, left to right from the start of the chain, coloured by type. The type is a fact about the amino acid, not a finding about this compound.
The studies we cite
- Study in people2004Amylin replacement with pramlintide as an adjunct to insulin therapy improves long-term glycaemic and weight control in type 1 diabetes mellitus: a 1-year, randomized controlled trial
It worked, and the benefit was modest. 651 people with type 1 diabetes took pramlintide with their insulin, or a dummy shot, for a year. Their average blood sugar over three months fell by about a third of a point. On the dummy it barely moved. Weight control also got better. A third of a point is a real difference and a small one. This page says so rather than rounding it up.
651 people with type 1 diabetes, 52 weeks, randomised. HbA1c fell 0.29 to 0.34 percentage points against 0.04 on placebo. Statistically clear and clinically modest, and the page says so rather than rounding it up.
- Study in people2025Coadministered cagrilintide and semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity
The combination produced some of the biggest weight loss yet reported. 3,417 adults with obesity, or extra weight plus a related health problem, took part for 68 weeks. People on cagrilintide plus semaglutide lost about a fifth of their body weight. People on a dummy shot lost about 3 percent. Stomach and bowel upset was common on the drug and mostly mild. A smaller group took the amylin drug alone, the clearest look at what amylin does by itself.
Phase 3a, 68 weeks, double-blind, with a cagrilintide-alone arm. That arm is the cleanest human read available on what an amylin receptor agonist does by itself rather than as half of a combination.
- Review of studies2015Amylin: pharmacology, physiology, and clinical potential
A big review of how amylin works. It covers the receptor, what the hormone does in the body, and why the clumping of human amylin limits every drug built from it. It sums up other work. It is not a new study.
The definitive pharmacology review, covering the calcitonin-receptor-plus-RAMP mechanism, the physiology, and why the amyloidogenicity of the human peptide constrains every drug built from it.
Where to buy Amylin
No seller we track lists Amylin yet. We read sellers’ public product lists every week, and this section fills in as soon as one does. Every seller, graded
Common questions
Has Amylin been tested in people?
Yes. 651 people given it across 2 completed trials cited here, 0 of which found nothing. Amylin is a hormone that comes out of the same pancreas cells as insulin, at the same time. Cagrilintide and CagriSema are built from it. Human amylin clumps into sticky deposits, so it can never be a drug in its own form.
What is the Amylin dosage?
No human dose established. Amounts that were given in studies sit in Human evidence on this page. None of them is a personal dose. 2 completed trials, 651 people given it
Is Amylin FDA-approved?
Natural amylin is not a drug. Its approved lab-made version, pramlintide (Symlin), is listed as Discontinued in the FDA drug database (Drugs@FDA) as of September 2026. Cagrilintide is investigational, in final-stage studies combined with semaglutide.
Can I take amylin?
No. Human amylin clumps into sticky deposits, so it has never been a medicine in its own form. The drugs are redesigned copies. Pramlintide swaps in three building blocks to stop the clumping. Cagrilintide is built to last a long time in the body.
Why does type 1 diabetes involve amylin?
Because amylin and insulin come from the same pancreas cells, in a roughly fixed ratio. When those cells are destroyed, both hormones go. That is the thinking behind giving pramlintide with insulin rather than insulin alone.
Is pramlintide still available?
The FDA drug database lists every Symlin product as Discontinued as of September 2026. We checked that directly with the regulator. It is still an approved drug on paper. Approved and available are not the same thing.
Does amylin cause the islet amyloid in type 2 diabetes?
Human amylin is the protein those deposits are made of, and the clumping is well shown in the lab. What no trial has shown is that giving an amylin copy stops or reverses those deposits in a living person.