How Cagrilintide Works: Mechanism and Pharmacology

The receptors cagrilintide acts on

Pharmacology work in cell systems describes AM833, the research name for cagrilintide, as a non-selective agonist of amylin and calcitonin receptors, tested across 25 endpoints.^[2]

The same paper concludes the compound has a profile of receptor binding, activation and regulation unlike the other agonists it was compared against.^[2]

A mouse knockout study found that cagrilintide's effect on body weight depended on two amylin receptor subtypes, AMY1R and AMY3R. This is animal data.^[3]

What happens in the body

The phase 2 weight trial describes the physiological idea behind the drug: natural amylin is a pancreatic hormone that induces satiety, and cagrilintide is a long-acting analogue of it.^[4]

In high-fat-fed mice, cagrilintide lowered food intake on day 1 (1.2 g against 2.7 g for vehicle) and activated cFos signal in brainstem regions. This was measured in mice, not people.^[3]

A meta-analysis describes the drug class as a once-weekly amylin receptor agonist, and its pooled human results include weight and blood-pressure falls.^[5]

Why it is given weekly

In a phase 1b trial the elimination half-life ran 159-195 h across cagrilintide doses, about a week, in line with the once-weekly schedule the trials used.^[1]

A kidney and liver impairment study found exposure similar across function groups, so exposure did not shift with organ function.^[6]

What is not documented

A Drugs@FDA lookup for the active ingredient cagrilintide, run 2026-10-02, returned no match, so no FDA label with a mechanism-of-action section exists to quote.^[7]

More on Cagrilintide