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Long-acting amylin analogue (investigational) · safety

Cagrilintide side effects

The cagrilintide side effects reported most often are nausea, stomach and gut events overall and reactions where injected. The full list is below, with the cited trial report cited at the bottom of the page.

Trial reports describe stomach and gut effects as dose-related and clustered around the steps up.

Cagrilintide is a weekly shot in weight-loss studies. It copies amylin, a natural signal that helps you feel full after eating. Sellers offer unapproved cagrilintide for weight loss, sometimes paired with semaglutide under the name CagriSema.

A phase 2 trial found more average weight loss at higher doses. It has moved into phase 3 trials with semaglutide. Cagrilintide does not have FDA approval.

Further down: the full list with frequencies · when to get medical help · questions

Medically reviewed by Jennifer Montecillo, MD · non-practicing medical reviewerReviewed 2026-08-17open the primary sources

At a glance

Common reactions listed

4

Serious reactions listed

0

Boxed warning

No label exists

Strongest source

Human trial

The counts show how many distinct reactions the cited trial report names. The percentages show how often a reaction appeared in a study group, not the chance that it will happen to you.

Common reactions

The full list, as reported across the available trial evidence. There is no approved label to read frequency bands off, so these are the trials’ own figures.

Common reactionstrial-reported
ReactionFrequency
NauseaReported in 20–47% across trial doses (vs 18% placebo)
Gastrointestinal events overall (nausea, constipation, diarrhea)Reported in 41–63% across trial doses (vs 32% placebo)
Injection-site reactionsReported in trials
Decreased appetiteReported in trials

Human trialEvery reaction above comes from a cited trial. These are study findings, not instructions on what to take.

When to seek medical care

The trial report does not give a separate list of serious reactions. There is also no approved label. That gap does not mean serious reactions cannot happen. This compound has been studied in fewer people and for less time than an approved drug.

EmergencySome symptoms should not wait for an appointment. Call emergency services (911 in the US) if they are severe, getting worse fast, or involve trouble breathing, chest pain, fainting or confusion.

1Read deeperTiming, evidence limits, and product context

What the 26-week trial can—and cannot—show

The page above comes from a dose-finding study with 706 people. It tested weekly doses of 0.3 mg · 0.6 mg · 1.2 mg · 2.4 mg · 4.5 mg. The study shows what happened during that window. It may miss rare or later problems.

This page preserves 4 common reactions and 0 serious entries from that report. A missing reaction is outside this bounded record; it is not a result that the reaction cannot occur.

  • Investigational compound — no approved dosing exists
  • Trial doses are study information, not a recommendation
  • Phase 3 studies cagrilintide co-formulated with semaglutide (CagriSema), not alone

Cagrilintide is still in trials and is not FDA-approved.

The REDEFINE trials pair it with semaglutide in one shot called CagriSema. There is no approved cagrilintide product or dose. The amounts below come from studies, not a dosing guide.

Common questions

How long do cagrilintide side effects last, and do they go away?

The 26-week trial report does not establish a set number of days for any reaction. It records whether an event occurred during the study, not a reliable personal countdown for when it will stop.

What are the most common cagrilintide side effects?

Nausea, gastrointestinal events overall (nausea, constipation, diarrhea), injection-site reactions and decreased appetite — the table above has the rest, each with its frequency band and source.

Does cagrilintide have a boxed warning?

No, because a boxed warning is part of an FDA-approved label and cagrilintide has no approved label. That reflects what regulatory review has and has not covered, not a finding that serious risks were looked for and ruled out.

Can the cagrilintide dose be lowered if side effects are hard to tolerate?

That decision belongs to the prescribing clinician. No approved schedule exists for this compound, so there is no labeled framework for adjusting a dose. That leaves the prescriber as the only place the decision can sit.

Were hair loss, fatigue or constipation listed for cagrilintide?

In the 26-week report, constipation was listed; hair loss and fatigue were not. That is a statement about the paper’s recorded terms, not proof that an unlisted symptom cannot occur.

What should someone do about a serious cagrilintide reaction?

Contact a clinician promptly, and emergency services if symptoms are severe or getting worse quickly. The available sources do not list any reactions as separately serious. That means there is no early-warning list here—not that serious reactions are impossible.

Do the frequencies on this page mean the chance it happens to one person?

No. These figures describe groups in a study. A band shows how often a reaction appeared under that trial’s conditions. It cannot predict what will happen to one person.

Related

The schedule these reactions were recorded against, the comparisons, and the sourcing rules behind every grade on this page.

Questions readers ask

Who should not take cagrilintide?

The safety record cannot answer it, and the reason is worth naming. A 26-week trial in 706 people is built to map dose against weight, not to find who fares badly.

What it did find is common and dull: nausea in 20 to 47%, gut events in 41 to 63%. No regulator has reviewed the compound, so nobody has written the list.

How does cagrilintide make you feel?

Nausea was the most common report in trials — 20 to 47% across the doses, against 18% on placebo. Gut events overall ran 41 to 63% against 32%, and appetite dropped.

People also reported sore injection sites. Amylin produces fullness rather than damping hunger between meals, so an incretin drug’s pattern does not carry over.

How long does cagrilintide stay in your system?

The trial did not publish a half-life. It did publish the schedule: one injection each week, with dose increases every four weeks over 26 weeks.

A weekly schedule suggests it lasts days rather than hours, but it does not reveal the exact half-life. The trial did not provide that number.

Can you take cagrilintide daily?

Nobody has studied daily dosing. Every arm of the phase 2 trial gave one injection a week. Phase 3 keeps a weekly schedule in the combined injection.

The daily drug in that trial was the comparator, liraglutide 3.0 mg. A weekly compound given daily is a different exposure, and an untested one.

1primary source, each with the day we read it — open the documents used on this page