Amycretin combines GLP-1 and amylin in one molecule. Read the published Lancet data, the 448-person type 2 diabetes trial and what the 22% headline leaves out.
Amycretin is an investigational unimolecular agonist of the GLP-1 and amylin receptors, developed by Novo Nordisk in once-weekly subcutaneous and once-daily oral forms. Published phase 1b/2a data show mean weight loss of up to roughly 22% at 36 weeks on the highest subcutaneous dose, and a separate 448-person phase 2 trial in type 2 diabetes reported up to 14.5% weight loss at 36 weeks. Neither result is a prediction for an individual, and amycretin is not an approved medicine.
Evidence checked October 22, 2026. This page explains human research, not purchasing, dosing or self-administration.
What is amycretin?
Most obesity medicines in development pick one lane: GLP-1 alone, GLP-1 plus GIP, or GLP-1 plus GIP plus glucagon. Amycretin pairs GLP-1 with amylin instead. Amylin is a hormone co-secreted with insulin that acts on satiety and gastric emptying, and it is the same target family as eloralintide and petrelintide.
That makes amycretin a useful case study in mechanism language. "Dual agonist" describes what the molecule binds. It does not tell you how much weight any person will lose, and it does not make amycretin interchangeable with CagriSema, which combines two separate molecules (cagrilintide plus semaglutide) rather than one.
What has actually been published?
Two peer-reviewed papers exist, both in The Lancet, published June 20, 2025 and presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting:
| Study | Design | What it found | What limits it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subcutaneous amycretin phase 1b/2a | People with overweight or obesity; dose escalation and maintenance arms up to 36 weeks | Significantly greater weight loss than placebo across all tested doses; no weight-loss plateau observed by end of treatment | Small early-phase groups; short follow-up; not a phase 3 population |
| Oral amycretin phase 1 | People with overweight or obesity | Significant weight reduction versus placebo; tolerability consistent with GLP-1 and amylin agonists | Phase 1 size and duration; oral peptides have large dose-to-effect variability |
Source: Novo Nordisk's announcement of the Lancet publications and ADA 2025 presentation.
The widely quoted "up to 22%" figure comes from the highest-dose subcutaneous arm of the early trial. It is the best-performing group's mean, not the average across all arms, and not a maximum individual result.
The 448-person diabetes trial
On November 25, 2025, Novo Nordisk reported headline results from the first amycretin trial in people with type 2 diabetes: 448 participants inadequately controlled on metformin (about 40% also on an SGLT2 inhibitor), randomized to six once-weekly subcutaneous doses (0.4 mg to 40 mg), three once-daily oral doses (6 mg, 25 mg, 50 mg) or placebo, for up to 36 weeks.
| Measure | Reported result | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Weight loss, subcutaneous | Up to 14.5% at 36 weeks | Best arm, assuming full adherence; people with type 2 diabetes typically lose less than obesity-only populations |
| HbA1c reduction, subcutaneous | Up to 1.8 percentage points from a 7.8% baseline | Dose-dependent |
| HbA1c below 7%, subcutaneous | Up to 89.1% of participants | A threshold outcome, not a mean |
| HbA1c reduction, oral | Up to 1.5 percentage points from an 8.0% baseline | Oral arm ran at lower effective exposure |
| Safety | Mild to moderate gastrointestinal events, consistent with incretin and amylin drugs | Topline description; full paper not yet published |
Sources: Novo Nordisk's November 25, 2025 announcement and Reuters coverage. The trial registration is NCT06542874.
These are company-reported topline results. The peer-reviewed paper had not been published at the time of writing, so arm-level discontinuation counts and full adverse-event tables are not yet checkable.
Why the diabetes number is lower than the obesity number
14.5% in the diabetes trial versus roughly 22% in the obesity trial is not a contradiction. People with type 2 diabetes consistently lose less weight on incretin-class drugs than people without diabetes, the trials used different dose ranges, and the diabetes population was on background metformin with or without an SGLT2 inhibitor. Comparing the two headlines without that context manufactures a story that isn't there.
What remains unknown
Phase 3 trials are planned but their results do not exist yet. Open questions include long-term durability after stopping, rare adverse events that a few hundred participants cannot detect, cardiovascular outcomes, and how amycretin performs against tirzepatide or retatrutide in a head-to-head design. No such comparison trial exists.
For a compound in the same amylin lane with published phase 2 data, see our eloralintide evidence review. For the triple-agonist comparison, see UBT251's phase 2 results.
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Evidence notes from published research and trial registries. Educational information, not medical advice.