Petrelintide

Zealand Pharma

Petrelintide is an experimental amylin analog designed for once-weekly subcutaneous dosing. Amylin is a hormone co-released with insulin that promotes satiety, slows gastric emptying and helps regulate post-meal glucose. Amylin-based drugs interest obesity researchers because they reduce appetite through a mechanism distinct from GLP-1 and other incretin drugs. Zealand Pharma's chemists engineered petrelintide for chemical stability at roughly neutral pH, which they note could allow co-formulation with other peptide drugs in combination therapy. In phase 1 trials it had a half-life of about 10 days and reduced body weight by up to 8.6% after 16 weekly doses. In the ZUPREME 1 phase 2 trial (485 adults with obesity, no type 2 diabetes), once-weekly maintenance doses of 1.0–9.0 mg produced mean weight changes of −7.9% to −9.8% at 28 weeks versus −1.7% on placebo, with reductions of up to −10.7% by week 42. Nausea, mostly mild and during dose escalation, was the most common adverse event (20% vs 6% on placebo); vomiting was infrequent. Petrelintide is investigational, not approved by any regulator, and not legally available for purchase. Its long-term efficacy and safety, and how it performs in combination with incretin drugs, still need phase 3 trials. Approved obesity medicines remain the standard of care; this page is an educational reference.