Does Pramlintide help with body weight?

What the studies show

One to two kilograms less than insulin alone — meaningful because insulin usually adds weight.

Several well-run randomised trials in people, pointing the same way. You can plan around this. It still says nothing about whether the effect is worth the side effects for you.

1. 1
   Pramlintide acetate (Symlin) prescribing information.FDALicensed indications, glucose and weight data, boxed warning.

In context

Pramlintide is a synthetic analogue of amylin, the hormone the pancreas releases with insulin to slow digestion and signal fullness. It is approved in the United States — and nowhere else — as an injection taken with meals alongside insulin in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In people with obesity but no diabetes, a 12-month trial produced about 6–7 kg of placebo-corrected weight loss at the best doses, with nausea in up to a third at the start. It was never a commercial success, but its mechanism is the one cagrilintide and amycretin have since made weekly.

Pramlintide is approved (rx, us only). Legal status differs by country — see the regulation section or the jurisdiction pages.

Questions

Other outcomes for Pramlintide

• ABlood glucose (with insulin)Approval programme (type 1 and type 2)
• BBody weight (obesity without diabetes)1 RCT (n=411) with 8-month extension
• AAdverse effectsadverseSame trials

Written and maintained by LYO Research — how pages are written and checked. Reviewed 10 September 2026. Grades count human evidence only; see how LYO grades. Not medical advice. Correct this page →