Peptides for weight loss

Approved for type 2 diabetes, and in the US also for reducing heart attacks and strokes in people who already have it — but not approved anywhere for weight loss.

Ten randomised trials and a 9,901-person heart trial support the diabetes and heart claims; the weight it takes off is real but small, about 3.2 kg against 1.5 kg on dummy injections.

Approved for type 2 diabetes since 2005, and the first medicine of its kind anywhere — a synthetic copy of a lizard peptide, not a human hormone.

Placebo-controlled trials show lower blood sugar and one to two kilograms of weight loss, but the 14,752-person heart trial missed its target and newer weekly injections beat it in head-to-head trials.

Approved for fertility treatment and for low testosterone in men, and promoted separately for weight loss and for restarting testosterone after steroids.

The approved uses rest on regulator-grade evidence; for weight loss it did not beat a dummy injection, and the US label has said so since 1974.

Approved for type 2 diabetes and weight management.

Large controlled trials show lower blood sugar and weight loss compared with placebo.

Approved for type 2 diabetes and weight management.

Large controlled trials show lower blood sugar, substantial weight loss and fewer cardiovascular events in specific groups.

Approved for obesity caused by hypothalamic damage, Bardet-Biedl syndrome or three named gene faults — not for ordinary obesity.

One randomised trial found BMI fell about 16 per cent against a 3 per cent rise on a dummy injection; the trials in the genetic conditions had 10 to 44 people and mostly no comparison group.

Approved for growth failure in children and growth hormone deficiency in adults, and promoted far beyond that for anti-ageing, fat loss and muscle.

Randomised trials support the approved uses; in healthy adults it shifted fat and lean tissue without improving strength, endurance or function.

Approved in the United States to shrink the deep belly fat of adults with HIV-related lipodystrophy, and promoted elsewhere for fat loss, muscle and anti-ageing.

Two large placebo-controlled trials measured the fat reduction; Europe's regulator judged the same data did not show any health benefit and never approved it.

Approved for type 2 diabetes and weight management.

Large controlled trials show lower blood sugar and substantial weight loss compared with placebo and other treatments.

Being studied for weight loss, mainly in combination with semaglutide.

Large late-stage trials exist for the combination, but cagrilintide on its own is not an approved medicine.

Approved in China for weight loss and type 2 diabetes, and experimental everywhere else.

Four published phase 3 trials show large weight loss and lower blood sugar against dummy injections, all of them run in China.

Being studied for weight loss and for fatty liver disease; not approved anywhere.

The liver trial cleared inflammation against dummy injections but missed its second target, the scarring, and the 48-week weight-loss results have never been published in a journal.

Being studied for weight loss and type 2 diabetes.

Human trials show large weight changes, but it remains experimental and is not approved.

Being studied for weight loss and fatty liver disease.

Large human trials have measured changes in weight and liver disease, but it is not an approved medicine.

Promoted for fat loss, and increasingly for joints, cartilage and anti-ageing.

A 502-person trial found no more weight loss than dummy tablets, and the injected form people buy has never been tested in anyone.

Promoted for weight loss, exercise performance and longer life.

The published evidence comes from cells and animals; there are no completed treatment trials in people.