Eloralintide
$Phase 3 investigational amylin analog
Eloralintide is Lilly's long-acting, once-weekly investigational amylin analog. In human cell assays, it preferentially activates AMY1R over AMY3R and the calcitonin receptor, distinguishing it from GLP-1, GIP, glucagon, and less-selective amylin programs.
A 263-participant Phase 2 trial reported mean body-weight reductions of 9.5% to 20.1% at 48 weeks across six active regimens versus 0.4% with placebo. These controlled results are promising, but eloralintide has no approved product, indication, contraindication list, or dosing schedule.
Its 12.9-to-15.3-day terminal half-life means accumulation, delayed effects, and washout unfold over weeks. Keep four evidence layers separate: peer-reviewed monotherapy results; an accepted but not yet presented or peer-reviewed combination abstract; ongoing Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 studies; and gray-market self-reports involving unverified products.
Classification details
- Eloralintide is also identified as LY3841136, LY-3841136, AMY1176, and AMY-1176; “Elora” appears as study shorthand rather than as an approved brand name.
- It is a synthetic, C-terminally amidated, fatty-acid-acylated analog of human amylin with a 37-amino-acid main chain.
- A methylene thioacetal bridge replaces native amylin's disulfide bridge, and a C20 fatty diacid attached through Lys26 supports albumin binding and long exposure.
- It is an amylin-receptor agonist, not a GLP-1, GIP, glucagon, or combined incretin agonist.
- Human cell assays found preferential activity at AMY1R over AMY3R and the calcitonin receptor. Rat receptor activity differs, so the in vitro human selectivity ratio should not be treated as a complete in vivo mechanism.
- Lilly sponsors the development program. All authors of the discovery and Phase 1 papers were Lilly employees. Lilly funded, designed, and oversaw the Phase 2 trial, collated and analyzed its data, and sponsor-employed authors helped draft the manuscript. This does not invalidate peer review, but independent replication and full Phase 3 data remain important.
Eloralintide is designed to reproduce selected amylin signaling with greater potency at human AMY1R than at AMY3R or the calcitonin receptor.
- Native amylin is co-secreted with insulin after nutrient intake. Amylin receptors are complexes of the calcitonin receptor with receptor-activity-modifying proteins, producing AMY1, AMY2, and AMY3 receptor subtypes.
- In human receptor assays, eloralintide was about 12-fold more potent at AMY1R than the calcitonin receptor and about 11-fold more potent at AMY1R than AMY3R. These are cell-assay selectivity ratios, not proof that only one receptor is engaged in people.
- Amylin-pathway signaling contributes to satiety, reduced food intake, and glucagon regulation. It complements incretin signaling; eloralintide itself is not a GLP-1 agonist.
- In the 12-week multiple-dose study, weight fell without clear treatment-related changes in fasting glucose or oral-glucose-tolerance measures in the normoglycemic study population.
- Acetaminophen testing suggested a mild early effect on gastric emptying that diminished by Day 80. This needs confirmation and does not prove that absorption of every oral medicine is unaffected.
- Diet-induced-obesity (DIO) rat studies found dose-related reductions in food intake and body weight, mostly through fat-mass loss. Head-to-head rat findings of less conditioned taste avoidance and less lean-mass loss than cagrilintide have not yet been established in humans.
- The title of a 2025 ObesityWeek poster by Lilly's Daniel Briere stated that eloralintide improved insulin sensitivity in diet-induced-obese rats. The accessible program does not provide methods, doses, or numeric results, so no effect size or protocol can be verified here. The published 12-week study in normoglycemic humans did not show consistent changes in glucose or insulin-sensitivity measures, and a dedicated human hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic-clamp study is ongoing.
- A 2025 Novo Nordisk-sponsored comparator abstract, independent of Lilly but authored by Novo employees and stockholders, reported that eloralintide activated amylin receptors and the calcitonin receptor in vitro and produced prolonged plasma-calcium lowering at 10 or 30 nmol/kg in rats. This assay-dependent animal finding tempers categorical receptor-selectivity claims but does not establish human calcitonin-receptor engagement or calcium lowering.
- The hypothesis that receptor selectivity and slow absorption improve gastrointestinal tolerability remains plausible but unproven; the larger Phase 2 trial still recorded substantial nausea in some regimens.