MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: Educational research guidelines only. Lyophilized peptides are investigational chemical compounds and are NOT approved for human consumption, diagnosis, or therapy. Consult a licensed physician before any research application.
Beinaglutide Dosage Chart, Schedule & Reconstitution Protocol
Quickstart Highlights
Beinaglutide is a recombinant human GLP-1(7-36) peptide and short-acting, mealtime GLP-1 receptor agonist with a sequence identical to native human GLP-1. It activates the GLP-1 receptor to boost glucose-dependent insulin release, suppress glucagon, slow gastric emptying, and reduce appetite, producing dose-dependent weight loss and HbA1c lowering. Because it is not engineered to resist DPP-4, it is cleared within minutes and must be injected subcutaneously three times daily before meals, unlike weekly agonists such as semaglutide. The studied dose range is 0.1 mg titrated to 0.2 mg per injection, three times daily (about 0.3-0.6 mg/day) [1][3]. It is approved in China (NMPA, 2016) for type 2 diabetes but is not FDA- or EMA-approved, and its obesity use is investigational [2]. The reconstitution and dosing figures here are educational and not medical advice.
Reconstitute: Add 2 mL bacteriostatic water → 1 mg/mL concentration.
Typical dose: 0.1-0.2 mg (100-200 mcg) SC three times daily
Easy measuring: At 1 mg/mL, 1 unit = 0.01 mL = 0.0100 mg (10 mcg) on a U-100 insulin syringe.
Storage: Supplied and stored refrigerated at 2-8 °C, protected from light; do not freeze the liquid product. Lyophilized powder may be kept frozen at −20 °C for long-term storage. Once reconstituted, refrigerate at 2-8 °C, protect from light, avoid shaking, and use within about 14 days.
Half-life: Short: apparent t1/2 ~30-42 min in phase I; functional half-life often cited ~11-15 min; duration of action ~2 h, hence dosing three times daily.
Route: Subcutaneous injection (abdomen, thigh, or upper arm), about 5 minutes before each main meal, three times daily.
Status: Approved in China (NMPA, Dec 2016) for type 2 diabetes; NOT FDA/EMA approved; obesity use investigational; research/educational only outside China.
About Beinaglutide
Beinaglutide is a recombinant human GLP-1(7-36) peptide marketed in China (brand name Yishengtai) as a short-acting, mealtime GLP-1 receptor agonist [2][8]. Unlike weekly analogs such as semaglutide, its sequence is identical to native human GLP-1 and is not protected against DPP-4 degradation, so it has a very short half-life and is genuinely injected subcutaneously three times a day before meals — the route modeled below matches its real clinical use [1][2].\n\nThis guide models a 2 mg vial reconstituted with 2.0 mL of bacteriostatic water (1 mg/mL) so the small prandial doses map cleanly onto a U-100 insulin syringe: 0.1 mg = 100 mcg ≈ 10 units, 0.14 mg = 140 mcg ≈ 14 units, and 0.2 mg = 200 mcg ≈ 20 units. The standard Beinaglutide dosage begins at 0.1 mg three times daily and is titrated to 0.2 mg three times daily if tolerated, giving a total daily dose of roughly 0.3-0.6 mg [1][3].\n\nFrequency: Three times daily, subcutaneously, about 5 minutes before each main meal. Because of its short duration of action (~2 hours), missed doses are not "doubled up." Beinaglutide is approved only in China for type 2 diabetes; it is not FDA- or EMA-approved, and its use for weight management is investigational. This page is educational and is not medical advice.
Quick Protocol Navigation
Reconstitution Instruction & Mixing Step-by-Step
Lyophilized powder must be reconstituted carefully. Agitating peptide chains can shear disulfide bonds and render the peptide biologically inert.
Draw 2.0 mL of bacteriostatic water into a sterile syringe.
Inject the water slowly down the inner glass wall of the 2 mg beinaglutide vial; do not aim the stream directly at the powder, and do not shake the vial.
Swirl or roll the vial gently until the solution is completely clear; this yields a 1 mg/mL concentration (1000 mcg/mL, so 10 mcg per U-100 insulin-syringe unit).
Store the reconstituted vial refrigerated at 2-8 °C and draw the prescribed number of units per dose (100 mcg ≈ 10 units, 140 mcg ≈ 14 units, 200 mcg ≈ 20 units).
Inject subcutaneously into the abdomen, thigh, or upper arm about 5 minutes before each main meal, rotating sites; because beinaglutide is short-acting, the dose is repeated three times daily.
Interactive Beinaglutide Syringe Calculator
Currently visualizing the 2 mg vial reconstituted with 2 mL bacteriostatic water. Adjust the target dose to dynamically render syringe units.
Reconstitution Calculation: 2mg dry powder in 2mL water yields 1.00 mg/mL. To evaluate a 250mcg dose, pull to 25.0 units (25 syringe ticks).
U-100 Syringe Representation
Educational reference visual. Assumes standard U-100 insulin syringe where 1.0 mL volume = 100 units.
Titration & Dose Escalation Schedules
| Phase | Dose per injection | Units (per injection) |
|---|---|---|
| Initiation (Week 1, before each main meal) | 100 mcg | 10 units (0.10 mL) |
| Titration (optional intermediate step) | 140 mcg | 14 units (0.14 mL) |
| Maintenance / target (if tolerated) | 200 mcg | 20 units (0.20 mL) |
Administration guidelines: Refer to guidelines | 2 mL Reconstitution
Research Supplies Quantity Planner
Scientific mathematical planning of syringes, bacteriostatic water and dry vials needed for extended research blocks using the 2 mg vial.
Peptide Vials (Beinaglutide, 2 mg each):
- check8-week course at 0.2 mg three times daily (~4.2 mg/week): about 17 vials; closer to ~9 vials if held at the 0.1 mg three-times-daily starting dose.
- check12-week course at the 0.2 mg target dose: about 26 vials.
- check16-week course at the 0.2 mg target dose: about 34 vials.
- checkOrder a few spare vials to cover dropped or compromised vials; reconstituted solution should be used within ~14 days.
Insulin Syringes (U-100):
- check21 injections per week (three times daily); 8-week course: about 180 syringes including spares.
- check12-week course: about 270 syringes.
- check16-week course: about 360 syringes.
- checkUse 0.3 mL (30-unit) U-100 syringes for accurate measurement of the small 10-20 unit doses.
Bacteriostatic Water (30 mL bottles): Use 2 mL per vial for reconstitution.
- check8-week course (~17 vials): about 34 mL, roughly two 30 mL bottles.
- check12-week course (~26 vials): about 52 mL, roughly two 30 mL bottles.
- check16-week course (~34 vials): about 68 mL, roughly three 30 mL bottles.
- checkAlways reconstitute with 2 mL per 2 mg vial to keep the 1 mg/mL (10 mcg/unit) concentration.
Alcohol Swabs: clean each vial septum and injection site.
- check8-week course: about 200 swabs (injections plus vial-prep wipes).
- check12-week course: about 300 swabs.
- check16-week course: about 400 swabs.
- checkSwab the vial stopper before every draw and the skin before every injection to limit contamination.
Mechanism of Action (MOA)
Beinaglutide is a recombinant peptide whose 31-amino-acid sequence is identical to native human glucagon-like peptide-1, GLP-1(7-36) amide [8]. It binds and activates the GLP-1 receptor, a class B G-protein-coupled receptor expressed on pancreatic islet cells, the gastrointestinal tract, and appetite-regulating neurons in the hypothalamus and area postrema. The downstream effects mirror those of the native incretin hormone: glucose-dependent stimulation of insulin secretion from beta cells, suppression of glucagon from alpha cells, slowing of gastric emptying, and central suppression of appetite and food intake [2][3]. Because insulin release is glucose-dependent, beinaglutide carries a low intrinsic risk of hypoglycemia when used alone [5].\n\nThe defining pharmacologic feature of beinaglutide is what its developers did NOT change. Long-acting agonists such as semaglutide and liraglutide are deliberately re-engineered (fatty-acid acylation, amino-acid substitutions) to resist dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) and to bind albumin, extending their half-lives to days. Beinaglutide retains the unmodified human sequence, so it is rapidly cleaved by DPP-4 and neutral endopeptidase and cleared by the kidney. This makes it a short-acting, prandial ("mealtime") GLP-1 receptor agonist rather than a once-weekly drug [1][2].\n\nPharmacokinetics: Beinaglutide is given subcutaneously. After injection it is absorbed quickly, reaching peak plasma concentration (Tmax) at a median of about 10-15 minutes, with a dose-proportional Cmax of roughly 486-1184 ng/L across the 0.1-0.2 mg range [1]. A phase I multiple-dose study measured an apparent elimination half-life of approximately 30-42 minutes; the functional half-life is often cited as around 11-15 minutes, with a duration of action near 2 hours [1][2]. Exposure increased in proportion to dose and there was no accumulation after repeated injections (accumulation ratio ~1.04-1.06), confirming linear, predictable pharmacokinetics [1]. This very short systemic persistence is precisely why three-times-daily, pre-meal dosing is required, and why each injection chiefly blunts the postprandial glucose excursion of the upcoming meal.\n\nBeyond glycemic control, beinaglutide drives clinically meaningful, dose-dependent weight loss through reduced energy intake and delayed gastric emptying; the greatest effect is seen near the maximum 0.6 mg/day total dose [2][3]. Preclinical work in diet-induced obese mice showed that beinaglutide also acts on adipose tissue, promoting lipolysis and favorable shifts in lipid metabolism, which may contribute to its effects on visceral fat [6]. Clinical studies further report reductions in body weight, body-mass index, waist circumference, and visceral fat area, alongside HbA1c lowering comparable to basal insulin when used in type 2 diabetes [2][5][7]. The route modeled on this page (subcutaneous reconstitution) matches beinaglutide's actual clinical administration; the only caveat is regulatory, in that the drug is approved in China but not by the FDA or EMA.
Clinical Trial Efficacy Highlights
- starLin and colleagues (2024, Frontiers in Pharmacology) conducted a phase I multiple-dose pharmacokinetic and safety study of subcutaneous beinaglutide (0.1, 0.14, and 0.2 mg three times daily) in 16 overweight/obese Chinese adults, reporting a median Tmax of 10-15 minutes, dose-proportional exposure with no accumulation after repeated dosing, and only mild, transient adverse events, supporting linear pharmacokinetics and further development as an anti-obesity therapy [1].
- starZhang and colleagues (2019, Obesity Science & Practice) studied 314 patients with type 2 diabetes in a 3-month, multicentre, real-world setting using 0.2-0.6 mg/day subcutaneous beinaglutide; mean body weight fell by 10.05 kg (95% CI −9.29 to −10.80), BMI dropped from 27.93 to 24.05 kg/m², HbA1c fell by 2.87%, and 72% of patients achieved at least 10% weight loss [2].
- starChen and colleagues (2024, Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism) ran a phase 3 randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 427 Chinese adults with overweight or obesity using 0.2 mg three times daily for 16 weeks; the placebo-subtracted weight reduction was −3.6% (95% CI −4.6 to −2.6; P < .0001), and 58.2% of beinaglutide patients lost at least 5% of body weight versus 25.4% on placebo [3].
- starWen and colleagues (2023, Frontiers in Endocrinology) performed a pilot randomized trial in 64 overweight/obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome comparing beinaglutide (0.1 mg three times daily titrated to 0.2 mg three times daily) plus metformin against metformin alone over 12 weeks; the combination produced greater weight loss (4.54 vs 2.47 kg) and greater BMI reduction (2.92 vs 1.97 kg/m²), with superior improvements in fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and total testosterone [4].
- starLiu and colleagues (2024, Journal of Diabetes) randomized 68 patients with inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes to beinaglutide (0.1 mg three times daily titrated to 0.2 mg three times daily) or insulin glargine; at week 8 beinaglutide produced HbA1c lowering comparable to basal insulin (−1.31% vs −1.68%) but with a 2.06 kg weight reduction versus near-neutral weight change on insulin (a ~2.25 kg between-group difference, P < .001) [5].
- starA mechanistic study in diet-induced obese mice (iScience, 2021) showed that recombinant human GLP-1 beinaglutide regulates lipid metabolism of adipose tissues, promoting lipolysis and remodeling of fat depots, providing a biological basis for its observed reductions in visceral fat and body weight beyond appetite suppression alone [6].
- starWen and colleagues (2025, Cureus) pooled 9 studies and 1,268 patients in a systematic review and meta-analysis, reporting mean weight reductions of −3.26 kg (95% CI −4.03 to −2.49) in patients without diabetes and −6.52 kg (95% CI −9.32 to −3.72) in patients with diabetes, while confirming that gastrointestinal effects (nausea, vomiting, dizziness) were the predominant adverse events [7].
Side Effects & Tolerability Profile
Clinical subjects transiently report mild side effects. Slowly escalating the titration dose represents the single most effective intervention to limit side effects.
- warningGastrointestinal effects are the most common adverse events: nausea (reported in roughly 44-64% of users across trials), vomiting, diarrhea, decreased appetite, and dizziness; these are usually mild-to-moderate and tend to ease with continued use and slow titration [1][3][7].
- warningBecause dosing is three times daily before meals, injection-site reactions and the practical burden of frequent injections are more relevant than with weekly GLP-1 agonists; rotate injection sites to reduce local irritation.
- warningTransient urine ketones were observed in the phase I study, consistent with reduced food intake; adequate hydration and attention to caloric/carbohydrate intake are advisable during initiation [1].
- warningUsed alone, beinaglutide rarely causes hypoglycemia, but the risk rises substantially when it is combined with insulin or sulfonylureas, which may need dose reduction under medical supervision [5].
- warningGLP-1 receptor agonists carry class-level cautions for acute pancreatitis and gallbladder disease; although no pancreatitis was seen in the phase 3 obesity trial, persistent severe abdominal pain warrants prompt evaluation [3].
- warningDelayed gastric emptying means beinaglutide should be used cautiously, or avoided, in people with severe gastrointestinal disease or gastroparesis, and it may alter the absorption of co-administered oral medications.
- warningAs a recombinant protein, beinaglutide can elicit anti-drug antibodies; the class also carries a labeled contraindication in those with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN2, and it is not recommended in pregnancy or breastfeeding.
- warningRegulatory/research status: beinaglutide is approved only in China (NMPA, December 2016) for type 2 diabetes; it is NOT approved by the FDA or EMA, its use for obesity is investigational, and outside China it should be regarded as research/educational only with long-term safety not fully established [2][7].
Subcutaneous Injection Technique
Most research peptides require subcutaneous injection into fatty tissue. Never inject directly into a blood vessel or deep muscle tissue unless clinically detailed.
1. Site Selection
Common locations include the abdomen (2 inches from navel), outer upper arms, or thighs.
2. Sanitization
Thoroughly clean the selected site, stopper and vial top using 70% isopropyl alcohol prep swabs.
3. Angle & Push
Pinch the skin and insert the needle at a 45 to 90-degree angle. Depress plunger smoothly.
4. Site Rotation
Rotate injection sites continuously to avoid lipodystrophy or tissue scarring.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the typical Beinaglutide dosage?expand_more
The most-studied Beinaglutide dosage is 0.1 mg (100 mcg) injected subcutaneously three times daily, about 5 minutes before each main meal, titrated up to 0.2 mg (200 mcg) three times daily if tolerated. That gives a total daily dose of roughly 0.3-0.6 mg, with the largest weight-loss effects seen near 0.6 mg/day. Because the drug is short-acting, the three-times-daily, pre-meal schedule is essential rather than optional.
Is Beinaglutide FDA approved?expand_more
No. Beinaglutide is approved only in China, where the National Medical Products Administration (formerly CFDA) cleared it in December 2016 for type 2 diabetes (brand name Yishengtai). It is not approved by the U.S. FDA or the EMA, and its use for weight management remains investigational. Outside China it should be treated as research/educational only, and the figures here are not medical advice.
How do you reconstitute Beinaglutide?expand_more
In this educational model, a 2 mg vial is reconstituted with 2.0 mL of bacteriostatic water, giving a 1 mg/mL solution (1000 mcg/mL, or 10 mcg per U-100 insulin-syringe unit). Add the water slowly down the vial wall, swirl gently until clear, and refrigerate. At that concentration, 100 mcg is about 10 units, 140 mcg about 14 units, and 200 mcg about 20 units. The commercial product is supplied ready to inject in a pen/cartridge; this vial math is a measurement reference.
What is the half life of Beinaglutide?expand_more
Beinaglutide has a very short half-life. A phase I study measured an apparent elimination half-life of roughly 30-42 minutes, and the functional half-life is often cited as about 11-15 minutes, with a duration of action near 2 hours. Unlike weekly analogs such as semaglutide, beinaglutide keeps the native human GLP-1 sequence and is rapidly broken down by DPP-4, which is exactly why it must be dosed three times daily before meals.
What are the most common Beinaglutide side effects?expand_more
The most common side effects are gastrointestinal: nausea (reported in roughly 44-64% of users), vomiting, diarrhea, decreased appetite, and dizziness. These are usually mild to moderate and improve with slow titration. Hypoglycemia is uncommon with beinaglutide alone but more likely when combined with insulin or sulfonylureas. Class-level cautions for GLP-1 agonists include pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, and a contraindication in those with a history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN2.
Related Guides & Tools
Step-by-step references for reconstituting, measuring, and storing Beinaglutide, plus the universal dosing calculator.
Academic References & Study Citations
Lin P, et al. Pharmacokinetics and safety profiles of beinaglutide injection, a recombinant human GLP-1, in adults with overweight/obesity: results from a phase I clinical trial. Front Pharmacol. 2024;15:1433587. View Scientific Paper →
Zhang YL, et al. Beinaglutide showed significant weight-loss benefit and effective glycaemic control for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in a real-world setting: a 3-month, multicentre, observational, retrospective, open-label study. Obes Sci Pract. 2019;5(4):366-375. View Scientific Paper →
Chen K, et al. Beinaglutide for weight management in Chinese individuals with overweight or obesity: A phase 3 randomized controlled clinical study. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2024;26(2):690-698. View Scientific Paper →
Wen J, et al. Short-term effect of beinaglutide combined with metformin versus metformin alone on weight loss and metabolic profiles in obese patients with polycystic ovary syndrome: a pilot randomized trial. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023;14:1156521. View Scientific Paper →
Liu W, et al. The efficacy and safety of beinaglutide alone or in combination with insulin glargine in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus inadequately controlled with oral antihyperglycemic therapy: A multicenter, open-label, randomized trial. J Diabetes. 2024;16(2):e13524. View Scientific Paper →
Recombinant human GLP-1 beinaglutide regulates lipid metabolism of adipose tissues in diet-induced obese mice. iScience. 2021;24(12):103382. View Scientific Paper →
Wen J, et al. Outcomes of Beinaglutide on Weight Loss in Patients With Diabetes or Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Cureus. 2025;17(12):e100224. View Scientific Paper →
National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Summary for Beinaglutide, CID 16209124 (molecular formula C149H225N39O46). View Scientific Paper →