How Long Does Cagrilintide Last? Storage Before and After Mixing
Lyophilised cagrilintide keeps for a year or more sealed, dry and frozen; once mixed with bacteriostatic water it lasts 8 to 12 weeks at 2 to 8 °C under Vistara Labs’ handling guidance, with quality slowly fading from around week 6 to 8. No published stability study covers cagrilintide in bacteriostatic water, so that window is the general peptide guidance. Because it is built on amylin, a hormone with a strong tendency to clump into fibrils, a mixed vial is handled gently, kept cold and dark, and never frozen.
Findings
- Cagrilintide is a long-acting, lipidated amylin analogue, designed against amylin’s high tendency to form amyloid fibrils (Kruse et al., J Med Chem, 2021).
- A chemical supplier’s data sheet rates the powder at 2 years at −80 °C and 1 year at −20 °C, sealed, away from moisture and light, under nitrogen.
- The same sheet gives a solution 1 month at −20 °C and 6 months at −80 °C, under the same sealed, dark conditions.
- Its 37-residue chain carries one disulfide bridge and five asparagines, with a C20 fatty diacid attached through a γ-glutamic acid linker at the N-terminus.
How long does cagrilintide powder last?
The data sheet from MedChemExpress gives cagrilintide powder 2 years at −80 °C and 1 year at −20 °C. It asks for sealed storage, away from moisture and light, under nitrogen, which is stricter than many peptide sheets. Moisture is the main enemy of a freeze-dried cake: it lets the same reactions that happen in solution start in the solid. The cagrilintide 10 mg vial is kept capped and boxed, in the fridge for near-term work or the freezer for longer holds. A cold vial is brought to room temperature before opening so that condensation does not form on the powder.
How long does cagrilintide last after mixing?
At 2 to 8 °C, dark and accessed only through a swabbed stopper, mixed cagrilintide lasts 8 to 12 weeks, with quality fading from around week 6 to 8. That is the general row in how long peptides last after mixing. The cagrilintide reconstitution page has the calculator for the 10 mg vial and the slow, down-the-wall mixing method that matters for this peptide.
What the structure says about stability
Human amylin is a 37-amino-acid hormone, and its best known property in the laboratory is how readily it forms amyloid fibrils. The paper describing cagrilintide’s development calls this a challenging design problem and reports cagrilintide as a stable, lipidated analogue chosen from a series of candidates (Kruse et al., 2021). The supplier sheet lists its sequence: 37 residues with a disulfide bridge near the N-terminus, an amidated C-terminus and a C20 fatty diacid joined through γ-glutamic acid. It also lists solubility in water of 100 mg/mL with ultrasonic help, so it dissolves well but not instantly.
Two kinds of change matter in solution. The physical one is aggregation, the process that turns a clear solution hazy or gel-like. It is helped by shaking, air bubbles, warmth and freeze-thaw cycles, all common ways proteins and peptides change in solution (Manning et al., Pharm Res, 2010). The chemical ones are slower, chiefly deamidation of its five asparagines. Cagrilintide has no methionine or tryptophan, two residues that oxidise readily, so oxidation is a smaller concern than for many peptides. The practical result is the general window, with extra care to swirl rather than shake and to let any foam settle before the vial goes back in the fridge.
What the frozen-solution figures mean
The supplier’s 1 month at −20 °C and 6 months at −80 °C apply to stock solutions frozen once and kept sealed, a laboratory practice for single-use aliquots. They are not a reason to freeze a working vial that will be thawed and opened again, and for an amylin analogue each freeze-thaw cycle is a chance to aggregate.
How long does cagrilintide last at room temperature?
There is no published figure for cagrilintide in solution at room temperature. A mixed vial is taken out of the fridge only for handling, because warmth speeds both aggregation and deamidation.
Can cagrilintide be frozen?
The powder can, and the supplier’s longest figure, 2 years, is a −80 °C figure. Single-use aliquots of solution can be frozen once. A working vial should not be frozen and thawed repeatedly, since freeze-thaw cycles aggregate peptides in solution, and amylin-based peptides are more prone to this than most.
How can you tell mixed cagrilintide has degraded?
- Cloudiness or haze that does not clear within 10 to 15 minutes of mixing, or that appears later. Properly mixed cagrilintide is a clear, colourless solution.
- Strands, flakes or particles.
- Gel or thickening, the visible end of aggregation.
- Yellowing or any tint.
Early aggregation and deamidation are invisible, which is why the time window applies even to a vial that still looks perfect.
Cagrilintide storage at a glance
| State | Where | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Powder, sealed | −20 °C, dry, dark | 1 year (supplier data sheet) |
| Powder, sealed | −80 °C | 2 years (supplier data sheet) |
| Powder, sealed | 2 to 8 °C, dark | No published figure; near-term holds only |
| Mixed with bacteriostatic water | 2 to 8 °C, dark | 8 to 12 weeks, fading from week 6 to 8 (store guidance) |
| Solution aliquots, frozen once | −20 °C / −80 °C | 1 month / 6 months (supplier data sheet) |
| Mixed, room temperature | Handling only | No published figure |
Certificates of analysis are on the lab reports page, and every order ships from within Canada by Canada Post Xpresspost.
Vistara Labs supplies cagrilintide as a laboratory research material. The windows on this page describe how long the peptide stays in good condition.
Frequently asked questions
How long does cagrilintide last in the fridge after mixing?
Under Vistara Labs’ handling guidance, 8 to 12 weeks at 2 to 8 °C in the dark, with quality fading from around week 6 to 8.
How long does cagrilintide last at room temperature?
No published figure exists for cagrilintide in solution at room temperature. A mixed vial is kept in the fridge and taken out only for handling.
Can you freeze cagrilintide?
Yes as powder: one supplier rates it at 1 year at −20 °C and 2 years at −80 °C. Solution can be frozen once as single-use aliquots, but a working vial should not go through repeated freeze-thaw cycles.
Does cagrilintide go bad?
Yes. In solution it can slowly aggregate and its asparagines can deamidate, faster with warmth, shaking and light. Cloudiness, particles, a tint or gel mean it has degraded.
Why does cagrilintide need gentler handling than other peptides?
It is built on amylin, a hormone known for forming fibrils. Cagrilintide was designed to be stable, but shaking, foam and freeze-thaw still favour aggregation, so the vial is swirled gently and kept cold.
Handling windows: Vistara Labs, October 2026. Sources: Kruse T et al. Development of Cagrilintide, a Long-Acting Amylin Analogue. J Med Chem. 2021. PMID 34288673. Manning MC et al. Stability of protein pharmaceuticals: an update. Pharm Res. 2010. PMID 20143256. MedChemExpress. Cagrilintide, HY-P3462, product data sheet: sequence, solubility and storage. PDF. MedChemExpress. Cagrilintide acetate, HY-P3462A, product data sheet: storage. PDF.
More on this: How Long Do Peptides Last After Mixing?
All products supplied by Vistara Labs are intended for laboratory research use only. They are not drugs, are not approved for human or veterinary use, and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition. Nothing on this page constitutes medical advice or guidance for use in humans.
