Peptide Therapy Foundations: Metabolic Balance

This course examines the peptides reshaping metabolic medicine: the incretin mimetics and related agents that act on appetite, glucose handling, and body weight. It is written for clinicians who want a working understanding of how each agent engages its receptors, what the trial evidence shows, and how the options differ as the class expands from single-pathway drugs toward multi-receptor designs.

The lessons move along a spectrum of mechanism. Liraglutide and Semaglutide act as GLP-1 receptor agonists. Tirzepatide adds GIP activity for dual agonism, and Retatrutide extends that further into triple GIP, GLP-1, and glucagon receptor activity. Cagrilintide works through the amylin pathway, and Setmelanotide targets the melanocortin 4 receptor for specific genetic forms of obesity. Together they show how receptor selectivity and combination shape the metabolic effect.

Each lesson follows the same clinical lens: what the agent is, how it works, what the evidence shows, and what a practitioner weighs before applying it. The result is a comparative map of the metabolic class that lets you reason about any single agent in the context of its alternatives.

• Distinguish single, dual, and triple receptor agonists by mechanism and metabolic effect
• Compare the incretin peptides on receptor target, evidence, and clinical use
• Identify where amylin and melanocortin pathways fit alongside incretin therapy
• Apply a consistent clinical framework when evaluating a metabolic peptide for use