Does Byetta Help With Weight Loss?
Key takeaways:
Byetta (exenatide) is a GLP-1 agonist medication used to treat Type 2 diabetes. It can also help people lose weight by lowering appetite and making you feel fuller for longer.
Byetta is not FDA-approved specifically for weight loss, but research consistently shows that Byetta leads to weight loss in people who use it. People with larger bodies may lose even more weight.
There are other medications (including other GLP-1 agonists) that are FDA-approved to help people lose weight.
About 10% of people in the U.S. have diabetes. And of these people, up to 95% have Type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or doesn’t use it normally. Insulin is a hormone that helps your body control blood sugar so that it doesn’t get too high. When your body doesn’t use insulin effectively, you may experience high blood sugar — which can be damaging to your health. This may contribute to weight gain, along with other health conditions like heart disease and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Byetta (exenatide) was FDA approved in 2005 to treat Type 2 diabetes when used with a healthy diet and exercise. It was the first medication of its kind. Like all medications, Byetta can cause side effects. But, side effects don’t always have to be a bad thing.
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One side effect of Byetta is weight loss. Studies show that weight loss can be an effective tool for managing diabetes. In this article, we’ll talk about how effective Byetta is at helping people with Type 2 diabetes lose weight.
What is Byetta?
Byetta is in a group of medications called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists. Byetta is FDA-approved to help control blood sugar levels in adults with Type 2 diabetes when it’s used alongside a healthy diet and exercise.
Byetta is given as a subcutaneous (under the skin) injection. It should be injected twice a day, about an hour before your two largest meals of the day. For many people, this is breakfast and dinner. Just make sure these two meals are at least 6 hours apart.
Byetta is available as a 5 mcg and 10 mcg prefilled injection pen. There are multiple doses in each pen. Most people start at 5 mcg twice a day. Depending on how you respond, your healthcare provider may raise your dose to 10 mcg twice a day about a month later.
Bydureon Bcise is another GLP-1 agonist that contains exenatide. But, don’t get it confused with Byetta — Bydureon BCise is only injected once a week.
What does Byetta do to the body?
GLP-1 agonists like Byetta mimic the effects of the GLP-1 hormone in your body. GLP-1 is a type of incretin hormone. Incretins help manage blood sugar and play a role in digestion.
Byetta attaches to GLP-1 receptors (chemical binding sites) on your pancreas (the organ where insulin is made). Byetta activates these receptors which leads to a release of insulin from the pancreas. Byetta also helps lower glucagon (a hormone that raises blood sugar), and slows down gastric emptying — or how quickly food travels through your stomach.
Does Byetta cause weight loss or other side effects?
Yes, it can lead to weight loss and also cause other side effects.
Some medications that treat Type 2 diabetes have weight gain as a side effect (like insulin), while others can help you lose weight. Byetta and other GLP-1 agonists are known to cause weight loss to varying degrees.
How Byetta helps people lose weight isn’t completely understood. It’s possible that Byetta leads to weight loss by making you feel fuller for longer, which makes you less hungry and lowers your food intake. It’s possible that weight loss can lead to better blood sugar control and less of a need for medications in people with Type 2 diabetes.
People using Byetta may also experience common gastrointestinal (GI) side effects, including:
Nausea
Vomiting
Upset stomach
Diarrhea
Constipation
Other potential side effects include headache, feeling antsy, and dizziness.
Does Byetta have any serious risks?
It’s possible. While serious side effects from Byetta are rare, Byetta may cause:
Inflammation of the pancreas (acute pancreatitis)
Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), especially when used with other diabetes medications that can cause hypoglycemia (like insulin)
Kidney problems (avoid using Byetta if you have severe kidney disease)
A negative immune response that prevents Byetta from lowering blood sugar
Difficulty forming blood clots (thrombocytopenia)
Talk to your healthcare provider about the risks and benefits of Byetta before you start it.
How much weight can I lose with Byetta?
Research consistently shows that exenatide causes weight loss in people with Type 2 diabetes.
A study of over 200 people with Type 2 diabetes found that Byetta led to more weight loss than placebo (an injection with nothing in it). After about 6 months of treatment, people who used Byetta 5 mcg lost about 6 lbs and people receiving Byetta 10 mcg lost about 7 lbs. Byetta was considered significantly more effective than placebo, which was associated with about 3 lbs of weight loss.
People with obesity and Type 2 diabetes may experience even greater weight loss with Byetta. A small study comparing the effects of Byetta and metformin in people with Type 2 diabetes and obesity found that Byetta caused significantly more weight loss than metformin alone after about 6 months of treatment. People receiving Byetta lost almost 13 lbs during this time. People taking metformin alone lost about 8 lbs.
Though Byetta is only FDA-approved for people with Type 2 diabetes, people without diabetes may still experience weight loss with Byetta. Another research study found that women with obesity lost about 5.5 lbs after receiving Byetta for 4 months.
Byetta vs. Bydureon Bcise
Just like Byetta, Bydureon Bcise contains exenatide. The major difference between Byetta and Bydureon Bcise is how often they’re given. Bydureon Bcise is injected only once weekly, and Byetta is injected twice a day.
A randomized, open-label study (where people knew what medication they were taking) compared twice-daily Byetta with once-weekly Bydureon. People receiving Bydureon experienced a greater reduction in blood sugar. The Bydureon group also had greater weight loss (5 lbs) than the Byetta group (3 lbs) after about 6 months — but this wasn’t considered to be a significant difference.
Since Bydureon Bcise is only given once a week, some people may prefer this to a twice-daily injection. And nausea, the most common stomach-related side effect of Byetta and Bydureon Bcise, is less common with Bydureon Bcise.
What other diabetes medications can help weight loss?
Many diabetes medications can help with weight loss. This includes other GLP-1 agonists like liraglutide (Victoza, Saxenda) and semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus). Saxenda and Wegovy are FDA-approved for weight loss in people without Type 2 diabetes.
Other diabetes medications that can cause weight loss include:
Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, like canagliflozin (Invokana)
Metformin
Pramlintide (SymlinPen)
The bottom line
Byetta is a GLP-1 agonist that lowers blood sugar in people with Type 2 diabetes. But people taking Byetta can also experience weight loss.
Byetta helps people lose weight by lowering blood sugar, lowering appetite, and slowing down how quickly food travels through your body. It’s not currently FDA-approved for people who don’t have Type 2 diabetes.
But there are other medications, including other GLP-1 agonists, that can help you lose weight. Talk to your healthcare provider about these options before starting a new weight loss medication.
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