Peptides in 2TM · Dulaglutide
Episode 05 · 2 minutes · English
Dulaglutide: engineering a week
Lilly’s Trulicity took a different molecular approach to a once-weekly GLP-1 medicine. Explore its antibody-derived scaffold, the development history, and what the international REWIND trial found.
English narration and captions. Caption timing is approximate. Translated subtitles are not yet available for this episode.
Published .
Behind the film: Dulaglutide references & context
Wolfgang Glaesner and colleagues at Lilly Research Laboratories described the engineering of LY2189265 in 2010. Naming the paper’s first author does not establish sole invention. The company-location photograph shows Lilly’s Indianapolis campus in 2011; it does not identify the exact discovery laboratory.
Dulaglutide consists of two identical disulfide-linked chains. Each contains a modified human GLP-1 analogue connected by a peptide linker to a modified IgG4 Fc fragment. It is an antibody-derived scaffold rather than a full antibody and does not target two different incretin receptors. Molecular engineering and larger size support prolonged exposure. Insulin secretion is glucose-dependent; glucagon secretion is reduced and gastric emptying delayed.
Trulicity’s original U.S. approval on September 18, 2014 and EU authorization on November 21, 2014 follow albiglutide in this collection’s approval-based chronology. These are historical milestones, not a worldwide supply inventory. Current indications, availability and prescribing requirements vary by jurisdiction.
REWIND enrolled 9,901 people with type 2 diabetes and previous cardiovascular events or cardiovascular risk factors. Over a median 5.4 years, the combined endpoint of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (heart attack), or nonfatal stroke occurred in 594/4,949 participants (12.0%) receiving dulaglutide versus 663/4,952 (13.4%) receiving placebo. Both groups received usual care. The hazard ratio was 0.88 (95% confidence interval 0.79–0.99): a 12% lower relative hazard of the composite, not a 12 percentage-point reduction, an identical benefit for each component, or an individual guarantee.
The film presents selected safety information. Common adverse effects include nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. Additional warnings include pancreatitis, dehydration-related kidney injury, severe gastrointestinal reactions, hypoglycemia with insulin or insulin secretagogues, hypersensitivity and gallbladder disease. The U.S. boxed warning concerns thyroid C-cell tumors observed in rats; relevance to humans is unknown. Trulicity is contraindicated with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN2. Consult the complete local prescribing information.
- Glaesner and colleagues, 2010: engineering LY2189265, an Fc fusion protein
- FDA Purple Book: original Trulicity approval, September 18, 2014
- Trulicity U.S. prescribing information, revised March 2026
- EMA: Trulicity authorization and product information
- Gerstein and colleagues: REWIND, The Lancet, 2019
Lilly photograph: Paul Sableman, Lilly — Building 44, February 16, 2011, CC BY 2.0; cropped to 16:9, shaded, titled and animated. This is a company campus view, not a portrait of the inventors or proof of the precise research site. No endorsement is implied.
Licensed Adobe Stock free-collection media: video 322855447, representative laboratory work rather than the actual dulaglutide inventors or manufacturing process; photograph 317217908, representative ampoules, vials and syringe rather than authentic Trulicity packaging. Trulicity uses labeled injection pens. Adobe Stock license terms.
Original artwork includes AI-created protein concepts, heart and brain models, subcutaneous tissue, and two laboratory-equipment scenes featuring chromatography and optical characterization. These are artistic educational representations, not microscopy, patient photographs, experimental dulaglutide structures, validated clinical diagrams, or documented Lilly laboratories. The final molecular sequence does not claim an exact atomic conformation.
The original animated globe uses public-domain Natural Earth data; it is not a map of current regulatory status or trial locations. Montserrat is used under the SIL Open Font License. Narration and music are synthetic. The final revised film has slower middle narration, two distinct laboratory scenes from 1:40–1:56, and the spoken series name starting at 1:57.
Source verification is distinct from scientific assessment or personal human review. No independent human scientific review is claimed. Educational information, not medical advice. WPF does not sell peptides. Suggest a correction.
Read the English transcript
How do you turn a short-lived biological signal into a once-weekly medicine? Dulaglutide, known as Trulicity, took a different approach.
Lilly researchers engineered a GLP-1 analogue joined to a modified antibody fragment. Wolfgang Glaesner and colleagues described the design in twenty ten.
Two linked protein chains carry the GLP-1 signals. The larger structure slows clearance, while sequence changes resist enzymatic breakdown. This is an antibody-derived scaffold, not a complete antibody.
After injection beneath the skin, dulaglutide enters circulation. At GLP-1 receptors, it helps release insulin when glucose rises, reduces glucagon secretion, and slows stomach emptying.
The United States approved Trulicity in September twenty fourteen. European Union authorisation followed that November. It became another once-weekly option for type two diabetes.
The international REWIND trial followed nearly ten thousand people for a median five point four years. The combined outcome of cardiovascular death, nonfatal heart attack, or nonfatal stroke occurred in twelve percent with dulaglutide, versus thirteen point four percent with placebo. Both groups received usual care.
Benefits need context. Nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting are common adverse effects. Important warnings include pancreatitis and a thyroid tumour concern established in rats, with uncertain relevance in humans. Suitability requires clinical assessment.
Dulaglutide showed how molecular engineering could extend a biological signal, and how long-term trials could test its impact. Peptides in 2. World Peptide Foundation.