Byetta
An injectable medication used to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes.
Where Exenatide is approved
All regulators →Of the three regulators tracked here, the first to approve Exenatide was the US, on 28 Apr 2005. It is approved in 3 of the 3 regulators tracked here.
- 2 EU orphan designations, most recently for treatment of moderate and severe closed traumatic brain injury (20 Jun 2023, positive)
From the regulators' own registers: FDA Drugs@FDA, the EMA medicines list and Health Canada's Notice of Compliance database. Dates are the first listed approval of a product containing only this substance; combination products and nationally authorised EU medicines are not counted.
What health systems spend on Exenatide
All medicines →From NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis (Open Government Licence v3.0) and CMS State Drug Utilization Data. Both are gross amounts: neither system publishes its discounts or rebates per drug. Products combining several substances are not counted here.
How Exenatide works
All drug targets →- Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist AgonistTarget: GLP1R glucagon like peptide 1 receptor✓ In ChEMBL and the Guide to Pharmacology
- HyperglycemiaPhase 3
- OverweightPhase 3
- Parkinson diseasePhase 3
- Cardiovascular disorderPhase 3
- Coronary artery disorderPhase 3
- Diastolic heart failurePhase 3
- Myocardial infarctionPhase 3
- Obesity disorderPhase 3
- Polycystic ovary syndromePhase 3
- Pseudotumor cerebriPhase 3
Mechanisms and diseases from ChEMBL via the Open Targets Platform (release 26.09), ChEMBL record CHEMBL414357, CC BY-SA 3.0. Targets checked against the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY (2026.3), ligand 1135, CC BY-SA 4.0. Trial phases are not approvals: approved uses are shown from the regulators' own records where we hold them.
NICE appraisals of Exenatide
All NICE appraisals →NICE, which decides whether the NHS in England should fund new medicines, has published 1 technology appraisal of Exenatide. 1 is current, and 1 of it recommends it for at least some patients.
| Appraisal | NICE recommendation | Published | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exenatide prolonged-release suspension for injection in combination with oral antidiabetic therapy for the treatment of type 2 diabetes NICE TA248 | Recommended | 22 Feb 2012 | Current |
NICE decisions apply to the NHS in England. In Ireland the HSE decides on reimbursement, advised by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics. Titles, categories and dates link to the guidance on nice.org.uk. © NICE 2026 technology appraisal guidance. Available from www.nice.org.uk/guidance. All rights reserved. Subject to Notice of rights. NICE guidance is prepared for the National Health Service in England. All NICE guidance is subject to regular review and may be updated or withdrawn. NICE accepts no responsibility for the use of its content in this product/publication.
Patient leaflets for Exenatide
The package leaflet is the official guide for patients that comes with every medicine. These links go to the regulators that publish it.
- IEIreland: 4 products on the HPRA listEach product record links to the HPRA, which publishes the leaflet and SmPC.
- UKUnited Kingdom: Search MHRA ProductsPatient information leaflets and SmPCs for UK-licensed products.
- USUnited States: Search DailyMedFDA-approved labels, including patient and medication guides.
Leaflets differ between brands and countries; always read the one that comes with your own medicine. This is regulatory information, not medical advice.
Reference identifiers for Exenatide
- ChEMBL
- CHEMBL414357
- DrugBank
- DB01276
- PubChem CID
- 91935542
- CAS number
- 141758-74-9
- Wikidata
- Q417762
- Wikipedia
- Exenatide
Codes that identify this medicine in other databases, from Wikidata (CC0), matched by its ChEMBL ID. The ATC code is the WHO classification of what the medicine is used for.
What Byetta is used for
BYETTA is indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Limitations of Use • BYETTA contains exenatide. Coadministration with other exenatide-containing products is not recommended. BYETTA (exenatide) is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. ( 1 , 14 ) Limitations of Use • Coadministration with other exenatide-containing products is not recommended ( 1 ).
How it works
12.1 Mechanism of Action Incretins, such as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), enhance glucose-dependent insulin secretion and exhibit other antihyperglycemic actions following their release into the circulation from the gut. BYETTA is a GLP-1 receptor agonist that enhances glucose-dependent insulin secretion by the pancreatic beta-cell, suppresses inappropriately elevated glucagon secretion, and slows gastric emptying. The amino acid sequence of exenatide partially overlaps that of human GLP-1. Exenatide has been shown to bind and activate the human GLP-1 receptor in vitro . This leads to an increase in both glucose-dependent synthesis of insulin, and in vivo secretion of insulin from pancre…
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How this page is built
The facts on this page are pulled directly from official U.S. FDA datasets — they are not written from memory. Each field below names the dataset it came from, so you can check it yourself.
- FDA Drug Label (openFDA) ↗ Indications, mechanism of action and pharmacologic class
- Drugs@FDA ↗ First FDA approval date and the company holding the application
- FDA Drug Shortage Database ↗ Current US supply / shortage status
Plain-English summaries and drug-class explainers are written and reviewed by Sreepriya Prasannan (MSc Digital Transformation of Life Sciences (Innopharma Education / Griffith College); MSc & BSc Botany). Data is retrieved automatically from the sources above and cross-checked with AI-assisted verification (Anthropic's Claude) — brand and generic names are matched against the exact FDA product record so that a combination product or a different formulation cannot be mistaken for the drug on this page. An editor reviews the result before publication. We describe this in full in our editorial standards and corrections policy. The FDA data on this page was last retrieved on 7 Oct 2026. How every register is built: methodology · fixes we have made: corrections log.