Metabolic & endocrine
Glucagon
The body's own counter-insulin hormone, available as approved injection and nasal rescue products — another proof that 'nasal peptide' is not shorthand for experimental.
- How settled this rating is:
- high confidence in the current evidence rating
- Routes studied:
- Nasal, Intramuscular, Subcutaneous injection
- Also known as:
- Baqsimi, Gvoke, glucagon injection
- Last reviewed:
- 2026-08-23
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Evidence passport
Glucagon
A one-screen evidence identity for this compound. These fields describe research maturity, confidence and legal status. They are not a safety guarantee, efficacy percentage or recommendation.
- Evidence level
- L5Repeated human trials
- Confidence
- High confidence in rating
- Regulatory status
- Approved medicine (jurisdiction-specific) · See jurisdiction details
- Development status
- Approved
Evidence strength
Higher = more and better-quality human evidence. It does not mean the effect is bigger or that the compound works for you.
Higher = more mature, better-documented human safety data. It does not mean the compound is safer than one with a lower number.
The 0-100 values rate the strength and maturity of evidence, not how effective or safe the compound is.
- Evidence base
- Includes human studies
- Furthest established stage
- Approved
- Human research maturity
- Long-approved essential rescue medicine, multiple formulations
- Source curation
- Sources fully curated
Routes recorded
Overview
Higher = more and better-quality human evidence. It does not mean the effect is bigger or that the compound works for you.
Higher = more animal, tissue or cell research. Preclinical results are a starting point, not proof of a human benefit.
Higher = more mature, better-documented human safety data. It does not mean the compound is safer than one with a lower number.
How to read these scores
Every number here rates the evidence, not the compound. They are editorial 0-100 strength ratings, not percentages, and not a rating out of five stars.
- Human efficacy evidence strength — Higher = more and better-quality human evidence. It does not mean the effect is bigger or that the compound works for you.
- Preclinical evidence strength — Higher = more animal, tissue or cell research. Preclinical results are a starting point, not proof of a human benefit.
- Human safety evidence strength — Higher = more mature, better-documented human safety data. It does not mean the compound is safer than one with a lower number. A score of 80 does not mean “80% safe”.
- Evidence level (L0-L5) — the strongest type of study behind the compound, from anecdote (L0) to large replicated human trials (L5). It is a description of the study evidence, not a quality, safety or recommendation rating.
- Confidence — how likely we think it is that this rating changes as new research lands. Low confidence means the picture is unsettled, not that the compound is bad.
None of these ratings is medical advice, a safety guarantee, or a recommendation to use anything. How we grade evidence.
How far human research has progressed: Long-approved essential rescue medicine, multiple formulations
Routes & formulations
Studied / approved routes
Route genuinely changes the product here: Baqsimi is a single-use nasal powder requiring no injection, while traditional rescue glucagon is an injection (intramuscular or subcutaneous depending on product). Ease of use by untrained caregivers was a major reason the nasal formulation mattered. This entry describes approved products only — no usage instructions.
Route availability is not evidence of efficacy, and evidence from one route does not transfer to another. The Registry never provides dosing or sourcing information.
Peptide lifecycle
Discovery
Preclinical
Phase I
Phase II
Phase III
Approved
What it is
A 29-amino-acid peptide hormone that raises blood glucose by mobilising hepatic glycogen — the physiological opposite of insulin.
What people claim
- Rapidly reverses severe hypoglycaemia when the person cannot take oral carbohydrates
What the evidence actually says
One of the longest-established peptide medicines in existence, with efficacy and safety defined across injectable and nasal formulations in their labels.
Related evidence
Useful next reads based on this compound — not recommendations.
- Related compound
Pramlintide evidence profile
A synthetic amylin analogue approved as an add-on in insulin-treated diabetes.
- Compare
Compare Glucagon vs Pramlintide evidence
Same questions, same fields, side by side — including how much human evidence exists.
- Checked claim
Claim review: “If my GLP-1 stops suppressing appetite, it has stopped working.”
A closely related claim we have graded, from GLP-1s.
- Context
Safety Centre
What approved, investigational and unapproved actually mean for documented human safety.
Human evidence
- Decades of clinical use plus controlled studies supporting each approved formulation, including nasal bioequivalence work.
Preclinical evidence
- Foundational endocrinology of the glucagon receptor and hepatic glucose output.
Animal and cell findings are Level 1–2 evidence.
Mechanism and pathways
- Glucagon-receptor activation in the liver drives glycogenolysis and glucose release.
Safety and unknowns
- Labelled effects include nausea and vomiting; product-specific instructions and age limits apply.
- Ineffective when hepatic glycogen is depleted — a labelled limitation, not a dosing matter for this registry.
Cancer relevance
This section covers questions raised by how the compound works in the body, plus anything regulators and trial teams keep an eye on. It is not a statement that this compound causes cancer — for most compounds here, no human data exist in either direction.
No concern identified
Regulatory status
Regulatory decisions apply to specific jurisdictions, products, formulations and indications. An approval elsewhere is not automatically an approval in your country.
Named regulators: FDA (US)
Approved in multiple formulations — injectable glucagon kits and prefilled products, and a dry nasal powder (Baqsimi) — for the treatment of severe hypoglycaemia in people with diabetes. Indications and age ranges differ by product label.
Evidence grade
Substantial, consistent controlled human evidence supporting a specified outcome, preferably independently replicated. Approval is reported separately.
What would change our rating?
- Not applicable at this evidence tier.
References and sources
Source transparency
A provenance snapshot of this profile. Counts show what kinds of sources are cited, not how much scientific weight each source deserves.
- Last editorial review
- 2026-08-23
- Recently reviewed · 54 days ago
- Linked curated sources
- 1
- Sources still pending
- 0
- External specialist reviews
- 0
- None recorded for this profile
Review provenance
Registry editorial review: Colin Jackson-White, creator and editor, who is not a doctor or clinician. External specialist review is credited only when a named reviewer has completed a review of this exact profile.
Literature-discovery and AI tools may help locate or challenge candidate evidence, but they are not counted as evidence sources here. Registry judgements are tied to the underlying papers, trial records, regulator documents and official study records.
- Regulatory / labelFDA label — Baqsimi (glucagon) nasal powder prescribing information
Source hierarchy: regulatory documents and trial registries first, peer-reviewed work next, sponsor material flagged as non-independent. We never use supplier or clinic marketing as evidence, and where a verified source has not yet been curated we say so rather than inventing one.
Evidence change history
These entries record changes to our assessment of the published evidence — not changes to the compound itself.
No recorded changes yet. Baseline position set on 2026-08-23.