Dulaglutide Half-Life Calculator
Dulaglutide reaches weekly dosing by a completely different engineering route from semaglutide — fusion to an antibody fragment rather than fatty-acid attachment. This calculator charts the resulting curve: accumulation across the first weeks, the plateau, and clearance.
Half-life 5 days · peaks at 2 days
Every 7 days.
Half-life
Left at next dose
Dulaglutide (Trulicity) · once weekly · levels plateau after ~25 days
Steady-state peak
1.6 mg
Steady-state trough
0.79 mg
Accumulation
1.6×
At once weekly, each dose lands before the previous one has cleared, so levels stack to about 1.6× a single dose before plateauing — roughly 25 days in. After the last dose it takes about 25 days to clear.
This is a modelled estimate of relative levels from published half-life and time-to-peak figures — not a measured blood concentration. Individual pharmacokinetics vary.
Based on a published Dulaglutide half-life of about 5 days. The chart models RELATIVE levels from a unit dose — enter your own figures to see the shape. It is not a dose recommendation.
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What a 5 days half-life means in practice
A half-life of 5 days against once a week dosing means each dose lands before the previous one has gone. That changes the curve in three ways:
1. One half-life
Half the dose is gone after 5 days. After two half-lives 25% remains, after three 12.5%.
2. What's left at the next dose
Dosing once a week means the next dose lands 7 days later, with about 38% of the previous one still present.
3. Accumulation and plateau
Those leftovers stack until intake matches elimination — about 1.6× a single dose, reached after roughly 25 days (five half-lives).
Worked example
Dulaglutide (Trulicity) has a half-life of 5 days. Dosing once a week, the next dose arrives 7 days later with about 38% of the previous one still on board. Levels therefore stack to roughly 1.6× a single dose before plateauing, which takes about 25 days — and after a final dose it takes about the same again to clear.
A different route to a long half-life
Most long-acting GLP-1 agonists buy their duration by attaching a fatty acid that binds albumin, keeping the molecule too large for the kidney to filter. Dulaglutide takes a structurally different approach: the GLP-1 analogue is fused to a fragment of an antibody, which is inherently large and long-circulating.
The pharmacokinetic result is comparable — a half-life measured in days, supporting weekly dosing — but the mechanism is worth knowing because it explains the slower absorption. A large fusion protein takes longer to move out of subcutaneous tissue than a small albumin-bound peptide does, so the rise to peak is more gradual and the peak itself is flatter.
Frequently asked questions
This calculator is provided for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always confirm dosing with a qualified healthcare professional and double-check your own measurements before administering anything.
Built by the Pep AI team.