Peptide reference
Glucagon
Baqsimi ·Gvoke ·Zegalogue ·GlucaGen ·Lilly Glucagon Emergency Kit
What cited sources report about glucagon
Glucagon is a 29-amino-acid linear peptide hormone produced from preproglucagon by alpha cells of the pancreatic islets and released in response to falling blood glucose. Pharmacologic glucagon is used clinically in two main settings: emergency treatment of severe hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes, and as a smooth-muscle relaxant diagnostic aid for gastrointestinal radiology. The U.S. market includes the legacy lyophilized emergency kits (reconstituted at administration), three ready-to-use products approved between 2019 and 2021 — Baqsimi (nasal powder), Gvoke (liquid-stable autoinjector and prefilled syringe), and Zegalogue (dasiglucagon analog autoinjector) — and the recombinant GlucaGen product. Glucagon is FDA-approved and approved in the major international jurisdictions; it has not been nominated to the FDA Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee. The summaries below report what individual cited sources state.
FDA Drug Label — Baqsimi (revised April 2025)
The DailyMed structured product label for Baqsimi (originally approved for Eli Lilly in July 2019 and transferred to Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in 2023) covers the first FDA-approved nasal-powder formulation of glucagon. The label indicates Baqsimi for treatment of severe hypoglycemia in adults and pediatric patients aged 1 year and older with diabetes. Baqsimi is delivered as a single 3 mg fixed dose into one nostril and does not require the patient to inhale; a second dose may be administered after 15 minutes if there is no response.
BAQSIMI is indicated for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia in adults and pediatric patients aged 1 year and older with diabetes.
FDA Drug Label — Glucagon Emergency Kit
The DailyMed structured product label for the lyophilized glucagon emergency kit covers a recombinant human glucagon product reconstituted at the time of administration for intramuscular, subcutaneous, or intravenous injection. The labelled indications include emergency treatment of severe hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes mellitus and use as a diagnostic aid during radiologic examinations of the gastrointestinal tract, where pharmacologic glucagon temporarily relaxes smooth muscle.
Giménez et al. (2023) — Diabetes Therapy
A 2023 systematic literature review and indirect treatment comparison pooled data from ten clinical studies of three ready-to-use glucagon products: Baqsimi (nasal powder), Gvoke (liquid-stable autoinjector and prefilled syringe), and Zegalogue (dasiglucagon autoinjector). Treatment success rates were reported above 98% for all three products. The authors observed that Baqsimi was associated with a lower mean maximum blood glucose concentration after administration.
Ready-to-use glucagon represents a significant advancement in the management of severe hypoglycemia.
PubChem CID 16132283 — National Center for Biotechnology Information
The PubChem compound record for glucagon lists molecular formula C153H225N43O49S and approximate molecular weight 3483 Da, consistent with the 29-amino-acid linear peptide hormone produced from preproglucagon by alpha cells of the pancreatic islets. The single methionine residue accounts for the formula sulfur atom; the peptide carries no disulfide bonds.
Coverage notes
The introduction of ready-to-use glucagon products (Baqsimi 2019, Gvoke 2019, Zegalogue 2021) materially shortened administration time for caregivers compared with the legacy reconstitute-and-inject emergency kits, which had been the standard since 1960. The glucagon receptor is also a target for combination GLP-1/GIP/glucagon “tri-agonist” peptides (e.g., retatrutide) currently in late-stage clinical development for obesity and metabolic disease — these are distinct molecules from native glucagon and are not covered by the labels cited on this page.