A DAILY weight loss pill that works like Ozempic has succeeded in a major clinical trial.
Patients lost an average of a stone and two pounds (7.3kg) each over 10 months.
Unhealthy blood sugar readings also dropped and stayed low, indicating it treats type 2 diabetes.
The results make the tablet orforglipron the most advanced drug of its kind and paves the way for NHS use in the future.
Manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company, which also makes blockbuster weight loss injection Mounjaro, announced the results on Thursday.
CEO David Ricks said: “We are pleased to see that our latest medicine meets our expectations for safety and tolerability, glucose control and weight loss.
“As a convenient once-daily pill, orforglipron may provide a new option and, if approved, could be readily manufactured and launched at scale for use around the world.”
The pill is a drug known as a GLP-1 receptor agonist, the same as wildly popular jabs Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy.
Although different active ingredients – Mounjaro is tirzepatide and Ozempic and Wegovy is semaglutide – they all work by mimicking hormones that tell the brain the stomach is full, releasing insulin to break down sugar in the blood.
This also switches off hunger signals so the patient eats less and avoids weight gain.
Lilly’s 40-week trial on 559 obese people with type 2 diabetes found they lost an average of eight per cent of their bodyweight after taking the strongest dose of 36mg.
A 12mg dose led to six per cent weight loss over the 10 months, and a 3mg dose five per cent.
People taking a fake pill lost 1.6 per cent.
[quote credit=”David Ricks” credit-meta=”CEO, Lilly”]This could be readily manufactured and launched at scale for use around the world[/quote]The popularity of GLP-1 slimming injections has rocketed in the past two years because they cause such easy, rapid weight loss.
Around a third of adults in the UK are obese and the rate has doubled since the 1990s.
But side effects can be severe or even deadly, they are not suitable for everyone and a majority of people prefer pills to injections.
A one-a-day tablet could in future be easier to take, cheaper to make and have fewer side effects.
Diarrhoea was the most common side effect in the trial, affecting up to one in five people, with some also feeling sick or getting indigestion.
These are also common side effects of fat jabs.
The weight loss was not as large as with injections but the trial was shorter, meaning the pill may be equally or more effective if taken for longer.
Independent expert Professor Naveed Sattar, of the University of Glasgow, said: “These are important results and having new oral agents is critical to future type 2 diabetes care.”
Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk has finished trials for an oral semaglutide pill for obesity and has said it would file for FDA approval in the first half of 2025.
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