A daily weight loss pill could help patients maintain a slimmer figure for life and potentially allow millions to discontinue medications for other diseases, according to a major trial. Experts suggest the pill could prevent more than 200 conditions linked to obesity and might one day be taken as a preventative measure by individuals who are only slightly overweight.
Study findings on weight maintenance
The study revealed that users who switched from injectable drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro to the cheaper tablet, known as orforglipron, retained most of their weight loss and associated health benefits. Researchers believe this pill, which offers a more convenient alternative to weekly injections, could revolutionise obesity treatment and reduce rates of chronic diseases.
Availability and approval
The pill became available in the United States last month under the brand name Foundayo and is awaiting approval from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. It is expected to be approved and available in Britain within a year, with hopes that its lower cost will allow wider NHS distribution compared to injections. In the US, it is sold for roughly half the price of weight-loss injections.
Obesity statistics and health impact
Two in three adults in the UK are overweight or obese, and the average person prescribed weight-loss injections takes around seven medications for different conditions. Trials have shown that people using fat jabs lose 15 to 20 per cent of their body weight and significantly reduce their risk of major health problems such as heart attacks. However, about two-thirds of lost weight is typically regained within a year of stopping treatment.
New research on pill efficacy
The new research, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul and published in the journal Nature Medicine, is the first to examine whether switching to pills can maintain long-term benefits. Researchers found that patients who switched to orforglipron maintained far more weight loss than those given a placebo.
Trial details
The trial followed 376 patients who had already lost significant weight using injectable drugs tirzepatide and semaglutide (brands including Mounjaro and Wegovy) and whose weight loss had plateaued. Participants who had used tirzepatide maintained almost 75 per cent of their previous weight loss after switching to the daily pill, compared with 49 per cent for those on placebo. Among those previously treated with semaglutide, patients maintained almost 80 per cent of their earlier weight loss, compared with 38 per cent on placebo.
Additional health benefits
Researchers also found that improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar control were maintained after patients switched to pills. Dr Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, stated that the findings show obesity should increasingly be treated like other chronic diseases, with daily pills considered as 'treatment for life' similar to medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
Potential to replace other medications
Dr Aronne added that obesity treatment has the potential to replace many other medicines because excess weight drives a wide range of diseases. 'The beauty of treating obesity is you are treating all of these things; you treat the glucose, treat the lipids, treat the blood pressure, all by treating the obesity,' he told the conference. 'If we could treat obesity effectively, we wouldn't need to treat all of the other cardio-metabolic risk factors and it could be highly cost effective.'
Early intervention
Dr Aronne also noted that researchers are increasingly looking at whether obesity should be treated much earlier, before patients develop severe disease. Professor Rachel Batterham, senior vice president of medical innovation at drug maker Lilly, agreed that obesity should be treated far earlier, before complications develop. 'It makes sense to treat earlier to prevent complications rather than waiting for the complications,' she said. 'Obesity is a disease that causes over 200 other complications,' she added, with research linking excess weight to diabetes, heart disease, and at least 13 types of cancer.
Scalable solution
Ken Custer, president of cardiometabolic health at Lilly, said: 'We've been waiting for a scalable solution and that's what we have here.' He noted that the pills can be made using standard pharmaceutical manufacturing methods, similar to statins or blood pressure tablets. Oral drugs are also significantly cheaper to distribute because they do not require refrigeration or injection pens.
