Eli Lilly's Foundayo Pill Approved in UK, First in Europe
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- MHRA approved Eli Lilly's Foundayo — a daily GLP-1 pill also known as orforglipron — for obesity and type 2 diabetes, making the UK the first European country to greenlight it
- Eli Lilly said the pill can immediately be used on the NHS for type 2 diabetes but will apply to NICE for approval as a weight-loss treatment; private prescriptions are available now
- Dr Simon Cork of Anglia Ruskin University said Foundayo delivers less weight loss than other treatments but still produces "significant, clinically meaningful" results, and is likely cheaper than current NHS-restricted options
- Prof Naveed Sattar of the University of Glasgow highlighted convenience: unlike the Wegovy pill, Foundayo can be taken at any time of day without an empty stomach
- Trial patients who took orforglipron daily for a year after coming off weight-loss jabs avoided regaining most of the weight they had lost — a known risk when stopping GLP-1 injections
- Wegovy received MHRA approval as an oral pill in June; side effects of the newly approved Foundayo include nausea, diarrhoea, constipation and vomiting
Why it matters: Eli Lilly's Foundayo gives UK patients a second oral GLP-1 option that experts say will likely cost less than current NHS-restricted weight-loss treatments and could help people coming off jabs maintain their weight loss. But NHS access for obesity still requires a NICE review, so most patients will initially pay out-of-pocket for private prescriptions.
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