FAT LOSS aids have taken the world by storm in recent months, with drug companies vying for their pill to be the first to hit the market.
The revolutionary weight-loss jab Wegovy – which uses the active ingredient semaglutide to suppress users appetite – is available via weight loss services in UK hospitals and is set to be prescribed by GPs under a two-year trial.
Pharmaceutical companies are vying to be the first to market weight loss pills
But many might be deterred by the need to inject the drug and the treatment brings with it some nasty side effects, including nausea and diarrhoea.
Drug companies have sought to address one of these concerns by converting obesity medications to pill form.
The Danish pharmaceutical giant behind Wegovy and diabetes jab Ozempic, Novo Nordisk, is just one of the companies racing to get its weight loss pill approved for use.
It recently unveiled promising results from phase three trials of its semaglutide pill – made to be taken once daily – with participants shedding 17.4 per cent of their body weight after 68 weeks of taking the drug.
In the running are also Eli Lilly with its pill orforglipron and Pfizer, with danuglipron.
If this all seems like a lot to keep track of, The Sun has sought to answer your key questions about then these pills could be approved for use, how effective they might be and what their side effects are.
What pills are in the running?
Novo Nordisk seems to be the most far along in the race to market weight loss pills, having published results to it’s phase three clinical trials of its high-dose version of oral semaglutide.
The drug uses the same active ingredient as Novo Nordisk‘s diabetes shot Ozempic and the weight loss equivalent Wegovy, designed to be injected weekly.
And it’s similar to a once-daily type 2 diabetes pill the Danish company already has on the market called rybelsus – the key difference is that Novo’s new weight loss pill has a much higher dose of semaglutide, 50mg compared to just 7mg and 14mg.
These lower dosages won’t lead to effective weight loss.
Also in the running is Pfizer’s pill danuglipron, which was recently tested on adults with type 2 diabetes.
Patients who took 120mg lost around or 4.6kgs over a 16 week period, and results also suggested that danuglipron could work quicker than Ozempic, as people who took the pills lost nearly the same amount of weight as those who took the jab but in almost half the time.
Eli Lilly, the third contender, is still in the middle of phase three clinical trials on its oral drug, orforglipron, but it recently released the results of the phase two trials for the treatment.
How do they work?
Semaglutide in its oral form works similarly to its injectible counterpart Wegovy.
The active ingredient semaglutide spurs weight loss by mimicking the actions of GLP-1 – or glucagon-like peptide-1 – a hormone in the brain that regulates appetite and feelings of satiety.
But the semaglutide pill needs be taken every morning on an empty stomach, compared to a once-weekly injection for Wegovy.
Eli Lilly’s orforglipron is what is known as a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) that works by activating hormones that regulate blood sugar, slow digestion, and decrease appetite.
Danuglipron also works by suppressing the appetite – mimicking the naturally occurring hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1, which is usually released after eating.
As a result patients feel fuller for longer, and reduce the number of calories they eat.
What are the side effects?
It looks like the weight loss pills cause similar nasty side effects to the injections, including severe diarrhoea, constipation, acid reflux and vomiting.
Novo Nordisk’s phase three trials also showed that around 13 percent of patients who took oral semaglutide experienced ‘altered skin sensation’ like tingling, which was mostly resolved after several weeks.
The higher the dose, the more severe the side-effects.
When might the pills reach the UK?
As matters currently stand, it looks like Novo Nordisk’s pill might reach the UK first and other markets first, having just wrapped up phase three clinical trials for oral semaglutide.
The company said it expects to file for regulatory approval in the US and the EU in 2023, so within less than six months.
But the global launch of oral semaglutide 50 mg will depend on things like “portfolio prioritisations and manufacturing capacity”, the pharmaceutical giant noted.
Eli Lilly, is still in the middle of phase three clinical trials for orforglipron, meaning it’s likely to hit the market later than Novo Nordisk.
The same goes for Pfizer’s danuglipron.
According to CNBC, pills are easier to manufacture than injections, which come in the form of single-use pens. That means the oral drugs could potentially help alleviate the supply shortages that have plagues drugs like Wegovy in the US.
Pills also tend to be cheaper than injections, though it’s unclear if that will be the case with the obesity pills.
The drug companies have so far not indicated how they intend to price their products.