Daily pill can help people maintain weight loss after they come off jabs, trial shows

"A large-scale randomised controlled trial found that patients using injectable GLP1s could maintain most of their weight loss if they switched to far cheaper daily pills. The trial, presented at the European Congress on Obesity 2026 in Istanbul and published in Nature Medicine, studied to what extent switching from weekly GLP1 jabs to taking daily orforglipron tablets caused patients to regain their lost weight."

"They found that after a year, those on tirzepatide kept almost 75% of that weight off after switching to the daily pill, compared with 49% for those given placebo. For semaglutide, patients maintained almost 80% of the previous weight lost, compared with 38% of those on placebo. Swapping to the tablets also meant that improvements in patients' blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels were maintained, the authors observed."

"Previous studies have shown people prescribed semaglutide or tirzepatide injections typically lose 15-20% of their body weight, but most patients regained two-thirds of the weight they had lost within a year of coming off the jabs. The new trial, funded by Eli Lilly, which manufactures Mounjaro, found that participants who switched to orforglipron pills were able to keep far more of that weight off than those given a placebo."

"The researchers said orforglipron could help prevent more than 200 diseases associated with obesity and could be prescribed to prevent lower levels of overweight tipping into obesity. About 30% of adults in the UK are living with obesity, with those on Wegovy or Mounjaro taking about seven medications for other health conditions."

A large randomized trial evaluated whether switching from weekly GLP1 injections to daily orforglipron tablets could prevent weight regain. Participants previously used tirzepatide or semaglutide for 72 weeks, then took orforglipron or placebo for one year. After one year, people who switched from tirzepatide maintained almost 75% of prior weight loss, compared with 49% on placebo. People who switched from semaglutide maintained almost 80% of prior weight loss, compared with 38% on placebo. Improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels were maintained with the tablet switch. Researchers suggested the approach could help prevent obesity-related diseases and reduce the need for additional long-term medications.

Read at www.theguardian.com