Rhianna Benson
Questions have been raised amid rumours that a new weight loss pill that's 'cheaper' than injectables could be made available in the States next year.
In recent years, appetite-suppressing jabs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have sky-rocketed in popularity around the world.
What started off as medication to tackle the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes, soon turned into a celebrity 'hack' for getting slimmer - given how many stars admitted to using these injections - before spreading throughout the world, being available to purchase in countless countries.
However, given the somewhat invasive nature of weekly jabs, as well as their cost, doctors have been researching other ways to aid overweight individuals, having recently developed a new potential pill.
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According to researchers, the tablet - taken once a day - is said to offer 'more access' to weight loss medication, and could even help users to shed up to a tenth of their body weight.
Here's everything we know about it.
First things first, this new pill is called 'orforglipron', and is being developed by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.
Like its injectable counterpart, orforglipron is a GLP-1 agonist. This means it's a type of medication purposed to help lower blood sugar levels, slow down digestion, and reduce a person's appetite.
As mentioned, the price of weight loss injectables often means they're not affordable for most folk. This is said to be part of the reason that research into a possible weight loss pill was first carried out.
Apparently, however, the latter will be much cheaper, and as such more readily-available for people.
In terms of the pill's efficiency, it's important to note that researchers aren't convinced that these meds are any more effective that jabs like Mounjaro.
As part of a study carried out recently, 1,444 individuals from 10 different countries - all of whom were considered clinically obese - were given varying strengths of the new drug. Some, meanwhile, were simply given placebos.
After participants were tracked for 16 months, it was found that those on the strongest amounts of orforglipron (36mg) lost an impressing 9.6 percent of their body weight. Those who took 12mg, meanwhile, lost around seven percent, while those on 6mg lost 5.1.
So, while stats seem to suggest the pills are, indeed, effective, it's understood that the biggest sell is its convenience.
While people taking weight loss jabs often complain of nausea and fatigue, the most common adverse side effects found in the study only ranged from 'mild to moderate gastrointestinal events'.
"Orforglipron is simple to administer, with no restrictions on food and water intake or required refrigeration," an author of the study recent wrote in The Lancet.
"Potentially offering a more convenient option and broader global access to incretin therapy."
Another senior author, Dr Deborah Horn also told PA: "Because of the safety profile of orforglipron and the predicted much lower cost, it will open the door for many more individuals who need and deserve treatment for their obesity, with or without diabetes, to get care around the world."
The doctor - who serves as medical director of the Centre for Obesity Medicine at UTHealth Houston - added: "My hope is that orforglipron will be the ‘metformin’ of obesity - a lower cost, broad coverage, low risk, highly effective medication for obesity and many of the inter-related diseases."
The new study indicated that weight loss pills could be available to purchase as early as 2026.
From there, it could eventually be rolled out to the rest of the world.