Foundayo Pill

Description

Can you buy orforglipron in the UK?

Yes, in principle. On 10 August 2026 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted orforglipron (Foundayo) a marketing authorisation, making the UK the first country in Europe to approve this GLP-1 tablet for weight management and type 2 diabetes [12]. It can now be legally prescribed and supplied in the UK.

Orforglipron is a prescription-only medicine, so it can only be obtained from a registered pharmacy with a prescription from a registered prescriber.

It is not available on the NHS at this time, and any future NHS use will follow the usual process, including an evaluation by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). A private prescription route is possible now that the medicine holds a UK licence, subject to it being available to supply.

We will add orforglipron to our prescribing range once our prescribers are satisfied it is appropriate to offer and stock is available to supply.

What is orforglipron?

Orforglipron is a non-peptide, small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist taken as a once-daily tablet [2]. It was discovered by Chugai Pharmaceutical and licensed to Eli Lilly in 2018 [2]. In the United States it is sold as Foundayo; orforglipron is the generic drug name, and you will see both used interchangeably.

The distinction that matters clinically is “small molecule” versus “peptide”. Semaglutide – the active ingredient in Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus – is a peptide, which is why oral semaglutide has to be taken on an empty stomach with strict timing rules around food and drink [1]. Orforglipron is a small molecule, so it survives digestion without those constraints and can be taken at any time of day, with or without food or water [2,3].

The US licence covers adults with obesity, or adults with overweight in the presence of at least one weight-related comorbid condition, alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity [3].

How does orforglipron work?

Orforglipron mimics glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a hormone released by the gut after eating. Activating the GLP-1 receptor produces three effects that together support weight reduction [2,3]:

1. Reduced appetite. GLP-1 signalling in the brain lowers hunger and reduces intrusive thoughts about food.
2. Slower gastric emptying. Food stays in the stomach longer, so fullness lasts longer after a meal.
3. Improved glucose handling. Insulin secretion increases in response to raised blood glucose.

As with every GLP-1 medicine, orforglipron is intended to be used alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity, not instead of them [3].

• Read our full guide on orforgilpron

How effective is orforglipron?

The evidence base is the ATTAIN Phase 3 programme, which enrolled more than 4,500 adults with obesity or overweight across two registration trials [2].

ATTAIN-1: the main weight loss trial for orforglipron

In the ATTAIN-1 trial, 3,127 adults took either orforglipron (Foundayo) or a dummy tablet (placebo) every day for 72 weeks – around 17 months. Everyone in the trial was living with obesity, or with overweight plus at least one related health condition such as high blood pressure or sleep apnoea. Nobody had diabetes.

Those on orforglipron were given one of three daily doses: 6 mg, 12 mg or 36 mg [4]. Here’s how much weight each group lost on average by the end [4]:

All three doses beat placebo by a margin unlikely to be down to chance (p<0.001) [4].

You may see a higher figure of 12.4% quoted elsewhere and both numbers are correct, they just answer different questions.

• The 11.2% figure includes everyone who joined the trial, whether or not they stuck with the treatment.
• The 12.4% figure (27.3 lb) covers only those who stayed on it for the full 72 weeks [2]. The lower number is the more realistic guide to what happens in practice.

Among people on the highest dose who stayed on treatment, 59.6% lost at least 10% of their body weight and 39.6% lost at least 15% [4].

Orforglipron also improved several markers of cardiovascular risk across all doses, including waist circumference, non-HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and systolic blood pressure [2].

Of the 1,127 participants who had prediabetes when they started, up to 91% on orforglipron had near-normal blood glucose by 72 weeks, compared with 42% on placebo [4].

 

ATTAIN-MAINTAIN: keeping weight off after injections

Weight regain after stopping an injectable GLP-1 is one of the harder problems in obesity treatment. The Phase 3b ATTAIN-MAINTAIN trial, published in Nature Medicine in 2026, tested whether switching to an orforglipron tablet could hold the line [5].

Everyone taking part had already lost at least 5% of their body weight on tirzepatide or semaglutide injections. They then switched to either orforglipron or a placebo [5,8]:

Over the year that followed, those who switched from semaglutide to orforglipron regained only about 1 kg of their earlier weight loss on average, while those who switched from tirzepatide regained about 5 kg [5].

 

How long does orforglipron take to work?

Appetite effects typically begin within the first few weeks. Because dose escalation takes a minimum of 30 days at each step, meaningful weight reduction builds gradually over several months, with the trial endpoint measured at 72 weeks [3,4].

 

Orforglipron dosage

The MHRA-approved schedule is a six-step titration, taken once daily at any time of day with no food or water restrictions. Treatment starts at the lowest dose, with a minimum of one month at each level before moving up [12]:

Tablets are swallowed whole and must not be broken, crushed or chewed. Take no more than one tablet a day, and do not double up if you miss a dose. Always follow the instructions in the Patient Information Leaflet [12].

Note: the doses studied in the ATTAIN-1 trial (6 mg, 12 mg and 36 mg) are not the same as the licensed UK tablet strengths [4,12].

 

How much will orforglipron cost in the UK?

Orforglipron is now licensed in the UK, but it isn’t available to buy yet, so we can’t show a price.

The MHRA authorised it on 10 August 2026, though it is not yet available on the NHS and no UK private price has been set [12]. Any figure you see quoted online right now is speculation, so it’s best not to read too much into them.

As soon as orforglipron is available to us, we’ll publish our pricing right here.