MedPal AI (MPAL ), the AI-native digital health and pharmacy group, has highlighted that the UK has become the first country in Europe to authorise orforglipron (brand name Foundayo), Eli Lilly’s once daily oral GLP-1 tablet
The news came in an announcement from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on 10 August 2026.
Orforglipron is authorised for weight loss and weight maintenance in adults with a BMI of 30 or above, or a BMI of between 27 and 30 with at least one weight-related co-morbidity, alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity. The authorisation also extends to improving glycaemic control in patients whose type 2 diabetes is insufficiently controlled
The approval of Orforglipron follows the MHRA’s approval of Novo Nordisk’s oral semaglutide tablet in June 2026.
Two of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies now have once daily weight loss pills authorised in the UK, and the UK is the first country in Europe for both
Foundayo is not currently available on the NHS and remains subject to evaluation by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Private provision, the market in which MedPal’s dedicated GLP-1 clinic New Health (new.co.uk) operates, is presently the only route to access
New Health is already scaling in this market. As announced on 4 August 2026, New Health generated over £180,000 of private prescription revenue in July 2026 from only three weeks of marketing, an annualised run rate of over £2.2 million, within a wider group annualised recurring revenue run rate of approximately £8.6 million
MedPal is an approved Eli Lilly purchaser, and the group has direct supply agreements with both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk for current GLP-1 medicines
Eli Lilly has indicated that Foundayo is expected to launch in the UK later this month. The Company will provide a further update as appropriate
“Two once daily oral GLP-1 pills for weight management authorised in the UK inside two months, and in both cases the UK is first in Europe,” said Jason Drummond, founder and chief executive of MedPal
“The direction of travel is unmistakable: the GLP-1 market is expanding to include convenient oral treatments that bring in patients who would never have started with an injection, and for now the only way to access them is privately. That is exactly the market New Health was built for, and it is already delivering: over £2.2 million of annualised revenue after just three weeks of marketing. With clinician-led prescribing, robotic dispensing and an approved purchasing relationship with Eli Lilly in place, every new authorisation potentially widens our customer funnel.”
View from Vox
Oral formats appear to be expanding the market, not splitting it. More than 80% of new prescriptions for the first oral GLP-1 in the US were for patients new to GLP-1 therapy. Each new oral option brings further first-time patients into the category that New Health was built to serve
