The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved the UK's first GLP-1 receptor agonist tablet for weight loss and weight management, marking a significant development in the country's obesity market.
The regulator said in a statement that Novo Nordisk's Wegovy (semaglutide) tablet has been authorised — alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity — to treat adults in the UK with obesity, who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above, or who are overweight with a BMI between 27 and 30 and at least one weight-related comorbidity.
The starting dose is 1.5 mg once daily, escalating to 4 mg, 9 mg and 25 mg, with a minimum duration of one month at each dose level.
Patients currently receiving a 2.4 mg semaglutide injection once weekly can be transitioned straight to semaglutide 25 mg tablets once daily.
Julian Beach, Executive Director of Healthcare Quality and Access at the MHRA, said: "Having met the MHRA's rigorous standards of safety, quality and effectiveness, the semaglutide tablet has been approved in the UK for weight loss and weight management."
The approval introduces the first oral GLP-1 option for weight management in the UK and could help broaden access to obesity treatment among patients who are reluctant to self-inject.
Greater treatment convenience may also support adherence and expand the addressable patient population for GLP-1 therapies.
The authorisation further strengthens Novo Nordisk's position in the increasingly competitive obesity market, while highlighting growing industry interest in alternative delivery formats for peptide-based medicines.
The launch also has potential implications for pharmaceutical manufacturing and supply chains.
Demand for injectable GLP-1 therapies has placed significant pressure on global production capacity in recent years and oral formulations require different manufacturing, packaging and distribution processes that could help diversify supply strategies.
Although now approved for use in the UK, the semaglutide tablet is not currently available through the NHS. Any future NHS adoption will be subject to assessment by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).