Retatrutide FAQ: 60+ questions answered for the UK

It depends what you mean. Retatrutide is not a controlled drug, so simply having it is not a criminal offence. But it has no UK marketing authorisation, and under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 an unlicensed medicine cannot be sold, supplied or advertised for people to use. The MHRA has said that products sold in the UK claiming to contain retatrutide are likely to be illegal and potentially dangerous. The law is aimed at the people making and selling it, not at the person who ends up with a vial.

Read more: is it legal in the uk · mhra enforcement

No. As of September 2026 retatrutide has no marketing authorisation from the MHRA, the FDA, the EMA or any other regulator. It is an investigational medicine still in Phase 3 trials. Lilly has said it plans to submit a US application in the first quarter of 2027. Until a regulator grants a licence, the only lawful way for anyone to receive retatrutide is inside an approved clinical trial.

Read more: what is retatrutide · clinical trials

Nobody knows. Lilly has only given a US filing target of the first quarter of 2027. If the US review takes a typical year, the earliest US decision would be late 2027 or 2028. The MHRA runs its own separate review and no UK filing date has been announced. Our editorial estimate, and it is only an estimate, is UK authorisation no earlier than 2027 to 2028, with NHS access later after a NICE appraisal. Any website giving a firm date is guessing.

Read more: what is retatrutide · triumph 2 3 results fda filing plan · nhs and licensed options

No. A medicine with no marketing authorisation cannot be prescribed in normal practice, and it cannot be prescribed off-label either, because off-label means using a licensed medicine outside its licence and retatrutide has no licence at all. The only lawful route is a clinical trial. Your GP can, however, assess you for the licensed weight-loss medicines and refer you to NHS weight-management services.

Read more: is it legal in the uk · nhs and licensed options · talking to your gp

In practice, no. Lilly does not supply retatrutide to anyone outside its trials, and there is no licensed manufacturer. Any clinic offering it would be supplying a product from an unlicensed producer of unknown contents, which the MHRA has said is likely to be illegal. A legitimate private clinic can prescribe Wegovy, Mounjaro or, since August 2026, orforglipron. If a clinic offers retatrutide, that is a reason to doubt the clinic.

Read more: is it legal in the uk · what is actually in the vials

No. Controlled drugs are those listed under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, such as heroin, cocaine or diazepam, where possession itself can be an offence. Retatrutide is not on that list. It is regulated as a medicine under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, which restrict sale, supply and advertising rather than possession. That is why the MHRA's raids target producers and sellers rather than the people who bought from them.

Read more: is it legal in the uk · glossary

Possessing retatrutide for your own use is not a criminal offence in the UK, because it is not a controlled drug. The offences in medicines law are manufacturing, selling, supplying and advertising an unlicensed medicine. Passing vials on to friends, or selling them, could count as supply. Health services will not report you for telling them what you used; they need to know so they can treat you properly.

Read more: is it legal in the uk · talking to your gp

It is a label, not a legal defence. UK law looks at what a product is and how it is presented and sold. If a vial is sold to people to inject for weight loss, it is a medicine in law whatever the label says, and supplying it without a licence is an offence. Sellers use the phrase to present an injectable as a laboratory reagent. It tells you about the seller's strategy, not the product's safety or legality.

Read more: is it legal in the uk · why a coa doesnt make it safe

The law is aimed at whoever sells and supplies it, so the seller shipping it to you is the one likely to be committing an offence. Parcels of unlicensed medicines can be detained at the border. More importantly, importing does not solve the real problem: nobody can tell you what is in the vial. Laboratory testing of products sold as retatrutide has found wrong strengths, very low purity and, in some cases, no retatrutide at all.

Read more: is it legal in the uk · what is actually in the vials

Not for years, if at all. First it needs an MHRA licence, which has no date. Then NICE has to appraise whether it is cost-effective, which for Mounjaro took until late 2024, and the NHS has to plan a rollout, which for Mounjaro is being phased over several years. Even after approval, NHS access is usually limited to people meeting specific criteria. The licensed medicines available now are the realistic option.

Read more: nhs and licensed options · what is retatrutide

Retatrutide, code name LY3437943, is an experimental once-weekly injection being developed by Eli Lilly for obesity and related conditions. It copies three gut and pancreatic hormones at once: GLP-1, GIP and glucagon. In its main Phase 3 trial, adults with obesity lost an average of 25.0% of their body weight over 80 weeks on the highest dose, against 3.9% on placebo. It is not licensed anywhere and cannot lawfully be sold for people to use in the UK.

Read more: what is retatrutide · how retatrutide works

All three copy hormones your gut releases after eating. Wegovy (semaglutide) acts on one receptor, GLP-1. Mounjaro (tirzepatide) acts on two, GLP-1 and GIP. Retatrutide acts on three, adding the glucagon receptor, which appears to increase energy burning and reduce liver fat. The other big difference is status: Wegovy and Mounjaro are licensed in the UK and available on the NHS with criteria; retatrutide is still in trials.

Read more: what is retatrutide · how retatrutide works · nhs and licensed options

Nobody can say yet. Retatrutide's trials reported larger average weight loss than tirzepatide's did, but the trials had different lengths, different populations and different ways of counting, so the numbers are not a fair comparison. A direct head-to-head trial against tirzepatide, TRIUMPH-5, is running and expected to finish around late 2026. Until it reports, claims that one beats the other are guesswork, and retatrutide also brings side effects tirzepatide does not.

Read more: triumph 5 · how to read a trial

Eli Lilly, the American company that also makes Mounjaro. Lilly discovered retatrutide and runs every registered trial. It does not sell retatrutide to anyone outside a clinical trial, and there is no other licensed manufacturer. Anything labelled retatrutide that can be ordered online was made by an unlicensed producer, or contains something else altogether. In August 2026 Lilly sued six US businesses over illegal sales and reported more than 14,000 online listings worldwide.

Read more: what is retatrutide · triumph 2 3 results fda filing plan

An agonist is a molecule that switches on a receptor, mimicking the body's own signal. A triple agonist is one molecule designed to switch on three different receptors. Retatrutide activates the receptors for GLP-1, GIP and glucagon. GLP-1 and GIP reduce appetite, slow the stomach and help control blood sugar; glucagon appears to raise energy expenditure and reduce liver fat. Semaglutide is a single agonist and tirzepatide a dual agonist.

Read more: how retatrutide works · glossary

Yes, in the chemical sense. A peptide is a short chain of amino acids, and retatrutide, semaglutide and tirzepatide are all peptide drugs. Online, though, the word has taken on a second meaning: shorthand for unlicensed injectables sold with a research-use-only label. Calling retatrutide a peptide does not make it a supplement or a grey-area product. It is a prescription-strength drug in development that has not finished being tested.

Read more: what is retatrutide · is it legal in the uk

Yes. Triple G is a nickname from the three receptors it targets: GLP-1, GIP and glucagon. Other names you may see are LY3437943, Lilly's development code, and, in social media and group chats, reta. They all refer to the same investigational drug. A nickname on a vial does not tell you what the vial contains; testing of products sold under these names has found wide variation.

Read more: what is retatrutide · what is actually in the vials

An injection, given under the skin once a week in the trials. There is no tablet form of retatrutide. Lilly's oral weight-loss medicine is a different drug, orforglipron, sold as Foundayo, which the MHRA authorised in August 2026. If you see retatrutide advertised as a tablet, capsule, nasal spray or patch, it is not the drug that was tested in the trials.

Read more: what is retatrutide · nhs and licensed options

In TRIUMPH-1, the main obesity trial of 2,339 adults over 80 weeks, average loss was 17.6%, 23.7% and 25.0% on the three doses, against 3.9% on placebo, counting everyone randomised. Counting only people who stayed on treatment, the figures were 19.0%, 25.9% and 28.3% versus 2.2%. In people with type 2 diabetes (TRIUMPH-2) loss was lower, 12.7% to 20.8% versus 4.0%. These are averages from a monitored trial of the real drug.

Read more: triumph 1 · triumph 2 · clinical trials

They are the same trial counted two ways. The treatment-regimen estimand counts every person randomised to the 12 mg arm, whether or not they stayed on the drug, and gives 25.0%. The efficacy estimand counts people while they were taking the drug as intended, and gives 28.3%. The efficacy figure is always larger and is the one headlines tend to quote. This site gives the treatment-regimen figure first because it is closer to what happened to the whole group.

Read more: how to read a trial · triumph 1

No. In TRIUMPH-1, 45.3% of people on the highest dose lost at least 30% at 80 weeks, against 0.5% on placebo, so fewer than half. The often-quoted 30.3% average comes from a two-year extension limited to 532 people who started with a BMI of 35 or more and stayed on the top dose. It is a real result, but for a self-selected subgroup of the heaviest participants, not the average person in the trial.

Read more: triumph 1 · how to read a trial

Yes, though weight loss is smaller than in people without diabetes, as with every drug in this class. TRIUMPH-2 enrolled 1,152 adults with type 2 diabetes and obesity or overweight. Over 80 weeks they lost an average of 12.7%, 19.1% and 20.8% on the three doses versus 4.0% on placebo. HbA1c, the long-term blood sugar measure, fell by 1.4 to 1.6 points from a starting average of 7.7%, against 0.2 on placebo.

Read more: triumph 2 · clinical trials

In TRIUMPH-4, 445 adults with obesity and knee osteoarthritis lost 20.0% and 23.7% of their weight on the two doses versus 4.6% on placebo, counting everyone randomised. Knee pain scores fell by about three-quarters, 75.8% and 74.3%, compared with 40.3% on placebo. The relief tracks the weight loss; the trial cannot show that the drug acts on the joint itself. Losing weight by any means is known to ease knee osteoarthritis.

Read more: triumph 4 · triumph 4 results

A subgroup of TRIUMPH-1 had moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnoea. Their breathing interruptions fell by up to 36.1 events per hour, a 60.6% reduction from a starting average of 58.6 events per hour. That is a large improvement, consistent with what substantial weight loss does for sleep apnoea generally. It was a nested subgroup, not a dedicated trial, and the full data have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed paper.

Read more: triumph 1 · other indications

In a Phase 2a study of 98 people with fatty liver disease (MASLD) and liver fat of at least 10%, liver fat fell by 82.4% at 24 weeks on the highest dose, compared with a 0.3% rise on placebo, and 86% of that group reached a normal liver fat level. That is the trial drug. It is a separate question from the 2026 cluster of liver injury in people using unlicensed products labelled retatrutide, which is thought to involve a contaminant.

Read more: other indications · liver and kidney · liver failure cluster 2026

For retatrutide specifically, nobody knows yet: a maintenance trial, TRIUMPH-6, is running and due around 2028. For its licensed relatives the pattern is clear. A year after stopping semaglutide in the STEP 1 extension, participants had regained about two-thirds of the weight they lost. After stopping tirzepatide in SURMOUNT-4, most people regained at least a quarter of their lost weight within a year, with their blood pressure and cholesterol gains reversing too.

Read more: plateaus and maintenance · other indications

Not yet. TRIUMPH-5 is an 800-person trial comparing retatrutide with tirzepatide head to head, with primary completion expected around November 2026. A separate diabetes trial, TRANSCEND-T2D-2, compares it with semaglutide. Until those report, the only comparisons available are between different trials, which used different populations, durations and methods and cannot fairly be set side by side.

Read more: triumph 5 · how to read a trial

Stomach-related effects, rising with dose. In TRIUMPH-1, nausea affected 28.6%, 38.4% and 42.4% of people on the three doses versus 14.8% on placebo; diarrhoea 25.2% to 34.1% versus 13.5%; constipation 23.8% to 26.1% versus 10.9%; and vomiting 10.6% to 25.3% versus 4.8%. Most were mild to moderate and concentrated in the weeks after each dose increase. Dysesthesia, an altered skin sensation, affected 5.1% to 12.5% versus 0.9%.

Read more: side effects · nausea vomiting gi

An altered, often unpleasant sense of touch: tingling, burning, pins and needles, or heightened sensitivity to pressure, heat or cold. It appeared as a new side effect in retatrutide's Phase 3 trials, affecting up to 12.5% of people in TRIUMPH-1 and 20.9% on the top dose in TRIUMPH-4, against under 1% on placebo. Lilly described it as generally mild and said it rarely led to people stopping. It has not been reported with semaglutide or tirzepatide.

Read more: dysesthesia · triumph 4 results

Yes. In the Phase 2 trial resting heart rate rose in a dose-dependent way, peaking around week 24 and then falling back by weeks 36 to 48. The published abstract gives no figure; a rise of a few to about ten beats per minute at higher doses is the working estimate. Abnormal heart rhythms were reported in 2% to 11% of people on retatrutide versus 2% on placebo, mostly mild. The Phase 3 topline releases gave no heart-rate data at all.

Read more: heart rate and rhythm · phase 2 nejm 2023

It is a recognised rare risk for the whole GLP-1 class, and one serious case of acute pancreatitis occurred in the Phase 2 retatrutide trial. Small rises in the pancreatic enzymes amylase and lipase without symptoms were also seen. Wegovy and Mounjaro carry the same warning. The signs are severe upper abdominal pain, often spreading to the back, with nausea and vomiting, and they need same-day hospital assessment.

Read more: pancreatitis gallbladder · when to seek help

In trials, no serious liver damage was reported. About 1% of Phase 2 participants had a temporary rise in the liver enzyme ALT to more than three times the normal limit, which settled. In a separate study it reduced liver fat. The 2026 cluster of acute liver injury in Australia was in people using unlicensed products labelled retatrutide, and health authorities suspect a contaminant rather than the drug. Nobody knows what those vials contained.

Read more: liver and kidney · liver failure cluster 2026

In TRIUMPH-1, 4.1%, 6.9% and 11.3% on the three doses, against 4.9% on placebo, so the lowest dose had fewer drop-outs than placebo and the highest lost about one person in nine. Rates were higher in TRIUMPH-4, at 12.2% and 18.2% versus 4.0%, and in TRIUMPH-3, at 9.8% and 13.5% versus 4.8%. In TRIUMPH-2 they were 3.8%, 11.6% and 7.7% versus 4.9%.

Read more: discontinuation rates · triumph 1

There is no evidence either way, because pregnant women were excluded from the trials and anyone who became pregnant had to stop. The licensed relatives, Wegovy and Mounjaro, carry a warning to stop before trying to conceive, and the same caution would apply to retatrutide. Anyone who has used a product sold as retatrutide and is pregnant, or planning to be, should tell their GP or midwife, who will not judge and needs to know.

Read more: what we dont know yet · talking to your gp

Yes, consistently. In every retatrutide trial the rates of nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dysesthesia and stopping because of side effects rose with dose. In TRIUMPH-1 nausea went from 28.6% on the lowest dose to 42.4% on the highest, and drop-outs from 4.1% to 11.3%. This is why a vial that is stronger than its label, as independent testing has found, is a specific danger rather than a bonus.

Read more: side effects · what is actually in the vials

Quite a lot. Long-term heart and kidney outcomes are being studied in a 10,000-person trial due around 2029. There are no data in pregnancy, little in people over 75, and limited data in severe kidney or liver disease. Whether weight comes back after stopping is being tested now. The full peer-reviewed Phase 3 papers, with heart-rate, rhythm and laboratory data, have not yet been published. Effects beyond two years are unknown.

Read more: what we dont know yet · triumph outcomes

Because nobody knows what is in them. Lilly does not sell retatrutide, so every online product comes from an unlicensed producer with no sterility testing, no strength testing and no traceability. Independent testing has found vials at nearly double the labelled strength, purity as low as 16.6%, bacterial endotoxin, and vials with no retatrutide at all. In 2026 people in Australia developed acute liver injury after using such products. The trial results do not apply to them.

Read more: safety · what is actually in the vials · liver failure cluster 2026

In August 2026 an Australian laboratory reported on 18 samples sold as retatrutide: only one matched its label, some were about 30% stronger than stated, some about 30% weaker, and one contained none. Earlier, a vial labelled 10 mg was found to contain about 19 mg at 16.6% purity. Testing of online semaglutide vials found purity of 8% to 14% against a claimed 99%, and endotoxin in every sample. The peptide is typically about a tenth of the vial's contents.

Read more: what is actually in the vials · victoria liver injury alert

A certificate of analysis is a laboratory report on one sample, usually giving purity by HPLC and identity by mass spectrometry. It says nothing about sterility, bacterial endotoxin or whether the labelled amount is really in the vial, and you cannot check that the certificate matches the vial in your hand. Certificates are also easy to copy or forge. Licensed medicines are released against full batch testing under Good Manufacturing Practice, not a single certificate.

Read more: why a coa doesnt make it safe · glossary

On 19 June 2026 Victoria's health department reported at least six cases of acute liver injury since January in people using unapproved products labelled retatrutide, and said contaminants were the likely cause. One 32-year-old woman developed liver failure after two doses and nearly needed a transplant. A week later, testing found a vial at nearly double its labelled strength. Further cases have been reported since, and the alert advises anyone using these products to stop.

Read more: liver failure cluster 2026 · victoria liver injury alert

In October 2025 it dismantled the first illicit weight-loss injection factory found in the UK, near Northampton, seizing more than 2,000 retatrutide and tirzepatide pens. In February 2026 it raided a second site in Lincolnshire, seizing nearly 2,000 doses. In May 2026 it arrested two people at a Northampton estate and seized about 12,000 doses. It has stated that retatrutide is unapproved and that products sold as it are likely illegal and potentially dangerous.

Read more: mhra enforcement · mhra northampton raid · mhra second site lincolnshire

No. Lilly makes no retatrutide product for sale anywhere. Trial supplies go only to trial sites. So a pen labelled retatrutide, however professional it looks, was filled by someone else. The MHRA's Northampton raid found tens of thousands of empty pens waiting to be filled in a warehouse. Separately, counterfeit versions of licensed weight-loss pens have been found in the UK containing insulin, causing dangerously low blood sugar.

Read more: counterfeit pens · mhra northampton raid

Yes, and it has happened. Testing arranged by the University of Queensland found a vial labelled 10 mg that contained about 19 mg of retatrutide. Retatrutide's side effects rise steeply with dose, and the trials stepped doses up slowly for that reason. A double-strength vial delivers a jump the trials never tested. A doctor quoted on the finding described a patient losing around eight litres of fluid a day to diarrhoea.

Read more: what is actually in the vials · nausea vomiting gi

Yes. Of 18 samples tested in Australia in 2026, one contained no retatrutide. Testing typically finds the labelled peptide makes up only about a tenth of what is in a vial, with the rest unaccounted for. A vial that does nothing might sound harmless, but it is still an injection of unknown, unsterile material, and it may not be inert. What is in the other nine-tenths is exactly the question nobody can answer.

Read more: what is actually in the vials · injectables and infection

No. A clear, colourless solution can be non-sterile, can contain bacterial endotoxin, and can be the wrong strength. Endotoxin, fragments of bacterial cell walls, survives filtration and causes fever and shock when injected. Licensed injectables pass sterility and endotoxin tests on every batch; unlicensed products pass none. Independent testing of online semaglutide vials found endotoxin in every sample. Appearance tells you nothing useful.

Read more: injectables and infection · why a coa doesnt make it safe

Get same-day help, from your GP, NHS 111 or A&E, for yellowing of the eyes or skin, dark urine, pale stools, unusual bruising, or tiredness with abdominal pain, all of which can signal liver injury. Also for severe abdominal pain spreading to the back, vomiting or diarrhoea that stops you keeping fluids down, a racing or irregular heartbeat, fainting, or redness, heat and pus at an injection site. Call 999 for chest pain, confusion, drowsiness, a fit or collapse.

Read more: when to seek help · liver failure cluster 2026

Yes. Your GP can only interpret your symptoms and blood tests if they know what you injected, when, and roughly how much. Say what the label said and that it was an unlicensed product, because the contents are uncertain. GPs see people who have used unlicensed medicines regularly and are bound by confidentiality. You are not committing an offence by having used it, and telling them is the fastest way to catch a problem early.

Read more: talking to your gp · reporting a reaction

No. Possessing or having used retatrutide is not a criminal offence, so there is nothing to report. Your medical records are confidential. What your GP may do is report a suspected side effect to the MHRA's Yellow Card scheme, which records the reaction and the product, not your identity for enforcement purposes. That kind of report is useful: it is how clusters of harm from black-market products get noticed.

Read more: talking to your gp · reporting a reaction

That is for your GP to decide, but the checks that follow from the known risks are liver function tests, including ALT, because of the 2026 liver-injury cluster; kidney function, because severe vomiting or diarrhoea can cause dehydration and acute kidney injury; and sometimes the pancreatic enzymes amylase and lipase if there is abdominal pain. Blood sugar may be checked if a product could have been a counterfeit pen containing insulin.

Read more: talking to your gp · liver and kidney

Use the MHRA Yellow Card scheme, online or through its app. It accepts reports for any product, licensed or not, including suspected fakes and unlicensed injectables. You do not need proof of what was in the vial; describe what the label said, where it came from in general terms, what happened and when. Reports from people harmed by black-market products help the MHRA spot clusters and target enforcement. Your GP or pharmacist can also report for you.

Read more: reporting a reaction · mhra enforcement

Yes. Suspected fake or unlicensed medicines and the websites or social media accounts selling them can be reported to the MHRA through the Yellow Card scheme, which has a route for counterfeit and unlicensed products, and through its FakeMeds campaign. In 2025 the MHRA had more than 1,500 websites and accounts disabled and more than 1,200 posts removed. Reports of harm, with the product details, are what drive those takedowns and the raids on production sites.

Read more: reporting a reaction · mhra enforcement

A 2025 joint advisory from four US medical societies recommends 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day during active weight loss on GLP-1-class medicines, spread across meals, with some guidance going up to 2 grams. In obesity an adjusted body weight is used for the calculation. Protein matters because it helps you keep muscle while losing fat. A dietitian or GP can help you set a target for your own weight.

Read more: protein · preserving muscle

Some, whatever method you use. In GLP-1-class trials, roughly a quarter to two-fifths of the weight lost was lean mass, which includes muscle, bone and water rather than muscle alone. Older adults, women and people with severe illness tend to lose proportionally more. The two things shown to limit it are enough protein and resistance training. In a small case series, people combining both while on these medicines kept or gained lean mass.

Read more: preserving muscle · resistance training

Resistance training, meaning any exercise that works muscles against a load, is the strongest protection against losing muscle during weight loss. It does not have to be a gym: bands, bodyweight exercises and household objects count. Guidance for people losing weight on GLP-1-class medicines recommends two to three sessions a week covering the major muscle groups, and NHS guidance recommends strength work on at least two days a week for all adults.

Read more: resistance training · preserving muscle

NHS guidance for adults is at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, plus strength exercises on two or more days. That is the target for everyone, not just people losing weight. If you are starting from very little, building up gradually towards it is what matters. Steps and everyday movement count towards the total, and regular activity also helps with sleep, mood and keeping weight off.

Read more: cardio and steps · resistance training

A very low appetite is common on GLP-1-class medicines and can make it hard to eat enough protein, fluid and micronutrients. The advice from nutrition guidance is to eat small amounts regularly rather than waiting to feel hungry, to put protein first at each meal, to drink fluids through the day, and to watch for signs of under-eating such as dizziness, hair thinning and constant tiredness. Eating almost nothing for weeks is a problem, not a bonus.

Read more: eating when appetite is low · protein

Drugs in this class slow the stomach, so large or fatty meals sit for longer and trigger nausea. What tends to help is smaller meals, eaten slowly, with less fat and less very sweet food; stopping when you feel full rather than finishing the plate; keeping fluids up in small sips; and avoiding lying down straight after eating. Persistent vomiting, or being unable to keep fluids down for more than a day, needs medical advice rather than food tweaks.

Read more: managing gi symptoms with food · nausea vomiting gi

Plateaus are normal in any weight loss. As you get lighter your body needs less energy, so the same intake that once produced loss now produces maintenance, and appetite tends to recover over time. In trials the curve flattens in the second year even with the drug continued. The useful responses are to check protein, movement and sleep, to measure waist and strength as well as weight, and to remember that holding a large loss is itself an achievement.

Read more: plateaus and maintenance · sleep and recovery

Some regain is likely after stopping any weight-loss medicine, and the evidence is clear for the licensed ones. A year after stopping semaglutide, STEP 1 participants had regained about two-thirds of what they lost. After stopping tirzepatide, most SURMOUNT-4 participants regained at least a quarter of their lost weight within a year, and their blood pressure and cholesterol improvements reversed. Retatrutide's own maintenance trial has not reported. Habits built during weight loss are what limit regain.

Read more: plateaus and maintenance · other indications

Wegovy (semaglutide) and Mounjaro (tirzepatide) are both licensed for weight management and recommended by NICE for the NHS, with eligibility criteria and, for Mounjaro, a phased rollout. Orforglipron (Foundayo), a daily tablet, was authorised by the MHRA in August 2026 and is awaiting a NICE decision, so it is not yet on the NHS. All three are prescribed with monitoring by a doctor. NICE guideline NG246 sets out the wider NHS approach to overweight and obesity.

Read more: nhs and licensed options · what is retatrutide

It is licensed but not yet on the NHS. The MHRA authorised orforglipron, sold as Foundayo, on 10 August 2026, the first regulator in Europe to do so, following FDA approval in April 2026. It is a once-daily tablet that acts on the GLP-1 receptor, made by Lilly. NICE is due to publish its appraisal on 18 November 2026, which will decide whether and for whom the NHS funds it. Until then it is available only privately.

Read more: nhs and licensed options · news