The only weight loss tablet that’s currently approved in the UK is orlistat. There is, however, an oral semaglutide pill called Rybelsus. It’s licensed for type 2 diabetes, and some doctors prescribe it “off-label” for weight management—but it’s not formally authorised for obesity.
Novo Nordisk—the company behind Wegovy and Rybelsus—is developing a new slimming pill called amycretin. Early trial results look promising, but the drug is still in clinical studies, so it isn’t available on prescription yet.
What is Amycretin?
It’s a brand new weight loss pill in development that makes you feel full, so you eat less.
Like Wegovy weight loss injections, amycretin acts like the natural hunger hormone GLP-1. But it also mimics another hormone called amylin, which is released when you eat and influences appetite.
This dual action suggests that Amycretin could be a more potent medicine than Wegovy.
How does Amycretin work for weight loss?
Amycretin brings on the effects of the hormones GLP-1 and amylin, two gut hormones that affect our appetite.
GLP-1 tells your body to release insulin when you eat (while telling your liver to make less glucose, to help keep your blood sugar under control), slows your digestion, and communicates with your brain to keep cravings at bay.
Amylin also slows digestion, helps blood sugar stay stable, and signals to the brain that you’ve had enough to eat.
FYI: It’s still in the early phases of clinical trials, so we’re still learning about how Amycretin affects the body.
Benefits of Amycretin
Again, we don’t have loads of data here because Amycretin is still in development. Though from what we do know, it looks like Amycretin could be more effective than Wegovy for weight loss.
In a phase 1 trial, Novo Nordisk reported that people lost 13.1% of their initial weight after taking the highest strength of Amycretin for just three months. And in a more recently completed trial looking at the injectable version of amycretin, people on a 20mg/week dose lost 22% of their starting weight after 36 weeks.
By comparison, the average body weight loss in Wegovy was around 13% after 36 weeks. At the 68-week mark, the mean loss was 14.9%. However, a new trial testing a higher 7.2 mg dose of Wegovy reported a 20.7% average loss over 72 weeks—indicating improved outcomes at higher doses, though still slightly below what’s been seen with Amycretin so far.
What are the side effects of Amycretin?
Mostly, Amycretin side effects that are being reported are to do with the gut—like nausea and vomiting. This is similar to Saxenda, Wegovy, and Mounjaro.
But because amylin appears to act on the brain rather than the gut, it’s been suggested that Amycretin could increase feelings of fullness while reducing the risk of gastrointestinal symptoms. Though we need more evidence to confirm that’s the case.
Amycretin vs other weight loss medications
Okay, but how does Amycretin stack up against other weight loss medicines? We don’t really know enough about Amycretin to compare it to other medicines just yet. But we can look at the research we do have to get a rough idea. Let’s dive in.
How they work
We’ve touched on this briefly. Amycretin works by acting like the two hormones GLP-1 and amylin. Mounjaro, Wegovy, and Saxenda weight loss injections all mimic the effects of hormones, too. But they do that in slightly different ways.
Wegovy and Saxenda act like GLP-1, whereas Mounjaro behaves like GLP-1 and another hunger hormone called GIP.
Novo Nordisk’s CagriSema (currently in trials) also targets GLP-1 and amylin, similar to Amycretin—but as a weekly injection rather than a pill. Another amylin-based therapy in development is petrelintide, which focuses solely on mimicking amylin to regulate appetite.
All of these medicines make you feel full, so you eat less.
Orlistat (Orlos) works in a different way. It lowers your overall calorie intake by reducing the amount of fat you digest from your food.
Weight loss results
Based on clinical research:
- The average weight loss in people taking 14mg Rybelsus was 5% after 26 weeks compared to placebo.
- Roughly two in five people taking orlistat lose at least 10% of their starting weight after 52 weeks.
- On average, after taking Saxenda for 52 weeks, people lost 7.4% of their starting weight.
- People lost 14.9% of their body weight after 68 weeks on Wegovy, and 20.7% after 72 weeks on a 7.2mg dose.
- For those taking Mounjaro for weight loss, the mean drop in weight was 25.3% after 88 weeks.
- With Amycretin pills, people on a 20mg dose lost 22% of their starting weight after 36 weeks.
A caveat: We still need to know what Amycretin weight loss results look like over the long term. With weight loss medication, there comes a point where results naturally plateau, and we haven’t seen that happen yet in clinical research.
That means that we don’t know how much weight loss is possible on Amycretin. But we should find out as clinical trials progress.
Side effects
What about side effects? We’ve mentioned that Amycretin pill side effects are similar to Mounjaro side effects or those from other weight loss injections like Saxenda or Wegovy.
Because of how they act on the gut to slow digestion, the most common symptoms of all of these medicines are gut-related—think nausea, constipation, diarrhoea, and vomiting. Side effects are usually mild and clear up on their own, though.
Orlistat also affects the gut but has its own list of side effects. Stomach pain, incontinence when passing stools, runny or liquid stools, and needing to go to the toilet more often are some of the most common symptoms.
When will Amycretin be available?
For a medicine to be approved, regulators have to assess the results of completed clinical trials to decide whether it’s effective and safe to take.
Amycretin is still in the early stages of clinical research, so it could be a few years before it’s available.
Novo Nordisk has said that it is confident amycretin will be ready to launch sometime before 2030.
Science-backed weight management
It could take some time for Amycretin to become available in the UK. But there are plenty of other weight loss medications out there that can help you reach your goals.
There’s Saxenda, Wegovy, or Mounjaro weight loss injections—or Orlistat weight loss capsules if you prefer taking a pill. Your provider (like us!) will advise on which is best for you personally.
At Voy, you’ll get monthly medication posted to you plus one-to-one support from our team of coaches and clinicians through our weight loss programme. It’s backed by science and designed to drive long-term lifestyle transformation.
We’ll help you build healthy habits that last—and will be right there with you at every step, cheering you on. We know you’ve got this!
Take our quiz to find out if you’re eligible for the programme. Our clinicians will review and come back to you within minutes.
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