Medpal AI celebrates UK authorisation for Eli Lilly weight loss pill
MedPal AI PLC on Tuesday welcomed the news that the UK is the first European country to authorise Eli Lilly & Co's Foundayo weight loss pill, with its founder stating that the "direction of travel is unmistakable".
MedPal shares were 7.9% higher at 4.37 pence on Tuesday afternoon in London. In the New York pre-market, Eli Lilly was down 0.2% at USD1,229.00.
The London-based digital health and AI company said that oral GLP-1 tablet orforglipron, brand name Foundayo, 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.
Additionally, the UK Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency's authorisation covers glycaemic control improvement in patients with "insufficiently controlled" type 2 diabetes.
MedPal noted that this is the second UK oral GLP-1 weight loss authorisation since the MHRA approved Novo Nordisk's oral semaglutide tablet in June.
The firm's subsidiary MedPal Ltd was approved as an authorised purchaser of Eli Lilly pharmaceutical products in the UK in January. MedPal also has direct supply agreements with both Lilly and with Novo Nordisk for GLP-1 drugs.
Indianapolis, Indiana-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly expects to launch Foundayo in the UK later this month, MedPal said, although it has not yet announced pricing.
The pill is not currently available on the NHS and remains subject to evaluation by the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence, MedPal noted, adding: "Private provision, the market in which the group's dedicated GLP-1 clinic New Health...operates, is presently the only route to access."
"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," MedPal Founder & Chief Executive Officer Jason Drummond commented. "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."
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