We have delivered the first in-human trials of a new pill designed to aid weight loss by reducing hunger.

Key facts

• Over 4 in 10 adults around the world are overweight

• Weight-loss drugs have become very popular, but they are not suitable or available to everyone

• Our trial showed a new expanding pill helped one in four participants lose between 5 and 10 percent of their body weight

A major health problem

Two thirds (64%) of UK adults are overweight or living with obesity. It is a major health problem, costing the NHS billions of pounds each year.

Obesity increases the risk of many serious health conditions, including type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer.

Current treatments include surgery and new-generation weight loss drugs and injections. However, these are expensive and not available to everyone. There are also side effects and risks when taking them.

An expanding pill

We partnered with Oxford Medical Products (OMP) to run the first-in-human trial of a new pill called Sirona, designed to reduce hunger.

Participants lost up to 13.5% of their body weight in just six months. On average, people who had a BMI between 30 and 35 lost 6.4% of their body weight.

Participants also ate on average 400 fewer calories per day compared to those taking a placebo. For context, recent Government-led research suggests that even a 216-calorie daily reduction could cut the UK’s obesity rate in half.

Sirona is a dual-polymer hydrogel pill, made from two types of safe materials that expand in the stomach. It doesn’t use drugs or chemicals to change how your body works.

It makes you feel full faster, helping you eat less without needing strong medications or injections.

Improving accessibility

Weight loss injections such as Ozempic or Mounjaro have become very popular - around 1.5 million people in the UK use them. However, a significant proportion of users pay out of pocket and prices have recently doubled for some doses.

The pill has been designed to help two main groups of people.

It could benefit those who are overweight (with a BMI between 25-30). The majority of these people are ineligible for weight-loss injections but want to stop their weight from progressing into obesity.

It could also support people who are coming off weight-loss injections such as Ozempic or Mounjaro and want to avoid regaining weight after stopping treatment. It is estimated around 70% of patients regain weight within one year of stopping weight-loss injections.

Sirona aims to be much cheaper, easier to tolerate, and available to more people.

We are now planning to test the pill in a wider group of people in the UK and the United States.