Britons can lose weight by following a healthy diet, eating in a slight calorie deficit, and keeping active.
But a new development in weight loss drugs may also take the world by storm in the next 10 years.
Amycretin is the work of Wegovy developer Novo Nordisk. Wegovy is the brand name for semaglutide and is taken to manage overweight and obesity.
Clinical trials indicate that when used alongside diet, physical activity, and behavioural support, Wegovy users can achieve up to a 15 per cent reduction in body weight after one year.
There has been an exciting new development in the weight loss world
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But it's possible that Amycretin could blow Wegovy out of the water with its speedy results. Reports say that Amycretin has been hailed as a "miracle" by some users.
Amycretin is currently being tested in a phase 1 trial. During its 2024 Capital Markets Day, Novo Nordisk revealed that the early results of the trial suggest that amycretin is potentially more effective than Wegovy in obese people.
After 12 weeks of taking the drug, patients on amycretin lost about 13.1 per cent of their weight, compared to just 1.1 per cent of patients taking a placebo drug.
This is more than double the amount of weight loss seen in participants who took Wegovy over a similar time frame (six per cent).
If Amycretin does reach the market, its faster results may not be the only reason patients want to go for it rather than Wegovy.
Amycretin will be administered as a daily pill, while Wegovy is injected once per week.
Novo Nordisk has reassured potential users that the drug is safe and tolerable. The side effects reported were in line with its other GLP-1 drugs, including nausea, vomiting, constipation, and diarrhoea.
The pharmaceutical company shared that Amycretin's mid-stage trial will start in the second half of this year, according to Novo Nordisk, with results expected in early 2026.
So how does amycretin work? Like Wegovy, amycretin mimics the appetite-reducing gut hormone GLP-1. It also mimics amylin.
A piece published in the journal Molecular Metabolism said that one of amylin's "best-characterized effects" is the reduction in eating and body weight seen in preclinical and clinical studies.
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Wegovy is injected once per week
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A researcher at Canada's University of Toronto Daniel Drucker, told New Scientist: "This approach seems to be a little bit more exciting, from the limited data that we have." But he added that far more data is needed, plus a head-to-head comparison to other drugs.
As for when the drug is likely to hit the market, Novo Nordisk's Executive Vice President of Development, Martin Holst Lange told Reuters: "I never commit to timelines but I would be very comfortable to say at the very least within this decade."
He also shared that in the amycretin trial, more than 80 per cent of the participants were still on the drug after 12 weeks. Lange described this as an "impressive" retention rate.
Britons hoping to slim down can see fast results with healthy diet changes. A weight loss expert revealed the best high-protein food that breaks down fat and keeps you feeling full.
