Women taking the daily GLP-1 pill orforglipron lost weight before, during and after the menopause transition in a 72-week analysis of two trials, according to reporting by Healthline. The findings were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in Milan, held from 28 September to 2 October.
What the orforglipron analysis found in women
Researchers examined data from ATTAIN-1 and ATTAIN-2, grouping women by whether they were premenopausal, perimenopausal or postmenopausal. The research team included senior author Hunter Thomas Hoffman, a clinical research scientist affiliated with Eli Lilly, the drug’s manufacturer.
Average body-weight reductions reached up to 14% among women receiving orforglipron across the menopause categories, Healthline reported. This is an upper reported average, not a prediction that every woman taking the medicine would lose that proportion of her weight.
The analysis also examined changes in waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio. Waist measurements fell by up to 12.5cm, and more women taking orforglipron moved into lower waist-to-height ratio categories than women given a placebo.
Up to 83% of women receiving the medicine lost at least 5% of their starting weight, compared with 30% receiving placebo. Researchers also tracked the proportions reaching weight reductions of at least 10%, 15% and 20%, although Healthline’s account does not give those results.
The broad finding was that weight loss occurred at each menopause stage. However, the report does not provide a complete breakdown of treatment effects, doses or statistical comparisons between those groups. It therefore supports a more limited conclusion than a guarantee of equal benefit for women of every age.
How orforglipron and the ATTAIN trials fit into obesity treatment
Orforglipron is an oral GLP-1 receptor agonist. Medicines in this class act on pathways involved in appetite and blood-sugar regulation; for weight management, reduced hunger and greater fullness can help people eat less. Unlike the injectable formulations familiar to many patients, orforglipron is taken as a daily tablet.
Healthline reports that the drug, branded Foundayo, received US Food and Drug Administration approval for weight loss in April. It describes it as the second GLP-1 weight-loss pill to enter the US market after Wegovy. The supplied account does not specify the year of that approval or establish whether orforglipron is authorised or available through the NHS.
Oral treatments are becoming a distinct part of the weight-management discussion. Separate research covered in our reporting on weight loss after switching from injections to the Wegovy pill concerns a different medicine and should not be treated as evidence about orforglipron.
The two ATTAIN trials addressed different patient populations. ATTAIN-1 enrolled people with overweight or obesity who did not have diabetes; ATTAIN-2 enrolled people with overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes. Keeping those populations separate allowed researchers to examine outcomes in each clinical setting.
Healthline describes the women in the analysis as having obesity or overweight and at least one weight-related medical condition. It gives the BMI thresholds as 30 or above for obesity and 27 or above for the overweight trial population. Each reported group contained between 142 and 225 women receiving either orforglipron or placebo.
Menopause provides an important clinical context because declining oestrogen levels can contribute to changes in body composition and greater fat accumulation around the abdomen. A reduction of at least 5% in body weight is commonly considered clinically meaningful because it can improve measures such as blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol.
Waist measurements nevertheless remain distinct from evidence of fewer cardiovascular events. The outcomes described in this analysis concern weight and body measurements; they do not demonstrate that orforglipron prevented heart attacks or other complications in these women.
What doctors said about orforglipron and menopause
James J. Chao, chief medical officer and co-founder of VedaNu Wellness, told Healthline that the waist reductions particularly interested him. Chao, who was not involved in the research, highlighted the tendency for women to accumulate more abdominal fat after menopause and the health risks associated with that pattern.
He also pointed to the practical appeal of a tablet rather than an injection, including the absence of needles and refrigeration. Those features may influence treatment preferences, but convenience alone does not establish which medicine is most suitable for an individual patient.
Luca Moretti, a doctor at Sapienza University of Rome who was also uninvolved in the studies, emphasised an individual treatment plan encompassing nutrition, physical activity and management of other risk factors.
“When these measures are not sufficient, adding pharmacological treatment can be considered together with a physician,” he told Healthline.
Moretti advised discussing existing medical conditions, other medicines, possible side effects and personal preferences before choosing treatment. The wider need for careful assessment is also reflected in eating disorder specialists’ concerns about GLP-1 access.
What remains unanswered about orforglipron for women
The account does not provide adverse-event rates or the proportion of women who stopped treatment because of side effects. Without those figures, the weight-loss results cannot establish whether tolerability differed before, during or after menopause.
Nor does the analysis described compare orforglipron directly with another active weight-loss medicine. It cannot determine whether the tablet is more effective or better tolerated than injectable alternatives.
For UK readers, access remains a separate question from efficacy. A US approval does not itself confer UK authorisation or NHS availability, and Healthline’s report supplies no UK prescribing date. The reported results also stop at 72 weeks and do not answer how much weight women might regain after treatment ends.
