When Will Oral Tirzepatide Be Available? (October 2026)

01 · The answer

Is oral tirzepatide available in the UK?

No. Mounjaro is a once-weekly injectable made by Eli Lilly, supplied as a pre-filled KwikPen in six strengths from 2.5mg to 15mg.¹

If you see pills, drops or sprays described as oral tirzepatide, treat them with caution. They are not licensed UK medicines, and our guide to Mounjaro pills explains why. Genuine prescription treatment follows a consultation reviewed by a GPhC-registered prescriber.

02 · Your options

What can you do instead?

If you want a tablet, ask a prescriber about the licensed GLP-1 tablets. See our Wegovy pill and Foundayo pages for current details and prices. If you are happy with a weekly injection, the Mounjaro pen is in stock across all six doses. For the wider picture, read when oral GLP-1 will be available.

03 · Licensed GLP-1 tablets

The GLP-1 tablets you can ask about

Two GLP-1 weight-loss tablets are now licensed in the UK: Wegovy tablets (oral semaglutide, made by Novo Nordisk), approved by the MHRA in June 2026, and Foundayo (orforglipron, made by Eli Lilly), approved in August 2026. They are different medicines from Mounjaro, with their own dosing, eligibility checks and trial results, and both are prescription-only.

Wegovy tablets are taken once a day on an empty stomach after fasting for at least 8 hours, swallowed whole with a sip of water (up to half a glass, about 120ml), and you then wait at least 30 minutes before eating, drinking or taking other tablets.²⁰ In the OASIS 4 trial, adults taking semaglutide 25mg tablets for 64 weeks lost on average 13.6% of their body weight, compared with 2.2% on placebo.²²

Foundayo can be taken at any time of day, with or without food and without water restrictions. In the ATTAIN-1 trial, people taking the highest dose for 72 weeks lost on average 12.4% of their body weight, compared with 0.9% on placebo.²¹²³ Individual results vary.

04 · Tablet or injection

Tablet versus Mounjaro injection

No trial has compared Mounjaro directly with either tablet, so results from separate trials, with different people, durations and doses, should not be set against each other as if they were head to head. SURMOUNT-5 is the trial that compared tirzepatide directly with injected semaglutide.¹⁵

The practical differences matter as much as the averages. Wegovy tablets need a strict empty-stomach routine every morning, Foundayo has no food or water rules, and Mounjaro needs one injection a week. A prescriber will check which option suits your health, your other medicines and your routine.

For reference, in SURMOUNT-1 people taking tirzepatide alongside diet and exercise lost on average 20.9% of body weight on 15mg over 72 weeks, compared with 3.1% with lifestyle changes alone.² That is a separate trial, not a comparison with the tablets.

05 · Access and NHS

NHS access to Mounjaro

Mounjaro is available on the NHS, but access is being phased in over several years. The primary-care rollout began in June 2025 with the highest-need groups first.⁶ See when Mounjaro will be available on the NHS for more, or availability in the UK generally.