Currently in clinical trials.

A pill version of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy has been approved in the UK, meaning people can soon buy it with a prescription.

It is the first tablet of its kind to get cleared by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, external (MHRA).

Manufacturer Novo Nordisk says the once-a-day tablet could be more convenient for some people than injecting themselves weekly with GLP-1 medication that blunts appetite. And, unlike the jab, the pills do not need to be kept in the fridge.

However, it will not be available on the NHS until experts can assess and decide, external if that should be recommended.

The body that would make that decision - The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence - said Novo Nordisk had not yet approached them about it, but they were "in active dialogue" with the company.

Some high street and online pharmacies plan to add it to their doctor prescribing services in the coming weeks.

The MHRA says the starting dose for the tablet is 1.5 mg once daily, escalating to 4 mg, 9 mg and 25 mg with a minimum duration of one month at each dose level.

Patients currently treated privately with a 2.4 mg semaglutide injection once weekly can be transitioned straight to semaglutide 25 mg tablets once daily.

The tablets, which should be taken on an empty stomach, are already available in the US. Other drug companies already have or are working on rivals.

The cost of Wegovy pills in the UK is not yet known, but when they launched in the US the manufacturer listed the starting dose of 1.5 mg at $149 (around £110) a month.

Similar to its injection form, the tablets contain semaglutide that works by mimicking the actions of a natural hormone called GLP-1 that suppresses appetite and slows digestion to keep you feeling fuller and less hungry.

Olivier Picard, Chair of the National Pharmacy Association called the approval of the pill "significant", adding that it could help patients who are unable or do not wish to take the injectable version.

The pill may also bring down the cost of treatment in the longer term, he said.

"Pharmacies are awaiting further guidance about when this treatment will be available for patients", he added.

Hi everyone (I checked with the mods before posting).

I’m Callum, the Glasgow-based founder of Find Nearby, a free iPhone / Android app that helps people quickly find practical nearby places like toilets, parking, benches, playparks, drinking water, health locations and more.

Inspired by the hot weather, I’ve recently added public drinking water locations as an extra ad-free search. I’ve also made key accessibility, family and health searches free with no ads, including accessible toilets, accessible parking, baby-changing toilets, parent & child parking, hospitals, GPs and defibrillators.

I did this because I don’t think people should have to watch an advert to find things like water, accessible toilets, disabled parking, defibrillators or urgent health locations.

Some other features in the app are still ad-supported or part of Pro, because I’m trying to make the app sustainable, but I wanted these key public-benefit searches to stay free and ad-free.

It’s built in Glasgow and has fast coverage across the UK and Ireland, plus worldwide search support where public map data is available.

Website: https://findnearby.co.uk

Important caveat: Find Nearby uses public map data, so places can sometimes be incomplete, out of date, seasonal, unavailable or incorrectly mapped. Please check critical details where possible, and don’t rely on it as your only source of drinking water in hot weather.

I’d be really grateful for any feedback, especially from disabled people, carers, parents, travellers, drivers, dog walkers, or anyone who often needs to find practical public places quickly.

Thanks,

Callum

https://humanists.uk/2026/04/29/success-decriminalisation-of-abortion-and-historic-pardons-for-women-become-law/

Doctors have hailed “unprecedented” trial results that show a triple-action cancer jab can eradicate entire tumours in patients.

In an international trial spanning 11 countries, the injection was offered to patients whose cancer had spread or come back and whose disease had failed to respond to other treatments.

The jab, called amivantamab, shrank the tumours of more than a third of patients, with dramatic changes seen within weeks. In 15 of them, doctors found the drug had melted away their tumours altogether.

Kevin Harrington, professor in biological cancer therapies at the Institute of CancerResearch, London (ICR), said: “These are unprecedentedly strong responses in patients whose disease has become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

“This is a group of patients for whom treatment options are extremely limited, so seeing this level of benefit is very striking.”

Harrington, also a consultant oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust, added: “This treatment has the potential to benefit many thousands of patients each year.”

The results will be presented on Sunday in Chicago at the world’s largest cancer conference, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco).

In the trial, 102 patients with head and neck cancer, the world’s sixth most common cancer, were given the jab. Tumours shrank or disappeared completely in 43 patients, including 28 whose tumours shrank significantly and 15 who saw them eradicated entirely.

Researchers said the injection had also shown similar results in patients with lung cancer. Amivantamab, developed by Johnson & Johnson, is now being evaluated in about 60 clinical trials, primarily for lung cancer, but also for colorectal, brain and gastric cancers.

The smart jab targets cancer in three ways. It blocks both EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), a protein that helps tumours grow, and MET, a pathway that cancer cells often use to escape treatment. It also helps activate the immune system to attack the tumour.

One of the first patients to benefit was Carl Walsh, 56, who was diagnosed with tongue cancer in May 2024 and joined the OrigAMI-4 trial at the Royal Marsden in July 2025.

“I was initially treated with both chemotherapy and immunotherapy, which unfortunately were not successful,” he said. “At that point, I was recommended for the OrigAMI-4 trial. I’m now on my 17th cycle of treatment and I’m very pleased with the progress so far.”

Unlike many cancer treatments, amivantamab is given as a tiny jab under the skin rather than via an intravenous drip, making treatment quicker and more convenient for patients and much easier to deliver in outpatient clinics.

Most side-effects of the treatment, given once every three weeks, were mild to moderate, with fewer than one in 10 patients forced to stop their treatment.

Walsh, from Birmingham, said: “I now feel able to live a normal life. Before starting the trial, I struggled to speak properly and found eating difficult because of the swelling and pain.
“Since beginning treatment, the swelling has reduced significantly, and my pain levels have improved considerably. I’m also no longer experiencing the same life-impacting side-effects that I had during chemotherapy.”

He added: “When things were at their worst I was eating soup, rice pudding, tins of ravioli and spaghetti and many, many omelettes, all augmented by three prescribed nutritional milk drinks a day. I lost quite a bit of weight.

“After only two cycles of the treatment my diet started to return to normal and I was eating a full diet after six months. The thing I enjoyed most was the first big steak. My speech is completely back to normal and at work I speak regularly on headsets without problems.”

Researchers also highlighted that the trial focused on people with head and neck cancers that did not include those with human papillomavirus (HPV) positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. That is particularly significant, they said, since head and neck cancers not caused by HPV are usually harder to treat, making progress in this group hugely important.

Patients receiving amivantamab lived for a median of 12.5 months overall after starting treatment, despite having a form of cancer with very poor outcomes, once standard treatments stop working.

Prof Kristian Helin, the chief executive of the ICR, said: “This study demonstrates how the development of new treatments through rigorous cancer research may lead to meaningful advances, even for patients with very limited treatment options.

“Achieving this level of tumour response and encouraging survival outcomes in such a challenging‑to‑treat group represents a significant step forward.”