As of 9 October 2026, Singapore's registered weight-management medicines include tirzepatide and semaglutide injection (Singapore NDF; Singapore NDF). None of the newer medicines is registered here, including the 25 mg semaglutide tablet and CagriSema (HSA register). Retatrutide and orforglipron are not registered in Singapore, and GetLean does not prescribe or supply them. GetLean does prescribe and supply HSA-registered GLP-1 medications, after a consultation with Dr Quek.
A 25 mg semaglutide tablet and orforglipron are approved in other countries but not in Singapore. CagriSema has been submitted to the US FDA, and retatrutide, zenagamtide, UBT251 and several others are in clinical trials. An approval abroad does not register a medicine in Singapore: that is a separate decision by the Health Sciences Authority. Individual results vary and are not guaranteed.
For the short version (what GLP-1 is, whether it is legal here, what it costs at GetLean and how to start), see GLP-1 in Singapore.
For tirzepatide and semaglutide injection, registered in Singapore:
Availability in Singapore. This medicine is registered with Singapore's Health Sciences Authority, and its registered indication includes weight management. Which medicine suits a particular person, if any does, is decided by the doctor who assesses them — we do not promote a named product.
For the semaglutide 25 mg tablet and orforglipron, approved abroad:
Availability in Singapore. This medicine is not available in Singapore. It is not registered with the Health Sciences Authority, so no doctor here can prescribe it and there is no legitimate local supply. Anything offered under this name in Singapore is coming from outside the regulated system, and what that actually means is set out here.
For CagriSema, retatrutide, zenagamtide, UBT251 and the other medicines in trials:
Availability in Singapore. This is an investigational medicine. It is not registered with Singapore's Health Sciences Authority, and it has no approved application with the United States Food and Drug Administration either, so it cannot be prescribed in either country. Anything offered for sale under this name is not what the trials studied.
Education only. This page is general education about medicines, most of which are not registered in Singapore. It is not an advertisement or an offer. GetLean does not prescribe or supply any medicine on this page that is not registered in Singapore, and nothing here recommends using one.
Registered in Singapore: listed on the Health Sciences Authority's register of therapeutic products, which is what allows a doctor here to prescribe a medicine in the ordinary way. "Approved abroad" means approved by another country's regulator, which does not register a medicine here.
How to read the tables
Each row gives where the medicine stands, the main trial with its name, phase and estimand, and what the evidence says about stopping. "None found" in the stopping column means that the sponsor announcements, trial-registry records and published abstracts read for this page report no result on stopping or maintenance for that medicine on 9 October 2026. It does not mean none will appear. The list is not every medicine in development.
Which weight-loss medicines are registered in Singapore?
| Medicine | Where it stands | What the evidence says about stopping | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tirzepatide (sold here as Mounjaro), Eli Lilly | Registered for weight management and for type 2 diabetes (Singapore NDF). The name used for tirzepatide in the United States is explained on that page. | SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN (phase 3b): after 60 weeks on tirzepatide, people who stepped down to 5 mg were 16.6% below their starting weight at week 112, against 21.9% on the 10 or 15 mg dose they had reached and 9.9% after switching to placebo; modified treatment-regimen estimand, Lilly-funded (Horn 2026). | Tirzepatide label page; coming off tirzepatide; a lower maintenance dose |
| Semaglutide injection (sold here as Wegovy), Novo Nordisk | Registered for weight management. The registered text also allows a 7.2 mg weekly dose after at least 4 weeks on 2.4 mg, given as three 2.4 mg injections (Singapore NDF). Abroad, the 7.2 mg dose was launched in the United States in April 2026 and, as a single-dose pen, in the United Kingdom in June 2026 (Novo, August 2026). | STEP 1 extension (phase 3 extension, semaglutide 2.4 mg, exploratory): the medication and the lifestyle support were stopped overnight at week 68, with no taper, and about two-thirds of the lost weight came back within a year (Wilding 2022). | Semaglutide label page; semaglutide 7.2 mg; coming off semaglutide |
Weight loss injections in Singapore sets out how the registered injections are given and what they cost.
Which medicines are approved abroad but not registered in Singapore?
| Medicine | Where it stands | What the evidence says about stopping | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semaglutide 25 mg tablet (sold abroad as the Wegovy pill), Novo Nordisk | Approved in the United States on 22 December 2025 (Drugs@FDA). Launched in the United Arab Emirates in June 2026 and the United Kingdom in July 2026, and approved in the European Union in July 2026 (Novo, August 2026). Not registered in Singapore: the only semaglutide tablet on the register is the 3, 7 and 14 mg tablet for type 2 diabetes (HSA register; Singapore NDF). Main trial: OASIS 4, phase 3, 307 adults (Wharton 2025). | None found for the 25 mg tablet. The STEP 1 extension result above concerns the injection. | Oral semaglutide 25 mg; the registered semaglutide tablet |
| Orforglipron (Foundayo), Eli Lilly | Approved in the United States on 1 April 2026 (Drugs@FDA) and the United Kingdom on 10 August 2026 (MHRA). Not registered in Singapore. ATTAIN-1, phase 3, 3,127 adults: −7.5%, −8.4% and −11.2% on 6, 12 and 36 mg against −2.1% at 72 weeks, treatment-regimen estimand (Wharton 2025). | ATTAIN-MAINTAIN (phase 3b, 376 adults): adults who had been on tirzepatide or semaglutide were randomised to orforglipron or placebo. Those whose weight had plateaued kept 74.7% (after tirzepatide) and 79.3% (after semaglutide) of their weight reduction at week 52 on orforglipron, a statistically significant difference from placebo; treatment-regimen estimand. No arm continued the injection (Aronne 2026). | Orforglipron page |
Which medicines have been submitted for approval?
| Medicine | Where it stands | What the evidence says about stopping | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| CagriSema (semaglutide with cagrilintide), Novo Nordisk | Submitted to the US FDA on 18 December 2025, with a decision anticipated by late 2026 (Novo, December 2025; Novo, February 2026). Not registered in Singapore. REDEFINE 1, phase 3a: −20.4% against −3.0% at 68 weeks, treatment-policy estimand (Garvey 2025). REDEFINE 4, phase 3, open-label, against tirzepatide 15 mg: the primary goal of non-inferiority was not achieved, −20.2% against −23.6% on the treatment-regimen estimand (Novo, February 2026). | No results yet. REDEFINE 8 includes a one-year extension in which people who had CagriSema continue it or have the dose slowly reduced, and REDEFINE 11 has an 80-week maintenance extension (ClinicalTrials.gov). | CagriSema page |
Which medicines are in clinical trials?
No approval for any of these was found in the sources checked, and none is registered in Singapore.
| Medicine | Where it stands | What the evidence says about stopping | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retatrutide, Eli Lilly (a triple agonist) | Phase 3. TRIUMPH-1 (2,339 adults, 80 weeks): −17.6%, −23.7% and −25.0% on 4, 9 and 12 mg against −3.9%, treatment-regimen estimand, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 29 September 2026 (Jastreboff 2026). Lilly plans to submit to the US FDA in the first quarter of 2027 (Lilly, September 2026). Outside clinical trials, Lilly releases retatrutide only through a pre-approval expanded access programme, first posted in June 2026 and shown as available when last verified in August 2026, for a small group of adults with severe obesity who cannot join a trial, on their own doctor's request and where Lilly makes it available (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07629401). | None found in the TRIUMPH-1 abstract or in Lilly's September 2026 announcement of the full TRIUMPH-2 results, which notes only a 4-week follow-up after treatment (Jastreboff 2026; Lilly, September 2026). | Retatrutide page; side effects; the reta peptide warning |
| Zenagamtide (formerly amycretin), Novo Nordisk | Phase 3 (AMAZE programme, 15 registered trials) began in 2026 (ClinicalTrials.gov). Phase 2 in type 2 diabetes, 262 adults, 36 weeks: up to −14.60% at 40 mg against −2.10%, on-treatment without rescue medication (Novo, June 2026). | None found. AMAZE 12, a phase 3 trial on maintaining weight loss (606 adults), is registered with estimated primary completion in June 2028 (ClinicalTrials.gov). | Novo Nordisk's next medicines |
| UBT251, Novo Nordisk with United Biotechnology (a triple agonist) | Phase 2. Chinese trial in type 2 diabetes, 211 adults, 24 weeks: up to −9.8% against −1.4% on placebo, efficacy estimand. Novo's global phase 2 trial in overweight or obesity has topline data expected in 2027 (Novo, March 2026). | None found. | Novo Nordisk's next medicines |
| Survodutide, Boehringer Ingelheim (glucagon and GLP-1 receptors) | Phase 3. SYNCHRONIZE-1 (725 adults, 76 weeks): −12.2% on 3.6 mg and −13.0% on 6.0 mg against −5.4%, treatment-regimen estimand (le Roux 2026). | None found. | None yet |
| Maridebart cafraglutide ("MariTide"), Amgen | Phase 3. MARITIME-1 (3,853 adults without diabetes) and MARITIME-2 (1,105 adults with type 2 diabetes) are no longer recruiting, with estimated primary completion in January 2027 (ClinicalTrials.gov). | None found. | None yet |
| Eloralintide and EloraTZP, Eli Lilly (amylin receptor agonist, alone and with tirzepatide) | Eloralintide: phase 3 ENLIGHTEN-1 (1,980 adults) began in February 2026 (ClinicalTrials.gov). EloraTZP: phase 2b in adults with obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes, 367 adults, 48 weeks, up to −23.3% against −14.8% for tirzepatide 15 mg alone, efficacy estimand (Lilly, September 2026). | None found. | None yet |
| Petrelintide, Roche (an amylin analogue) | Phase 2 complete. ZUPREME-1 (493 adults, 42 weeks): up to −10.7% against −1.7%, efficacy estimand; Roche says the data will inform the design of phase 3 (Roche, March 2026). | None found. | None yet |
Retatrutide and orforglipron in Singapore: what is actually coming
What the trial phases mean
Phase 2 and phase 3: phase 2 finds the dose and looks for a signal, usually in a few hundred people. Phase 3 tests that dose at scale, against a comparator, in the population the medicine is meant for — usually thousands. A phase 2 result is a reason to run phase 3, not a result to plan around.
This is the single most useful thing to hold while reading anything else about the pipeline. Numbers move between the two stages, in both directions, and that is the ordinary functioning of the process rather than a scandal.
Orforglipron — approved, in another country
What is different about it is chemical rather than commercial. It is a small molecule, not a peptide — so unlike the semaglutide tablet, it does not need a formulation built around carrying a fragile peptide past the stomach. That is what makes a conventional once-daily tablet possible. The peptide-tablet problem, and the product that solves it differently, is covered in the tablet, and what it is for.
Read the top dose against the injectables' own trials and it sits below them. Convenience and effect size are pulling in different directions here, which is a real trade rather than a disappointment. The side effects the US label reports, and the trials behind these figures, are in Orforglipron (Foundayo) side effects and trial results. Foundayo vs Wegovy pill: which works better? sets its trials beside the Wegovy pill's.
CagriSema — phase 3 results, no approval
A co-formulation of semaglutide with cagrilintide, a long-acting analogue of amylin — a different appetite-regulating hormone from GLP-1, acting through a different pathway. The idea is that two pathways together do more than one.
REDEFINE 1 randomised 3,417 adults. Gastrointestinal adverse events affected 79.6% of the treatment group against 39.9% on placebo, mainly transient and mild to moderate (Garvey 2025).
Retatrutide — the number that needs its phase attached
Retatrutide acts at three receptors: GIP, GLP-1 and glucagon.
The figure that first circulated came from a phase 2 trial. In 338 adults, least-squares mean weight change at 48 weeks was −24.2% at 12 mg against −2.1% with placebo (Jastreboff 2023).
Phase 3 results have since been announced, and the first papers are out. Lilly says six phase 3 studies have now reported positive results (Lilly, October 2026). In TRANSCEND-T2D-2, reported on 28 October 2026, adults with type 2 diabetes lost an average of 19.5% and 20.9% on retatrutide 9 mg and 12 mg versus 9.4% on semaglutide 2 mg at 80 weeks, measured as if everyone had stayed on treatment (Lilly, October 2026). In TRIUMPH-1, which followed 2,339 adults without diabetes for 80 weeks, average weight change was −19.0%, −25.9% and −28.3% on 4 mg, 9 mg and 12 mg against −2.2% on placebo, measured as if everyone had stayed on treatment; counting everyone regardless, the figures were −17.6%, −23.7% and −25.0% against −3.9% (Lilly, May 2026). TRIUMPH-2, in people with type 2 diabetes, and TRIUMPH-3, in people with a BMI of 35 or above and established cardiovascular disease, reported up to −20.8% and −22.6% on the same measure (Lilly, July 2026). TRIUMPH-1 and TRIUMPH-2 were published on 29 September 2026, in the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. Their main analyses count everyone, giving −25.0% and −18.8% on 12 mg against −3.9% and −5.1% on placebo (Jastreboff 2026; Bellido 2026). The TRIUMPH-3 figures are still Lilly's topline announcement. Individual results vary and are not guaranteed. Is Reta stronger than Mounjaro? sets these results beside Mounjaro's, as separate trials.
Lilly plans to apply to the US FDA in the first quarter of 2027 (Lilly, July 2026), and a trial of its effect on heart and kidney outcomes is expected to complete in 2029 (ClinicalTrials.gov).
What a pooled analysis says about all three
A 2026 network meta-analysis of 262 trials and 99,791 participants placed them against a common comparator at one year, and attached a certainty grading to each — which is the part worth reading.
Cagrilintide-semaglutide came out at −14.8% and orforglipron at −9.9%. The emerging agents, retatrutide among them, were estimated at 13.1% to 14.6% — with very low to low certainty. Discontinuation because of adverse events was among the highest with orforglipron and with CagriSema (Nong 2026). Those are pooled trial averages, and individual results vary.
Two things fall out of that. The certainty grading on the newest agents is low precisely because the evidence is thin, which is what "emerging" means. And the pattern the analysis found across all 19 drugs it examined was that larger benefits generally came with greater harms and more people stopping.
What does the evidence say about stopping across these medicines?
For the two medicines registered here, the main results are the STEP 1 extension, where semaglutide and lifestyle support were stopped overnight with no taper and about two-thirds of the lost weight came back within a year, and SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN, where people who stepped down to a lower tirzepatide dose held more of the loss than people switched to placebo. Among the newer medicines, ATTAIN-MAINTAIN is a maintenance trial with results, and it tested a tablet after an injection. For CagriSema and zenagamtide, trials built to ask about slow dose reduction and about maintaining weight loss are running without results. For the rest, none has been found. When results arrive, the measure that matters for planning an exit is what happens to weight as the dose comes down.
At GetLean, the programme is designed to end: our philosophy is that GLP-1 medication should act as a catalyst — not something to depend on indefinitely. The plan for coming off is the GetLean GLP-1 Taper Plan: after hitting your goal weight with the right nutrition and exercise habits built, the dose is stepped down at Dr Quek's monthly reviews towards your lowest effective dose and, where clinically appropriate, off the medication. While the medication keeps appetite quiet, daily WhatsApp coaching builds the eating pattern and the training habit that hold the result, and Dr Quek brings the dose down at the monthly reviews rather than stopping it overnight. After the taper, coaching and reviews can continue. Individual results vary, and a prescribed medicine should never be stopped or changed on one's own. How to come off GLP-1 in Singapore sets out the plan, with how a planned taper works, how much weight comes back after stopping and planning the exit from day one in more detail.
For someone starting a GLP-1 for the first time
The medicines registered here for weight management are the ones a doctor in Singapore can prescribe in the ordinary way. A newer medicine abroad does not change what can be prescribed here, and no date has been announced for any of them. Whether to do something now, or nothing, is a conversation to have with a doctor who has assessed the person, not a decision to make against a calendar that has not been published. Nothing on this page is a reason to act today either. Anything sold in Singapore as one of the unregistered medicines is not what the trials studied.
For someone already on a GLP-1 with another doctor
A newer medicine would change the mix of hormones or the dosing routine. It would not change that the choice of medicine and dose belongs to the prescribing doctor, or that a plan for bringing the dose down is part of any course of treatment. None of the medicines in the second to fourth tables can be prescribed in Singapore, so none changes what a current doctor can offer, and nothing here is a reason to stop or change a prescribed medicine.
How this page was checked
Status is as of 9 October 2026. Singapore's register of therapeutic products was downloaded in full (5,511 records, approvals up to 8 July 2026) and searched for each medicine named here, and HSA's listing of approvals (updated 30 September 2026) and the National Drug Formulary product text were read (HSA register; HSA approvals). Approvals and trial figures come from regulators' records, sponsors' announcements, published abstracts and ClinicalTrials.gov. HSA warned on 25 September 2026 that unapproved injectable peptides still in development are being marketed online (HSA 2026).
Common questions
Which weight-loss medicines are approved in Singapore?
The medicines registered here for weight management include tirzepatide (sold as Mounjaro) and semaglutide injection (sold as Wegovy) (Singapore NDF; Singapore NDF). Which medicine suits a person, if any does, is decided by the doctor who assesses them.
Which new weight-loss medicines are approved abroad but not in Singapore?
A 25 mg semaglutide tablet is approved in the United States and the European Union and has been launched in the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, and orforglipron is approved in the United States and the United Kingdom; neither is on Singapore's register (Drugs@FDA; Novo, August 2026; MHRA; HSA register). An approval abroad does not register a medicine here.
Is retatrutide approved anywhere?
No. HSA states that no regulatory authority, including HSA, has approved it as a medicine (HSA 2026), and it is not on Singapore's register (HSA register). Lilly plans to apply to the US FDA in the first quarter of 2027 (Lilly, July 2026).
Where does the 24% figure for retatrutide come from?
A phase 2 trial of 338 adults, in which least-squares mean weight change at 48 weeks was −24.2% at the 12 mg dose against −2.1% with placebo (Jastreboff 2023). Phase 2 is the dose-finding stage. Lilly has since announced phase 3 results: in TRIUMPH-1, −28.3% at 80 weeks on 12 mg against −2.2% on placebo, as if everyone had stayed on treatment (Lilly, May 2026). Counting everyone regardless of whether they kept taking it, the trial's paper in the New England Journal of Medicine gives −25.0% (Jastreboff 2026). Individual results vary and are not guaranteed.
How does an oral GLP-1 tablet differ from the semaglutide tablet?
Orforglipron is a small molecule rather than a peptide, so it does not need the absorption workaround that a peptide tablet is built around. That is a genuine chemical difference rather than a formulation tweak — and it is the reason a once-daily conventional tablet is possible at all.
When will the newer weight-loss medicines arrive in Singapore?
No date has been announced for any of them in this market. Registration here is a separate application assessed by HSA, on a timetable nobody outside the process knows.
Should I wait for a newer medicine before starting a GLP-1?
Nothing here supports a date, so whether to start now or not is a conversation with the doctor who assesses the person rather than a decision against a calendar. Medicines registered here for weight management already exist, and nothing on this page is a reason to act today either.
I'm already on a GLP-1 with another doctor. Does a newer medicine change anything?
None of the medicines in the second to fourth tables can be prescribed in Singapore, so none changes what a current doctor can offer. Which medicine and dose suit someone is the prescribing doctor's decision, and a prescribed medicine should never be stopped or changed on one's own.
What does the evidence say about stopping a GLP-1 medication?
In the STEP 1 extension the medication and lifestyle support were stopped overnight with no taper, and about two-thirds of the lost weight came back within a year (Wilding 2022). For most newer medicines no stopping or maintenance results have been reported yet; the table sets out what exists for each.