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Disposition and Absolute Bioavailability of Orally Administered Orforglipron in Healthy Participants.

Clin Pharmacol Drug Dev · 2026

Last updated 2026-05-28

In two small studies with healthy adults, researchers tested how the body absorbs and processes orforglipron, an oral GLP-1 drug. About 79% of the drug taken by mouth was absorbed into the bloodstream, and most of it (87%) was later eliminated through feces, with only 0.2% removed in urine over 384 hours. The drug was mostly found unchanged in the blood, with small amounts of two minor breakdown products.

AI summary of the abstract below.

JournalClin Pharmacol Drug Dev, 2026
Citations2
Molecules orforglipron

Abstract

Orforglipron is a non-peptide, oral glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist under development for glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes and weight management in people with obesity. Two phase 1, open-label studies evaluated the disposition and absolute bioavailability of orforglipron in healthy adults. Study A participants (N = 10) received a 1-mg orforglipron oral capsule while fasting and an intravenous dose of ∼21 µg of [14C]-orforglipron. Study B participants (N = 6) received an oral solution of 3 mg of orforglipron with ∼200 µCi of [14C]-orforglipron while fasting. In study A, total plasma radioactivity and [14C]-orforglipron were measured by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/AMS, while orforglipron was measured by HPLC/MS. The mean absolute oral bioavailability of orforglipron was 79.1% ± 16.8%. In study B, urine and feces were analyzed for total radioactivity. Metabolic radioprofiling was performed on selected plasma and fecal samples by HPLC/high-resolution MS. The primary route of elimination for [14C]-orforglipron-related radioactivity was via the feces (87% ± 2.8%) with minimal urinary excretion (0.2% ± 0.02%). Total recovery of administered radioactivity was 88% over 384 hours after the dose. Metabolite profiling from study B showed that orforglipron underwent extensive oxidative metabolism, followed by microbial metabolism of the oxadiazolone ring. Orforglipron was the most abundant plasma component (93.3%) with minor oxidative metabolites M7 (3.3%) and M23 (1.6%).

Verbatim abstract via PubMed 40888509 ↗

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