Wegovy pill approved across the European Union
The European Commission granted marketing authorisation for Novo Nordisk's once-daily oral semaglutide 25 mg Wegovy pill for adults with obesity or with overweight and at least one weight-related comorbidity, in combination with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity. The decision follows a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use issued in May 2026 and makes Wegovy the first GLP-1 receptor agonist available in tablet form for weight management across all European Union member states, according to the company.
The approval rests on the OASIS phase 3 clinical programme, which evaluated once-daily oral semaglutide at 25 mg and 50 mg in roughly 1,300 adults with obesity or overweight with comorbidities. In the 64-week OASIS 4 trial of 307 adults, oral semaglutide 25 mg produced clinically meaningful and statistically significant weight loss of approximately 17 percent compared with 3 percent on placebo alongside lifestyle intervention, with one in three participants losing 20 percent or more of their body weight. The safety profile was consistent with that of injectable semaglutide, with adverse-event-related discontinuations of 6.9 percent for oral semaglutide versus 5.9 percent for placebo. The company said the EU authorisation is the fifth regulatory approval for the Wegovy pill, after the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, with additional country launches planned for the second half of 2026.
US cyclospora outbreak spans 34 states
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 6,000 infections and more than 200 hospitalisations in a cyclospora outbreak that has spread to 34 states, with no deaths reported so far. Michigan is the hardest-hit state, reporting more than 3,700 cases, according to the state's health department. Additional cases have been recorded in New York, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, Indiana and New Jersey. The CDC said infected individuals became sick after eating food in the United States and did not report any travel during the 14 days before becoming ill.
Investigators are working to identify the source, with fresh produce such as lettuce and other salad vegetables among the leading suspects, although no official confirmation has been issued. Taco Bell said it voluntarily removed some fresh ingredients from selected US restaurants as a precaution, emphasising that health officials have not identified the company, its restaurants, suppliers or ingredients as the source of the outbreak. Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal disease caused by the parasite Cyclospora, which can produce watery and sometimes explosive diarrhoea; symptoms typically appear within a week of ingestion and can persist for weeks if untreated.
DNA repair drug shows early-stage promise in Alzheimer's mouse model
A drug originally developed to repair DNA damage in spinal cord injury has reduced brain-cell DNA breaks and inflammation in a mouse model of early Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in FEBS Open Bio. The compound, KCL-286, has already passed human phase 1 safety trials for spinal injuries and can cross the blood-brain barrier. Researchers gave KCL-286 to mice genetically modified to produce amyloid plaques and to wild-type mice, observing more repaired neuronal double-strand DNA breaks, partly through upregulation of the BRCA1 repair factor. The drug also modified the activity of microglia and astrocytes, the brain's immune and support cells.
The authors note that effects were more pronounced in cortical brain regions than in the hippocampus, the area most associated with memory loss as Alzheimer's progresses, suggesting the drug may be more effective in earlier disease stages. Experts interviewed by the publication emphasised that the results are preclinical and that many such therapies fail to translate to patients, calling for a carefully designed clinical study in people with early, biomarker-confirmed Alzheimer's disease. The compound targets the protein tyrosine phosphatase sigma receptor, which is involved in limiting nerve repair after injury.
Jenscare completes first LuX-Valve Plus implantations in pivotal trial
Jenscare Scientific announced that it has successfully completed implantations in the first batch of enrolled subjects in an FDA-approved pivotal registration trial for its LuX-Valve Plus transvenous tricuspid valve replacement system. The device recently received EU MDR CE certification, and the global multi-centre study is comparing LuX-Valve Plus head-to-head with Edwards Lifesciences' EVOQUE system in patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation across sites in the United States, Canada and several European countries. The trial is described by the company as a major step in its international expansion, although Jenscare cautioned that there is no guarantee the device will ultimately be successfully commercialised. Jenscare, listed in Hong Kong, develops minimally invasive structural heart therapies.
Follow-up signals
Novo Nordisk plans additional country rollouts of the Wegovy pill in the second half of 2026, while US federal investigators continue to trace the source of the cyclospora outbreak and Taco Bell monitors its precautionary removals. Jenscare's pivotal trial is expected to enrol additional patients at international sites, and researchers studying KCL-286 have urged clinical testing in people with early, biomarker-confirmed Alzheimer's disease.
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