GLP-1 medicines in Europe · Checked 16 August 2026
Which GLP-1 medicines are approved in Europe?
Semaglutide and tirzepatide are authorised in both the European Union and the United Kingdom. Retatrutide is not authorised anywhere in the world. Each molecule has its own tracker below, with every regulatory decision dated and sourced, and none of the speculation.
Track each molecule
One page per molecule. Each carries its own dated timeline of regulatory decisions, what is still pending, and which countries actually pay for it.
Semaglutide
Ozempic · Wegovy · Rybelsus · Kayshild
Authorised in the EU and the UK. The weight-loss tablet arrived in 2026: the UK on 11 June, the EU on 15 July.
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Tirzepatide
Mounjaro
Authorised in the EU and the UK for diabetes and weight. Three further indications were refused in 2026.
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Retatrutide
No brand name, still experimental
Not authorised anywhere in the world. No European filing has been announced. Seven steps still separate it from a pharmacy here.
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What is the actual difference?
The three names get used interchangeably online. They are not interchangeable. The difference is how many receptors each one activates, and that is what drives both the results and the risks.
| Semaglutide | Tirzepatide | Retatrutide | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receptors it activates | 1: GLP-1 | 2: GLP-1 and GIP | 3: GLP-1, GIP and glucagon |
| Type | Single agonist | Dual agonist | Triple agonist |
| Average weight loss in trials | About 15 percent | About 20 percent | About 24 percent at 48 weeks, 28.3 percent at 80 weeks on the top dose |
| How it is taken | Weekly injection, or a daily tablet | Weekly injection | Weekly injection in trials |
| European Union | Authorised | Authorised | Not authorised |
| United Kingdom | Authorised | Authorised | Not authorised |
| Head to head evidence | SURMOUNT-5, 72 weeks, 751 people: tirzepatide 20.2 percent against semaglutide 13.7 percent. One open-label trial, run in the United States. | None. It has never been tested against either of them. | |
More receptors is not automatically better. Glucagon activation is what makes retatrutide different, and it is also the part with the least long-term safety data behind it. The full comparison, including the older molecules.
What changed recently
The last few confirmed developments across the whole GLP-1 field in Europe. Dated here, sourced on the linked pages.
- The UK authorised orforglipron, the first GLP-1 tablet with no food restrictions, becoming the first country in Europe to do so. The EU has not. The family compared.
- A Dutch court blocked the sale of compounded semaglutide, narrowing the pharmacy exemption. There is still no legal generic semaglutide in Europe before 2031.
- The European Commission approved the Wegovy tablet, oral semaglutide 25 mg, for all 27 member states.
- France's medicines agency warned against peptides sold online, naming retatrutide, and stated plainly: never use a product marked "for research use only". France legal status.
- France became the first EU country to reimburse GLP-1 medicines for obesity itself, at 65 percent under strict criteria. Access country by country.
Where each molecule stands in Europe
Approval status differs by country, and the United Kingdom now decides separately from the European Union. That distinction gets lost on most sites written for a United States audience.
| Molecule | Receptors it targets | European Union | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiraglutideVictoza, Saxenda | GLP-1 | Authorised | Authorised |
| SemaglutideOzempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus | GLP-1 | Authorised | Authorised |
| TirzepatideMounjaro | GLP-1 and GIP | Authorised | Authorised |
| OrforglipronFoundayo, taken as a tablet | GLP-1 | Not authorised | Authorised 10 Aug 2026 |
| RetatrutideNo brand name, experimental | GLP-1, GIP and glucagon | Not authorised | Not authorised |
Retatrutide is not authorised in any country. It is an experimental drug still in clinical trials. Full trackers: semaglutide, tirzepatide, retatrutide.
Staying safe, wherever you get GLP-1 medicines
Fake pens have put people in hospital, half the tested online sellers were scams, and none of it is obvious from a product photo. These pages are the checks.
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The tells regulators published, the batch numbers known to be fake, and the barcode system a pharmacy pack carries that a parcel from Instagram never will.
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Is that online pharmacy legal?
Every legal online seller in the EU must link to a national register. How to check it in your country, and the scam patterns documented by regulators.
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Independent peptide testing, explained
What a private analysis costs, what it can prove, and the hard limits nobody selling you anything will mention.
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How to read a certificate of analysis
What HPLC purity and mass spectrometry results tell you, and the four things they cannot.
Is it legal where you live?
Selling it as a medicine is illegal everywhere in Europe. What that means for a private individual differs by country, and the differences are bigger than most people assume.
Importing by post is prohibited and investigations do follow seized parcels. Possession itself is not the offence.
The agency that names retatrutide in its warnings, and website sellers face up to seven years. Buyers sit differently.
Fines up to a million euros for sellers, a three-month rule for travellers, and a 33-arrest operation in 2025.
The strictest law of the four: even holding an unauthorised medicine is prohibited, with no personal-use exception.
Understand the science
The background reading, in the order that makes it easiest to follow. No prior biology needed.
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What is GLP-1, and what does it do in the body?
A hormone your gut already makes after you eat. Everything else follows from that.
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The GLP-1 family: which molecule targets what
Semaglutide hits one receptor, tirzepatide two, retatrutide three. Why that changes the results, and where the EU and UK have diverged.
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What "research use only" actually means in law
A phrase borrowed from diagnostics regulation. EU law contains no definition of it at all.
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Prescription access in Europe, country by country
Approved across the EU, paid for almost nowhere. The map, and what changed in France in June 2026. Try the checker against your own numbers.
What this site is and is not
Plainly stated
- Nothing is sold here. There are no products, no prices, and no links to buy anything.
- No dosing, no protocols, no instructions for use. Those decisions belong with a doctor who knows your history.
- Every factual claim is sourced to a peer-reviewed paper, a regulator, or a trial registry, and dated so you can see how fresh it is.
- This is not medical advice. It is background reading. If you are considering any of these medicines, speak to a doctor or a pharmacist.
- Ownership is disclosed. GLP1 Europe is published by the same company that operates RetaNord, a European research peptide supplier. Nothing on this site is written to sell you anything, and you will not find a link to that shop here.