Sirona dual-polymer hydrogel aims to bridge gap in obesity treatments

Sirona - a dual-polymer hydrogel pill - could soon offer a new and affordable weight management treatment, following a successful clinical trial involving University of Bristol researchers.

Sirona developed by Oxford Medical Products is a hydrogel-based pill that is designed to aid weight loss by reducing hunger. After it is swallowed, the pill expands in your stomach, making you feel full faster. This helps you eat less without needing strong medications or injections.

In the trial, 39 participants in Southampton took part at the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility. The participants lost up to 13.5% of their body weight in just six months. On average, people with class 1 obesity (BMI 30–35) lost 6.4% of their body weight. Participants also ate on average 400 fewer calories per day compared to those taking a placebo. For context, recent Government-led research suggests that even a 216-calorie daily reduction could cut the UK's obesity rate in half.

The trial was led by chief investigator Professor James Byrne, a consultant surgeon at University Hospital Southampton, in the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Center.

"Obesity is a chronic and often progressive disease. With obesity rates continuing to rise, these results are an important step towards providing a different treatment option,” said Bryne. “This trial demonstrated Sirona could be a safe, affordable, and non-pharmacological treatment to support long-term weight management."

Sirona will be accessible to anyone with a BMI 25–40, which means Sirona is particularly well-suited to help two key patient types.

Firstly, for patients with an overweight BMI (25–30), allowing them to proactively manage their weight and to avoid progressing into obesity and the serious health problems it can bring. Secondly, it is suitable for use as an ‘off-ramp’ for GLP-1 users looking to come off treatment but prevent weight regain, which often occurs once GLP-1 medication ceases.

GLP-1 medications have become very popular for weight loss, with around 1.5 million users in the UK. However, a significant proportion of users pay out of pocket and prices have recently doubled in the UK for some doses of Mounjaro. Sirona aims to be much cheaper, easier to tolerate, and available to more people.

"GLP-1 medications perform an important role in helping those with a BMI in the obese range to lose weight and reduce weight-related health risks. There is, however, a real opportunity for a new style of treatment to work in a complementary way to GLP-1s, in a format that is significantly less expensive, and with better tolerability and therefore more accessible for the majority,” said Camilla Easter, CEO of Oxford Medical Products. "Sirona has demonstrated amazing results during testing with UK hospitals, which have now been externally peer-reviewed. Next, we are setting sights on commercial UK release plans, targeting 2027 to make Sirona available."

The pill was well tolerated during the 24-week study. Importantly, no serious adverse events were reported during the trial. Sirona was well tolerated (95% of patients adhered to the dosing regimen at 12 weeks) and demonstrated a safety and side effect profile.

OMP is planning a pivotal study in the UK and US to further assess the effectiveness of Sirona and confirm these results. The novel weight loss treatment will aim for a 2027 UK commercial launch.

The findings were reported in the paper, ‘A Randomized, Double‐Blind, Placebo‐Controlled Pilot Trial With Open‐Label Extension of Sirona, a Hydrogel for Weight Loss’, published in Obesity. To access this paper, please click here