LONDON — Britain’s medicines regulator authorized Eli Lilly’s weight-loss pill Foundayo on Monday, making the United Kingdom the first country in Europe to approve the once-daily tablet for both weight management and type 2 diabetes.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, known as the MHRA, cleared the drug, known chemically as orforglipron, for use in adults with a body mass index of 30 or above, as well as for adults with a BMI between 27 and 30 who have at least one weight-related health condition, when used alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity. The authorization also covers improving blood sugar control in adults whose type 2 diabetes is not adequately managed through other treatments.

Despite the approval, the regulator noted the tablet is not currently accessible through Britain’s National Health Service. “Whilst this tablet is approved for use in the UK,” the MHRA said in its announcement, decisions on NHS availability would follow the agency’s standard evaluation process. That process includes a review by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, known as NICE, which is expected to publish its guidance on orforglipron for managing overweight and obesity on November 18.

A Lilly spokesperson told Reuters that Foundayo will launch in the UK later this month through private prescription. The spokesperson said the drug’s private list price in the UK would undercut that of Mounjaro, Lilly’s injectable weight-loss treatment, which currently lists for £330 for a month’s supply, though the company did not disclose specific pricing details for the new pill.

Monday’s approval marks the second oral GLP-1 medication cleared for use in the UK, following Novo Nordisk’s approval for its Wegovy pill in June, intensifying competition between the two pharmaceutical giants in an increasingly crowded weight-loss drug market. That market has long been dominated by injectable therapies from both companies, though oral treatments are rapidly gaining ground even as injectables remain the market leaders due to their established efficacy and convenient once-weekly dosing schedules.

Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, welcomed the approval, calling it “another significant day with a second weight-loss pill to be available.” He said the development was particularly meaningful for patients who are unable or unwilling to use injectable medications, expanding the range of treatment options available to those seeking pharmacy-based care.

Clinical trial data submitted in support of the drug’s approval showed meaningful results for patients. In the Phase 3 ATTAIN-1 trial, which enrolled more than 3,100 adults with obesity, participants who took the highest 36-milligram dose of orforglipron for 72 weeks lost an average of 11.2% of their body weight, compared with 2.1% among those who received a placebo. More than half of participants on the highest dose, 54.6%, achieved at least a 10% reduction in body weight. Results from the trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Orforglipron works by mimicking glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone the body naturally releases after eating that acts on regions of the brain responsible for regulating appetite, helping patients feel fuller for longer while reducing hunger and food cravings. Treatment begins at a low dose of 0.8 milligrams and is gradually increased through several dose levels, up to a maximum of 17.2 milligrams, with patients generally spending at least one month at each dose level before advancing further. The most commonly reported side effects include nausea, constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, indigestion and abdominal pain.

Foundayo’s primary advantage over its main rival lies in convenience. The pill can be taken once daily at any time, without restrictions around food or water intake. By contrast, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill must be taken on an empty stomach with a small amount of water, followed by a 30-minute wait before eating, drinking or taking other medications.

Foundayo’s UK approval follows a swift authorization process in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration ccleared the drug in April as part of a program designed to accelerate reviews of high-priority medications, completing its assessment of Lilly’s application in roughly 50 days. Lilly Chair and Chief Executive David Ricks said at the time that the company believed Foundayo could help “level the playing field” for people living with obesity or weight-related complications, describing it as convenient, once-daily obesity care designed for real-world use. Since its U.S. launch, insured patients have been able to access the drug for between $149 and $349 per month depending on dosage.

The drug is also under active regulatory review in the European Union, where Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill has already received a positive recommendation from the European Medicines Agency, with a final approval decision still pending from the European Commission. Foundayo has also secured approval in the United Arab Emirates, where regulators cleared the drug earlier this year, making the UAE the second country in the world, after the United States, to register the medication.

With both major GLP-1 drugmakers now racing to establish their oral treatments across international markets, Monday’s UK approval further intensifies the competitive landscape between Lilly and Novo Nordisk, as both companies look to capture growing global demand for convenient, pill-based alternatives to their established injectable weight-loss and diabetes treatments.

This article discusses regulatory approval of a prescription medication and is intended for general informational purposes; anyone considering treatment for obesity or type 2 diabetes should consult a doctor or pharmacist about whether a specific medication is appropriate for their individual health needs.

Commercial property dealmaking across the Asia Pacific climbed to unprecedented levels in the first half of 2026, with investors pushing capital into the region despite headwinds from rising energy costs, currency swings, and supply chain strain, according to new data from JLL.

Asia Pacific commercial real estate investment volumes rose 38% year on year to USD $45.5 billion in the second quarter, JLL reported. That brought first-half volumes to a record USD $92.5 billion, a 35% increase from the same period a year earlier.

Japan remained the region’s largest market in the quarter, with investment volumes of USD $10.6 billion, as activity increased across all major property sectors. 

Core investors concentrated on office assets, while value-add buyers targeted industrial properties offering rents below market rates. Data centre demand in Japan stayed strong, underpinned by domestic data sovereignty policies and investment tied to generative artificial intelligence, a sign that technology-linked property continues to draw capital even amid broader geopolitical uncertainty.

Australia recorded USD $8.9 billion in second-quarter investment, up 82% year on year and its strongest quarterly total since the second quarter of 2021. 

Four large portfolio transactions drove much of the growth, with listed REITs, unlisted trusts, developers, and private investors active in the industrial sector, while retail assets also drew renewed buyer interest.

Singapore recorded one of the region’s sharpest jumps. Second-quarter volumes rose 108% year on year to USD $6.7 billion, driven largely by two major deals: CICT’s USD $3 billion acquisition of Paragon Mall from Cuscaden Peak, and IOI Properties’ USD $1.9 billion purchase of Asia Square Tower 2 from CICT.

Hong Kong posted the fastest growth rate in the region, with volumes up 129% to USD $3.1 billion, fuelled by a recovery in retail and office deals, including several linked to assets under receivership. 

India’s market, though smaller in absolute terms, expanded as well, with second-quarter volumes reaching USD $1.6 billion, up 23% year on year, led by office assets, where investment volumes rose 125% on the back of domestic funds, developers and REITs.

Investors Turn Defensive

Across the region, investors continued favouring sectors and markets seen as more resilient, with uncertainty expected to remain a defining feature for the rest of the year. 

Offices held up particularly well in core cities, where limited new supply supported pricing and rents, with demand shaped more by asset quality than by commodity or energy costs.

Data centres were also viewed as relatively insulated from geopolitical tensions, with demand tied to artificial intelligence and cloud spending staying stronger than expected even as broader capital expenditure turned more cautious. 

South Korea, meanwhile, remained a market where elevated interest rates continued to widen the gap between buyer and seller expectations.

Stuart Crow, Chief Executive Officer of Asia Pacific Capital Markets at JLL, said the scale of transactions this quarter shows that capital remains abundant even as investors navigate a difficult geopolitical backdrop. He added that the return of mega-deals in both office and retail demonstrates that large global investors are capitalising on repriced premier core assets.

Pamela Ambler, Head of Investor Intelligence for Asia Pacific at JLL, said investors are pivoting toward sectors with strong structural demand, such as data centres in Japan and logistics in Australia, or toward assets offering quicker yield stabilisation, such as Hong Kong’s recovering office market.

Other People are Reading

House edge and RNG are two phrases that anyone who spends time in cryptocurrency casinos ultimately encounters and which explain nearly everything about whether a game is worthwhile.

To be fair, they sound technical, but knowing them makes all the difference between gambling with your eyes open and simply tossing money into a machine and hoping.

What the House Edge Actually Means

Every casino has a mathematical advantage over the players known as the House Edge. So, let’s say there’s a 3% house edge on a game; this means that the casino would statistically win almost 3% of the total amount spent if you played the game a specific number of times.

This concept isn’t just limited to crypto casinos, but is also true for traditional online platforms as well. Neither did Blockchain gambling invent this rule, nor does it eliminate it. What it does change is how visible that edge can be. Because of the open-source nature of crypto games, it is easy to track the house edge, and some platforms even advertise the exact percentage for every game. This makes crypto gambling and casinos much preferable to regular ones.

Typical House Edges by Game Type

Different game types carry very different edges:

• Crypto dice games: usually sit in the 1-2% range
• Slots: often much higher, sometimes north of 5%, depending on the title and provider
• Blackjack: with optimal strategy, can drop below 1%, making it one of the better value bets available
• Roulette: typically lands around 2.5-3%, depending on whether it’s single or double-zero

Knowing where a game falls on this spectrum matters more than most players realize. A slot with a flashy jackpot can still be a much worse long-term bet than a plain-looking dice game with a smaller edge.

Where RNG Comes In

RNG stands for random number generator, and it’s the engine behind every dice roll, card shuffle, or slot spin in an online casino. In a well-designed system, the RNG produces outcomes that are statistically unpredictable and can’t be gamed by players or manipulated by the operator after the fact.

Traditional online casinos rely on RNG software that’s typically certified by third-party testing labs, but players still have to take the certification on faith.

The Provably Fair Alternative

Crypto platforms introduced a variation on this called provably fair gaming, which lets players verify, mathematically, that a given outcome wasn’t tampered with. The mechanism usually works like this:

1. Before a bet, the platform generates a server seed and shows players a hashed version of it.
2. Players can also contribute a client seed of their own.
3. After the outcome is determined, the original server seed is revealed.
4. Anyone can independently recalculate the result to confirm nothing was altered mid-game.

It’s a clever workaround for the trust problem that’s plagued online gambling for decades, and it’s one of the more genuinely useful applications blockchain tech has found in this space.

Why the Combination Matters

House edge and RNG work together, not separately. A perfectly fair RNG doesn’t mean a game is a good bet; it just means the built-in house edge is being applied honestly, without the added risk of a rigged algorithm stacking the odds even further against you.

Conversely, a favorable house edge means little if the underlying RNG can’t be trusted, since there’d be no way to know whether the game is actually operating within its stated odds.

Where Newer Players Get Tripped Up

This is where things get tricky for newer players in the space:

• Not every platform advertising provably fair games is actually publishing verifiable seed data
• Some sites quietly inflate their house edge on specific games without disclosing it clearly
• Marketing terms like fair or audited don’t always mean what they imply, especially on smaller or unlicensed platforms

Comparing platforms on both fairness mechanics and posted edges is a genuinely useful exercise before depositing anywhere, and outlets that cover the crypto gambling industry in depth tend to be a decent starting point for cross-checking which platforms have a track record worth trusting.

The Practical Takeaway

None of this makes crypto gambling a winning proposition in the long run; the house edge exists precisely so that operators stay profitable, and no amount of transparency changes that basic math. What provably fair systems and published edges do offer is something online gambling has historically lacked: a way to verify you’re being treated fairly within the rules of a game that was always designed to favor the house.

If you’re going to gamble with crypto, a few habits go a long way:

• Treat the house edge as the cost of entertainment, not an obstacle to beat
• Use RNG verification tools when they’re available to confirm a game is running as advertised
• Set limits before you start playing, not after
• Expect to lose more often than you win, statistically speaking
• Never wager more than you’re fully comfortable losing

Beyond that, the same rules that apply to any form of gambling still apply here; crypto just changes the wrapper, not the math underneath it.

The Gloucestershire-headquartered group has hailed the ‘strength’ of its business model

Gloucestershire-based industrial engineering firm Spirax has reiterated its full-year guidance after delivering a “resilient” half-year performance.

Revenues at the Cheltenham maker of steam management systems were up five per cent to £863.8m compared to the same period in 2025, while adjusted operating profit rose to £171.1m from £158.8m a year earlier.

The FTSE 100 company said on Tuesday (August 11) that “continuing momentum” in end markets such as semiconductors and biopharm, along with a strong order book, was underpinning expectations for second half revenue and profit growth.

Nimesh Patel, group chief executive, said: “We have again delivered resilient mid-single-digit organic growth in revenue and profit, well ahead of IP.

“Driving growth ahead of our markets, in spite of external conditions, is now becoming embedded in how we operate and demonstrates the strengths of our business model and strategic positioning in diversified and attractive end markets.”

Mr Patel said Spirax’s ‘Together for Growth’ strategy was strengthening the group’s differentiated business model, while its “competitive leadership and resilience” were driving organic growth at high margins and improving returns on capital.

“We remain on track to deliver the medium-term targets we set out for the Group in October 2024; and above these targets in the longer term,” he added.

The comany’s interim dividend was up three per cent to 50.4p per share.

Spirax is made up of three businesses – steam thermal, electric thermal and fluid technology – and employs some 10,000 staff across 68 countries. It has 30 manufacturing plants around the world.

Last year, the group announced a restructure which it said would realise annual savings of around £35m to fund investment in future organic growth. The cash costs to deliver the programme were mostly incurred in 2025.

The latest developments have strengthened investor sentiment around Jupiter Wagons as the company continues to expand its presence across India’s freight mobility and energy-storage markets.

Rs 211 crore Wagon Orders from JSW Group, OASPL

Jupiter Wagons Limited secured two orders worth a combined Rs 211.27 crore, including GST, from JSW Port Logistics Private Limited and Orissa Alloy Steel Private Limited (OASPL).

The company signed a Rs 147.11 crore Letter of Intent (LoI) with JSW Port Logistics for the manufacture and supply of 7 BOSM rakes comprising 329 wagons.

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This latest order marks Jupiter Wagons’ second order from the JSW Group in just six weeks. Earlier in June 2026, the company received a Rs 122.88 crore order from JSW (South) Rail Logistics Private Limited.
With the latest win, Jupiter Wagons’ cumulative order intake from the JSW Group has climbed to approximately Rs 270 crore in less than two months, highlighting the group’s continued confidence in the company’s manufacturing and execution capabilities.In a separate order, OASPL placed a purchase order worth Rs 64.16 crore for the manufacture and supply of 150 wagons under the LSFTO Scheme.

Together, the two orders are expected to further strengthen Jupiter Wagons’ order book and capitalize on the rising demand for modern freight transportation solutions from industrial and logistics players.

BESS Business adds another Rs 400 crore opportunity

Adding another layer to the stock’s positive news flow, Jupiter Wagons has also emerged as the successful bidder for two standalone Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects with a combined capacity of 100 MW/400 MWh in West Bengal.

The projects, located at Jeerat and Kharagpur, were awarded by West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (WBSEDCL) through e-reverse auctions under the Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) route.

The projects will be executed and operated through Jupiter Electric Mobility (JEM), a subsidiary of Jupiter Wagons.

The BESS projects involve an estimated Rs 400 crore investment/order opportunity and will operate under a 15-year Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model with WBSEDCL. This long-term arrangement is expected to provide greater revenue visibility while expanding Jupiter Wagons’ footprint in India’s rapidly developing energy-storage market.

Following the latest wins, JEM’s BESS order book has increased to approximately 500 MWh, valued at more than Rs 500 crore.

The company is targeting a BESS order book of around Rs 1,000 crore by FY27, reflecting its ambitions to build a sizeable presence in India’s emerging energy-storage industry.

Jupiter Wagons Share Price: Technical View

Jupiter Wagons shares rallied 4.48% to Rs 268.95 during Tuesday’s session on the NSE. Despite the sharp move, the stock remains well below its 52-week high of Rs 372.85.

At current levels, the company commands a market capitalisation of around Rs 11,000 crore.

On the technical front, the stock’s 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands at 48.5, indicating that the stock is neither in the oversold nor overbought zone. Typically, an RSI below 30 is considered oversold, while a reading above 70 indicates overbought conditions.

The stock is currently trading above five out of eight key Simple Moving Averages (SMAs), indicating a relatively constructive technical setup.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

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It would have been about 25 minutes’ drive from the South West transport hub

Plans to establish a long-stay car park for Bristol Airport passengers on the fringes of the Mendip Hills in Somerset have been rejected on appeal. Jane Vosper submitted an application in December 2025 to develop the car park near the Badgworth Arena, just outside Axbridge and around 25 minutes’ drive from the airport.

Somerset Council turned down the planning application in late March, contending that it would “give rise to significant and harmful levels of noise”, severely impacting the quality of life of local residents.

The Planning Inspectorate has since upheld the council’s ruling, with inspector Juliet Rogers concluding that residents were “likely to experience disturbance to an unacceptable level”.

The proposed car park would have been based at the entrance to the Badgworth Arena on Badgworth Lane, on hardstanding land adjacent to Beech Tree Farm.

The development would have comprised 19 spaces – of which 15 would have been standard long-stay bays and 4 would have been electric vehicle charging points.

Ms Vosper said the car park’s prospective operator would have provided a shuttle service between the site and the airport, with the charging points partly utilised to power these shuttle vehicles, thereby cutting carbon emissions.

A spokesperson for the family said: “Our clients would not be looking to expand the facility any larger than the proposed 15 spaces, as their calculations suggest that if they maintained a 50 per cent occupancy level for cars across the year, the income generated would be sufficient to support the ongoing viability of Badgworth Arena.”

Ms Rogers visited the site in June and published her final ruling before the council’s planning committee north (which handles major applications within the former Sedgemoor area) convened in Bridgwater on Tuesday afternoon (August 11).

Drawing on current flight schedules from the airport, she concluded that the proposal would generate considerable noise in the early hours of the morning, potentially disturbing the sleep of neighbouring residents.

She said: “The evidence before me indicates that flights to and from Bristol Airport commence at 6am, with the last arrivals just before 1am.

“This would result in passengers needing to arrive at the site any time from 2am to allow for a 30-minute journey time to the airport for arrival, up to three hours ahead of departure (in the case of international, non-European flights).

“Passengers returning and arriving at the airport at around 1am would be unlikely to return to their vehicle before 2am depending upon the efficiency in the airport arrival procedures.

“Therefore, the proposal could result in noise associated with comings and goings at any time during a 24-hour period.

“At night, as the noise from the proposed use would be accentuated by the absence of other background noise, existing occupiers would be likely to experience disturbance to an unacceptable level.”

Ms Rogers noted that this impact “would be heightened” during the summer months, when demand for the facility was expected to peak and many local residents would have their windows open.

She further stated: “Such a disturbance can have a significant effect on quality of life, particularly sleep, and can lead to chronic health effects.

“While the appellant has confirmed that bookings will be ‘cherry-picked and coordinated to avoid early-morning and late-evening flights (as well as same sex groups of passengers), it is unclear how this will be achieved or managed..

“In addition, as acknowledged by the appellant, this could not be enforced and there would be nothing to prevent a future owner accepting such bookings.”

Badgworth Arena typically hosts around two events per week at its equestrian centre, with approximately 40 lorries or horse boxes attending each occasion.

Ms Rogers argued this usage “does not justify the increase in night-time activity”, asserting that light spill from the headlights of turning vehicles would “significantly affect the perception of tranquillity in the area”.

She concluded: “The proposal would harm the living conditions of existing occupiers of nearby properties, and would result in unacceptable noise and disturbance impacts.”