The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves a weight loss pill from Novo Nordisk, therefore giving the Danish drugmaker an edge in the race to market a potent oral medication to shed pounds as it looks to regain its lost ground from rival Eli Lilly. The new pill is 25 milligrams of semaglutide, which, by the way, is the same active ingredient in injectable Wegovy as well as Ozempic and will be sold under the Wegovy brand name. It is worth noting that Novo already sells an oral semaglutide for type 2 diabetes called Rybelsus.
A 64-week, late-stage study demonstrated that participants who took 25 mg of oral semaglutide once a day went on to lose an average of 16.6% of their body weight, as compared with 2.7% for those on a placebo. The pill was given a nod for chronic weight management within adults with obesity or overweight and a minimum of one related health condition, therefore widening the potential patient pool at a time when the insurers, employers, and governments are battling it out with spiraling healthcare expenses related to obesity. It could also help open the door to tens of millions of untapped patients in an international market, forecast to be somewhere around $150 billion a year by the next decade. As per chief AI officer Anand Iyer at Welldoc, a telehealth firm, there is going to be a huge uptake in the patient base that is about to be seen as new indications open up and as the oral versions hit the market. Novo’s executive vice president of U.S. operations, David Moore, said that a daily pill could also boost the interest and uptake of the drug. Novo is apparently manufacturing the pill in the United States in North Carolina and has been building up supplies of the pill for quite some time now to ensure that it has enough supply.
Around 40% of American adults are obese, as per the U.S. government data, and almost 12% say that they are at present on GLP-1 drugs, as per a poll published in November 2025 by KFF, the health policy research organization. Novo apparently had a first-to-market advantage in terms of injectables; however, it initially struggled to meet that explosive demand. Eventually, Lilly went ahead with its Zepbound, which now goes on to lead when it comes to weekly U.S. prescriptions. Novo, along with analysts, says that a weight-loss pill would very well address the injection hesitancy and hence lead to expansion in access.
According to managing director and partner at BCG, Christopher Chrisman, the pills are not going to displace or replace the injections, adding that some patients may prefer to go ahead with their weekly injections. However, the pills do offer clear benefits to some people. There is indeed a level of travel convenience and no requirement to have a fridge,” he added. Novo remarked that the 1.5-milligram starting dose of the Wegovy pill is going to be available in early January 2026. Novo as well as Lilly had gone on to agree to provide starter doses in terms of their weight-loss pills at $149 for every month for the U.S. government Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs and also to cash-paying customers through the direct-to-consumer TrumpRx site from the White House.
Novo recently slashed the cash price for Wegovy to $349 per month, from $499. Mike Doustdar, the Novo CEO, said that in November 2025, people making use of the weight-loss drugs showed more consumer-like behavior as compared to its traditional diabetes patients, therefore acknowledging that the company is required to adapt to this and also bring in the new expertise. Whether another semaglutide product can go ahead and solve the current ills of Novo remains to be seen. The weight loss pill from Novo Nordisk, oral semaglutide, has to be taken in the morning on an empty stomach, which is 30 minutes prior to eating, drinking, or using any kind of other oral medication.
