U.S. Approves Wegovy Weight-Loss Pill, a Move That Could Transform Health Care<\/p>\n
A pill version of the popular GLP-1 weight-loss drug Wegovy has been green-lit for use in the U.S. Here\u2019s what that means for health care<\/p>\n
By Lauren J. Young<\/a> edited by Claire Cameron<\/a><\/p>\n Bloomberg\/Contributor\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Weight-loss pills that harness the same mechanism as the wildly popular drugs Wegovy and Ozempic<\/a> are coming to the U.S.<\/p>\n On Monday Novo Nordisk announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved<\/a> its oral glucagonlike peptide 1 (GLP-1) medication for weight loss and obesity in adults.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a milestone for the industry, which has struggled to make effective pill versions of the weight-loss injections<\/a> for years. Most people are more comfortable taking a pill than regularly injecting themselves, says Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist at the University of Toronto, who previously consulted for Novo Nordisk. \u201cIt\u2019s just good to have more options for people,\u201d he says. At the same time, the pills could greatly improve access to the medication<\/a> by lowering costs\u2014the injections can cost hundreds of dollars per month out of pocket.<\/p>\n On supporting science journalism<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u201cPills are also easier to transport and produce,\u201d says Rozalina McCoy, an endocrinologist and internist at the University of Maryland, adding that she hopes the new FDA approval will increase access to the drugs.<\/p>\n Prior to that approval, Novo Nordisk, which also makes the injectable semaglutide drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, had seen promising results from its trials of the weight-loss pill, which will also be sold under the brand name Wegovy. In the company\u2019s latest phase 3 clinical trial, the highest dose of the pill resulted in a 16.6 percent weight loss at 64 weeks<\/a> compared with a 2.7 percent loss among those who took a placebo. For comparison, trials of 2.4 milligrams of Wegovy injections showed up to 17.4 percent weight reduction<\/a>. (The injection and pill were not compared in a head-to-head trial.)<\/p>\n GLP-1 drugs have transformed the weight-loss industry and revolutionized the treatment of metabolic disease<\/a>. But until now, they have largely been available in the U.S. only as injections. Novo Nordisk\u2019s pill for type 2 diabetes, Rybelsus, was approved by the FDA in 2019. But oral versions of these drugs haven\u2019t taken off in the same way as the injectables despite even early data<\/a> showing weight loss and health benefits to be relatively comparable.<\/p>\n The Wegovy pill, taken once a day, works similarly to the weekly injections\u2014mimicking the activity of a gut hormone<\/a> that slows down the speed at which people\u2019s stomach empties and that makes them feel fuller. People who take the pills tend to eat less overall. The side effects are pretty similar to those of injections of the drug, and they can include nausea, diarrhea and vomiting.<\/p>\n The pills must also be taken on an empty stomach to work effectively.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing else can be taken by mouth for at least 30 minutes to allow the medication to be absorbed into the bloodstream,\u201d says John Buse, an endocrinologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who is a consultant and investigator for Novo Nordisk. \u201cIf patients take the medication with other medications, food or even more water or coffee, the effectiveness is dramatically reduced.\u201d<\/p>\n The pill will be available in U.S. pharmacies and select telehealth providers in early January, a Novo Nordisk spokesperson told Scientific American. The starting dose of 1.5 mg is anticipated to cost $149 per month out of pocket but could be lower, depending on a person\u2019s insurance.<\/p>\n Importantly, Novo Nordisk\u2019s latest clinical trial success was based on the maximum daily dose of 25 mg, McCoy says. Unlike the injectables, which enter the bloodstream directly, the pills are broken down in the stomach, which means \u201cthe oral doses have to be much, much higher\u201d than the Wegovy injections, which cap at 2.4 mg, McCoy explains.<\/p>\n \u201cI expect that the effective doses of oral Wegovy will be much more expensive than the advertised $149, unfortunately. But I would love to see this medication be more affordable,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk told Scientific American that prices for higher doses will be shared in the new year. \u201cWe believe this is the most affordable self-pay price to date for a GLP-1 for weight loss,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Other companies are working on their own weight-loss pills: Eli Lilly, which makes Zepbound, is developing a GLP-1 pill, orforglipron, for weight loss and type 2 diabetes, with FDA approval anticipated for March 2026.<\/a> More pill options\u2014combined with other effective versions of these drugs<\/a> in the pipeline\u2014will open up the market and hopefully drive prices down, Drucker says.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re going to go in the next like 12 to 18 months from these two main [injection] options from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to half a dozen options in this class of medicines,\u201d Drucker says. \u201cThat\u2019s only going to be good for people. They\u2019ll have more choice.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/a>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts<\/a>, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters<\/a>, must-watch videos, challenging games<\/a>, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription<\/a>.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"December 23, 2025 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm U.S. Approves Wegovy Weight-Loss Pill, a Move…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-367891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-1807240274_wegovy_resize.jpg\")
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