{"id":392868,"date":"2026-01-07T01:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T01:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/392868\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T01:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T01:14:12","slug":"wegovy-weight-loss-pill-is-now-available-for-sale-in-u-s-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/392868\/","title":{"rendered":"Wegovy weight loss pill is now available for sale in U.S. – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk<\/a> is launching its once-daily Wegovy<\/a> pill in the United States on Monday, offering doses of 1.5 milligrams and 4 mg at $149 per month for self-paying patients in an intensely competitive weight-loss drug market.<\/p>\n

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The pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month<\/a>, a boon to Novo Nordisk as it looks to regain ground lost to U.S. rival Eli Lilly. Lilly has previously said it expects a decision in March for its own weight-loss pill.<\/p>\n

Novo\u2019s pill will also be sold in 9 mg and a higher long-term dose of 25 mg. The two higher doses will be priced at $299 for a month\u2019s supply, while the 4 mg dose will rise to $199 from April 15, the drugmaker\u2019s website shows.<\/p>\n

The Wegovy pill could attract new consumers as Novo looks to revive its fortunes after profit warnings and sliding shares last year. The treatment offers more flexibility and an alternative for those who dislike needles used in injectable medication.<\/p>\n

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The once-daily pill is also under review by other regulators, with a UK decision due\u00a0by year-end.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk previously told Global News<\/a> it has \u201capplied for Health Canada approval of the Wegovy pill.\u201d That submission remains under review.<\/p>\n

Denmark-listed shares of the drugmaker closed 5% higher on Monday. U.S.-listed shares of Novo were up 4.6%, while Lilly slipped 3.5% in afternoon trading.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tLURING CASH CUSTOMERS KEY TO PILL’S SUCCESS\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The success of Novo\u2019s pill will be tied to attracting\u00a0cash-paying consumers\u00a0who cannot get insurance coverage, a\u00a0stark shift\u00a0from the dominant business model where drug pricing is managed through health insurance plans.<\/p>\n

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Novo said the treatment would be available through U.S. pharmacies CVS and Costco, as well as through telehealth providers including Ro, LifeMD, WeightWatchers, GoodRx and its own NovoCare Pharmacy.<\/p>\n

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Shares of the telehealth firms rose between 3% and 14% in afternoon trading.<\/p>\n

The low 1.5 mg dose is the starter dose for the Wegovy pill, which is made up of semaglutide, the same active ingredient found in its blockbuster injectable weight-loss and diabetes treatments marketed under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic.<\/p>\n

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Novo also offers the 1.5 mg dose for its oral semaglutide drug for type 2 diabetes, sold as Rybelsus.<\/p>\n

The remaining doses of the Wegovy pill will be available for patients by the end of this week, Novo said.<\/p>\n

Lilly plans to cap higher doses of its obesity pill, if approved, at $399 a month for repeat cash buyers. Lilly\u2019s injectable drug Zepbound has largely been ahead of Novo\u2019s Wegovy in weekly U.S. prescriptions over the past year.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tTRUMP LOOKS TO LOWER OBESITY DRUG PRICES IN U.S.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

U.S. list prices for the injectables are about $1,000 per month or more. Both companies have reduced prices of their injectables for customers paying in cash rather than using health insurance.<\/p>\n

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Novo began selling its Wegovy injection at $349 a month to cash payers in November.<\/p>\n

Under a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, Novo and Lilly also agreed to offer starter doses of their weight-loss pills at $149 per month for Medicare and Medicaid enrollees, and to cash payers via the White House\u2019s new direct-to-consumer TrumpRx site, which is expected to be launched this month.<\/p>\n

Novo had faced repeated supply shortages after launching its Wegovy injection in the U.S. But having built up supplies for its new pill for some time to prevent similar challenges, Novo said it was confident it could meet supply needs.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk is launching its once-daily Wegovy pill in the United States on Monday, offering doses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[49,48,84,377,5246,13667,15970],"class_list":["post-392868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-novo-nordisk","tag-wegovy","tag-weight-loss-drugs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}