{"id":745249,"date":"2026-06-18T15:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/745249\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T15:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:42:10","slug":"oral-wegovy-captures-one-third-of-prescriptions-as-adoption-continues-to-accelerate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/745249\/","title":{"rendered":"Oral Wegovy Captures One-Third of Prescriptions as Adoption Continues to Accelerate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fbc7c6e97b3fff9e088d9adddd49582a.png\" alt=\"tablets pills medicine bottle NEW SIZE \u00a9PXHere\" loading=\"eager\" height=\"527\" width=\"960\" class=\"yf-lglytj  loaded\"\/> tablets pills medicine bottle NEW SIZE \u00a9PXHere      <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) is seeing strong uptake of its oral Wegovy treatment, with the tablet formulation accounting for roughly one-third of all Wegovy prescriptions by May, according to a Bank of America report published on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The data highlights the rapid adoption of the oral version since its market debut earlier this year and underscores continued momentum across the broader GLP-1 weight-loss drug market.<\/p>\n<p>         Oral Formulation Gains Market Share    <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Bank of America said oral Wegovy represented approximately 33% of total Wegovy prescriptions during May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">For the week ending June 5, 2026, total weekly prescriptions for the oral treatment reached 159,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The product, which launched in early January, has expanded its presence quickly, with new prescriptions continuing to account for a significant portion of overall demand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">During the latest reported week, oral Wegovy made up 40% of all new Wegovy prescriptions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">After an initial period of rapid growth, the oral formulation\u2019s share of total prescriptions has recently stabilized in the low-30% range.<\/p>\n<p>      GLP-1 Market Maintains Strong Growth Trend    <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The wider GLP-1 category continued to deliver robust expansion, with total weekly prescriptions increasing approximately 33% year-over-year in May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">That compares with annual growth rates of 32% in April and 31% in March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">According to the report, the sector has consistently recorded year-over-year growth of between 30% and 35% since July 2025, reflecting sustained demand for diabetes and obesity treatments based on GLP-1 therapies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Weekly new prescriptions across the category rose 28% year-over-year in the week ending June 5.<\/p>\n<p>      Sales Momentum Remains Strong    <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Prescription growth has continued to translate into rising sales across the GLP-1 market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Monthly sales for the category increased 35% year-over-year in April, following growth of 38% in March and 36% in February.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The figures indicate that demand for GLP-1 therapies remains resilient despite growing competition and ongoing debate around reimbursement policies.<\/p>\n<p>      Employer Coverage Trends Create New Challenges    <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">While prescription volumes remain strong, changes in insurance coverage could influence future growth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Cigna has announced that it will discontinue coverage of GLP-1 weight-loss treatments, including Wegovy and Zepbound, within its employee health plan beginning July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The insurer cited broader treatment availability and evolving healthcare options as factors behind the decision.<\/p>\n<p>      Obesity Coverage Remains Limited     <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Data from the Pharmaceutical Strategies Group\u2019s 2026 survey highlighted the gap between diabetes and obesity coverage among employers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The report found that 94% of employers provide coverage for GLP-1 medicines used to treat type 2 diabetes, while only 34% cover the drugs for obesity management.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Among employers surveyed, 14% indicated they were planning to withdraw coverage, while 31% said they were unwilling to offer obesity coverage regardless of cost.<\/p>\n<p>       Medicare Infrastructure Continues to Develop   <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The report also noted progress in the administration of Medicare-related GLP-1 programs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">According to documentation for CMS\u2019s Medicare GLP-1 Bridge initiative, McKesson\u2019s CoverMyMeds platform has been selected as the electronic prior-authorization provider, helping streamline access and approval processes for eligible patients.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">As oral Wegovy continues to gain traction and the broader GLP-1 market expands, investors and healthcare providers will be closely watching how coverage decisions and reimbursement policies shape the next phase of growth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Novo Nordisk stock price<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"tablets pills medicine bottle NEW SIZE \u00a9PXHere Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) is seeing strong uptake of its oral Wegovy&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[9432,49,48,84,377,5246,239392,267070,963,267069],"class_list":["post-745249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-bank-of-america","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-novo-nordisk","tag-oral-formulation","tag-oral-treatment","tag-prescriptions","tag-tablet-formulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745249","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=745249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}