Wegovy Pill Matches Shot for Weight Loss in Clinical Trial

Novo Nordisk's pill version of Wegovy could be just as effective as the injectable shot, according to new clinical trial data released by the company. In the study, overweight or obese adults took the daily oral medication as prescribed lost an average of 16.6% of their body weight over 64 weeks—results that Novo Nordisk says are comparable to those seen with the injectable Wegovy. The placebo group, by contrast, saw a 2.7% reduction.

The as-prescribed part matters: The doses of oral semaglutide have to be taken on an empty stomach; the 307 adults in the trial were told to avoid eating and drinking for 30 minutes after taking it. But the company says average weight loss still exceeded 13% among participants who didn't take the drug exactly as prescribed. The findings come as pharmaceutical rivals Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly race to dominate a booming weight-loss drug market and now look to oral treatments as the next big step.

Eli Lilly is also pursuing FDA approval for its own weight-loss pill, orforglipron, which it claims led to more substantial blood sugar and weight reductions in a separate trial that pitted it against oral semaglutide and involved adults with Type 2 diabetes. The Washington Post notes its trial—initial results were released Wednesday—compared orforglipron to lower doses of oral semaglutide than what Novo Nordisk tested.

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Both drugs, however, come with side effects. Nearly half of Wegovy pill users reported nausea, and about a third experienced vomiting, though Novo Nordisk characterized those symptoms as "generally mild to moderate in severity and transient." Roughly 7% stopped the trial due to side effects, a figure similar to that in the placebo group. For Eli Lilly's orforglipron, about 10% of participants who were receiving the highest dose discontinued due to side effects. Fierce Pharma notes Novo Nordisk has the edge in one regard: It submitted its regulatory filing for its Wegovy pill in April, and the FDA is expected to grant or deny approval in Q4; Eli Lilly has its own global regulatory submissions in the works and doesn't expect approvals until 2026.