Oral Wegovy Approved
The FDA has approved an oral form of Wegovy after positive Phase III OASIS 4 results, meaning a GLP‑1 treatment for obesity will now be available as a pill rather than a shot (appliedclinicaltrialsonline.com). Novo Nordisk says it is prepared for a full U.S. launch in early January 2026 and described the pill as its “most affordable self‑pay price to date,” signalling a different access option for patients (theatlantic.com).
A class of obesity drugs that copies a gut hormone to curb appetite now has a pill version approved in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration label lists Wegovy tablets for adults with obesity, or overweight with a related condition. (fda.gov) The new tablet is semaglutide, the same active ingredient used in Wegovy shots, but taken once a day at 25 milligrams instead of once a week by injection. The label says it should be used with a reduced-calorie diet and more physical activity. (fda.gov) The approval rests in part on the Phase 3 OASIS 4 trial, which enrolled 307 adults without diabetes at 23 sites in the United States, Canada, and Germany. Participants were randomized 2-to-1 to oral semaglutide or placebo and treated for 64 weeks, with 7 weeks of follow-up. (nejm.org, clinicaltrials.gov) In that trial, people taking the pill lost an estimated 13.6% of body weight by week 64, versus 2.2% with placebo. Gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea and vomiting were more common with semaglutide, affecting 74.0% of the treatment group and 42.2% of the placebo group. (nejm.org) The shift from shot to pill comes as obesity drug makers try to reach patients who have avoided injections, cost, or both. Novo Nordisk has spent the first months of 2026 pushing new pricing and subscription offers around Wegovy as competition in weight-loss medicines has intensified. (novonordisk-us.com) Novo Nordisk’s United States site says the company cut list prices for semaglutide medicines on February 24, 2026 and launched a Wegovy subscription program on March 31, 2026 with savings of up to $1,200 a year. Its news page also says Wegovy HD, a higher-dose 7.2 milligram injection, became available nationwide on April 7, 2026. (novonordisk-us.com, novonordisk-us.com) The tablet carries the same boxed warning family as other semaglutide products: thyroid C-cell tumors were seen in rodents, and the drug is contraindicated for patients with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2. The label also says Wegovy tablets are indicated to reduce major cardiovascular events in adults with established cardiovascular disease and obesity or overweight. (fda.gov) Novo Nordisk’s recent marketing has framed the pill as a broader-access product, including a February 6, 2026 campaign built around “putting Wegovy pill in consumers’ hands.” The company is now selling semaglutide in weekly shots, a higher-dose shot, and a daily pill as it tries to hold ground in a market that no longer revolves around injections alone. (novonordisk-us.com, novonordisk-us.com)
