New GLP‑1 pill approved

Glucagon-like peptide-1 drugs copy a gut hormone that slows stomach emptying and cuts appetite. On December 20, 2025, the Food and Drug Administration approved Wegovy tablets, making semaglutide the first pill cleared in the United States for chronic weight management. (fda.gov) The tablet is approved for adults with obesity, or adults who are overweight and have at least one weight-related condition. The same label also includes use to lower the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack, and stroke in adults with cardiovascular disease and obesity or overweight. (fda.gov) Wegovy tablets are taken once a day, not once a week like the injection. Novo Nordisk’s patient guide says patients start at 1.5 milligrams, increase every 30 days as tolerated, and reach a 25 milligram maintenance dose, taken first thing in the morning with up to 4 ounces of water and then no food, drink, or other oral medicines for 30 minutes. (wegovy.com) The approval adds a non-injection option to a market that has been dominated by shots such as Wegovy and Zepbound. It also extends semaglutide’s reach after the Food and Drug Administration added a heart-risk reduction indication for injectable Wegovy on March 8, 2024. (fda.gov) The evidence package for the pill came from the OASIS program, which studied oral semaglutide in adults without diabetes who had obesity or overweight. In OASIS 4, a 64-week phase 3 trial with 307 adults, average weight loss was 13.6% under a treatment-policy analysis and 16.6% among participants who stayed on treatment, versus 2.2% and 2.7% with placebo. (clinicaltrials.gov) (novonordisk.mediaroom.com) An earlier phase 3 study, OASIS 1, tested a higher 50 milligram oral dose over 68 weeks and reported a 15.1% average bodyweight reduction versus 2.4% with placebo. That trial helped establish that a pill could produce weight loss in the same range that had previously made injectable semaglutide a blockbuster. (acc.org) (thelancet.com) The tradeoff is that the pill has stricter dosing rules than the injection because absorption is fragile. Novo Nordisk tells patients not to crush or chew the tablet, not to take it with anything but water, and to skip the dose rather than double up if they miss a day. (wegovy.com) The safety profile looks like other semaglutide products: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and abdominal pain are common. The boxed warning on the Food and Drug Administration label says semaglutide caused thyroid C-cell tumors in rodents, and the drug is contraindicated for people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2. (fda.gov) The approval also landed in a fast-moving rivalry between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly won Food and Drug Administration approval for its own obesity pill, orforglipron, in April 2026, ending Novo Nordisk’s brief lead as the only company with an oral glucagon-like peptide-1 option for weight loss. (ajmc.com) Novo Nordisk said in March 2026 that it had cut United States list prices for Wegovy, Ozempic, and Rybelsus, and in late March it launched a Wegovy subscription program with savings of up to $1,200 a year. The pill gives prescribers one more way to use the same semaglutide molecule, but access will still depend on insurance coverage, out-of-pocket cost, and whether patients prefer a daily routine to a weekly shot. (novonordisk-us.com)