US regulators on Monday gave the green light to a pill version of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy, the first daily oral medication to treat obesity.
The US Food and Drug Administration’s approval handed drugmaker Novo Nordisk an edge over rihttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/22/us-regulators-approve-wegovy-weight-loss-pillval Eli Lilly in the race to market an obesity pill. Lilly’s oral drug, orforglipron, is still under review.
Both pills are GLP-1 drugs that work like widely used injectables to mimic a natural hormone that controls appetite and feelings of fullness.
In recent years, Novo Nordisk’s injectable Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound have revolutionized obesity treatment globally and in the US, where 100 million people have the chronic disease.
The Wegovy pills are expected to be available within weeks, company officials said. Availability of oral pills to treat obesity could expand the booming market for obesity treatments by broadening access and reducing costs, experts said.
About one in eight Americans have used injectable GLP-1 drugs, according to a survey from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research group. But many more have trouble affording the costly shots.
“There’s an entire demographic that can benefit from the pills,” said Dr Fatima Cody Stanford, a Massachusetts General Hospital obesity expert. “For me, it’s not just about who gets it across the finish line first. It’s about having these options available to patients.”
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