New pill forms of weight-loss drugs Ozempic, Wegovy could be available in 2023

The popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy may be available in pill form by as soon as the end of this year. Manufacturers are racing to be the first to market with an oral version of the newest class of weight-loss drugs that already have earned billions in profits as injectables.

“The nice thing about tablets is that virtually everyone is used to taking a tablet for something, even if it’s just a vitamin,” said Dr. Robert Gabbay, chief scientist for the American Diabetes Association. “It’s not a big deal.”

Novo Nordisk presented research findings on the oral version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, during the association’s recent scientific sessions. People who are obese or overweight and do not have Type 2 diabetes lost an average of 15% of their body weight after 68 weeks. The results were similar to those from weekly injections over the same time period. “It really is a gamechanger,” Gabbay said.

Dr. Mico Guevarra, who heads research on the oral active ingredient for Novo Nordisk, said an oral drug for weight loss would give people more options. “The goal right now is pushing for individualized treatment,” she said. “It really depends on the patient’s goal, the clinician’s goal as well. and kind of meet that and have options as far as what they would like and what would be the best for them.”

Dr. Shauna Levy, a specialist in obesity medicine at the Tulane Bariatric Center in New Orleans, agreed that an oral weight loss drug likely would give people more choices and increase access, but side effects could be more severe than what has been seen with injections. Adherence also is a concern: Oral semaglutide is supposed to be taken daily, in the morning, on an empty stomach. “There’s a lot of requirements,” she said.

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Guevarra said the oral semaglutide was well-tolerated and the prevalence of side effects was similar to the injection. Nausea was the most common side effect reported, she said. Overall, 80% of people who got the oral drug reported gastrointestinal problems, which were described as mild to moderate, compared with 46% of people in the placebo group. About 6% of people chose to stop taking the drug before the trial ended because of side effects.

So far, neither of the oral weight-loss drugs has demonstrated as high of an efficacy as Lilly’s tirzepatide, which was shown to reduce body weight, on average, by 22.5% after 72 weeks. However, Gabbay said the weight loss shown is still significant.

“I think we’ve gotten spoiled a little bit,” he said, “because a few years ago we had nothing even as close to as effective.”

After promising results, Novo Nordisk expects to file for approval in the U.S. to approve the pills as soon as later this year.