taking Ozempic to lose weight is a thing of the past, Wegovy is already in pills

The fight against obesity has just crossed a border that many were waiting for: that of comfort. Until now there are several medications approved to treat obesityas is the case with the famous Ozempicbut they had a problem: they were injections that had to be injected repeatedly. Now a big step has been taken by having a pill version of one of these options: wegovy.

In the United States. The FDA, the drug regulatory agency in the United States, has given the green light to the oral version of Wegovy. Something that makes it the first drug in the GLP-1 family that does not require a weekly injection, but rather a simple daily intake of 25 mg.

This move by Novo Nordisk is not only a change in the way of administration; It is a coup in a market valued in billions of dollars that until now relied on prefilled syringes and more complex cold chain logistics.

The same results. The data supporting the approval of this new drug is actually quite good. Specifically, This new pill has been tested for 64 weeksseeing that those patients treated with this system strictly achieved a natural weight loss of 16.6%.

This is something that is consistent with effectiveness in “real life”, where weight loss ranges between 13.6 and 14% The data being very similar to that obtained with the injectable version. And even other effects are also achieved, such as the reduction of major adverse cardiovascular events.

Why has it taken? A priori, the logical thing is that these medications would have emerged as a simple pill that is taken daily, instead of an uncomfortable injection that also requires cold to be preserved. The problem in this case is that semaglutide (the component of the drug) it is a protein that the digestive system tends to destroy with its acids before reaching the bloodstream. This meant that it had to be administered directly into the blood to avoid this problem.

Now, the Novo Nordisk company has managed to protect the molecule from gastric acids, although without reducing the classic side effects. In this case, patients have reported diarrhea and vomiting when taking this medication, as was already the case with the injection.

Price and availability. The announcement has had a great impact, making the pharmaceutical company’s shares will shoot up more than 7%and much more that will surely do so when it is launched in the United States starting in January 2026. For the rest of the countries like Spain, it depends on the approval of local regulatory agencies that must verify the studies that support this pill to check if its effects are real.

But the most disruptive may be the price. Novo Nordisk has suggested a starting dose of 1.5 mg at a cost of $149 per month. This is a considerably lower figure than current injectables, probably due to logistical savings, since manufacturing an injection is not the same as manufacturing a blister of pills.

Its importance. With this pill, the barrier to entry that many patients had was eliminated: needle phobia. Although there is still the price issue ahead. In addition, it simplifies distribution and storage, alleviating supply problems that have been a major drawback in recent years.

We are at the beginning of the “oral era” of GLP-1, where the competition (such as Eli Lilly) is already working on their own versions. For now, Novo Nordisk has taken the lead in the race to conquer the medicine cabinets of millions of people with obesity.

It’s still not a miracle. Like the injection, this pill does not make you lose weight by ‘the grace of God’, but rather requires a very important personal process. The tablet can make us eat less, but if you stop the treatment we return to the beginning, little will have been done during the journey in which you have been medicated.

Images | Haberdoedas danilo.alvesd

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