Flags with the logos of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, maker of the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy are pictures while the company presents the annual report at Novo Nordisk in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, on February 5, 2025.
Mads Claus Rasmussen | Afp | Getty Images
Novo Nordisk said Wednesday that late-stage trial results for its once-daily obesity pill showed “significant” weight reduction and tolerability in line with its blockbuster Wegovy injection, as drugmakers race to get an oral treatment to market.
Results from the phase 3 Oasis 4 trial showed the oral semaglutide pill led to average weight reduction of 16.6% after 64 weeks in patients with obesity or overweight and at least one weight-related comorbidity, the Danish pharmaceutical firm said.
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Dubbed the “Wegovy pill,” Novo Nordisk’s Chief Science Officer Martin Holst Lange told CNBC that the oral treatment offered patients an important alternative to its existing once-weekly injection.
“Our job was to show that, with the tablet, we could get the same efficacy and the same safety and tolerability as we can with the injectable. That we have now done,” Lange said by phone.
“That basically means that we can offer patients the choice between the tablet and the injectable, and that will make a difference for some patients,” he added.
Novo Nordisk’s oral treatment relies on the same Semaglutide GLP-1 medication that underpins the company’s existing obesity and diabetes treatments, Wegovy and Ozempic. Wegovy was shown to reduce weight by 15% on average in patients with overweight or obesity and at least one weight-related comorbidity in an earlier Novo study.
The pill is currently under review with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, having been submitted under a New Drug Application in February. A decision is due in the fourth quarter of this year.
If approved, the company said the pill will be made fully in the U.S. It comes as global pharma firms have been ramping up their U.S. investments amid pressure from the Trump administration to bolster domestic production.
The obesity pill race
There are currently no approved oral versions of GLP-1s on the market, however competition is quickly heating up. Pill treatments are considered a key milestone for firms seeking to make the drugs more accessible, including to those with an aversion to needles.
Analysts told Reuters Tuesday that rival Eli Lilly‘s competitor obesity pill, Orforglipron, could be fast-tracked for approval within one to two months under the FDA’s “Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher” — a new initiative to further the Trump administration’s drug development goals.
Lange said Novo welcomes “good competition” but added it was focused on drug outcomes, including long-term adoption rates.
“In this situation, we look at the data,” Lange said. “Semaglutide as a tablet has the potential to offer 17% body weight loss and with a good safety and tolerability profile.”
“What we’ve seen from our competitor is slightly more than 12% weight loss. And, again, we can’t do direct comparisons, but at least we can see a discontinuation rate, suggesting that maybe Semaglutide also has a [more] effective safety and tolerability profile.”
In a phase 3 ATTAIN-1 trial released Tuesday, Eli Lilly said Orforglipron resulted in average weight loss of 12.4% at the highest dose after 72 weeks in adults with obesity, or overweight with at least one comorbidity.
Nevertheless, the U.S. drug maker said Wednesday that its pill outperformed Novo’s in the first head-to-head study comparing the two medicines’ efficacy in lowering blood sugar levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
Both companies have been experimenting with new so-called next-generation drugs, with Novo on Tuesday flagging promise in its Cagrilintide long-acting amylin analogue — a nascent form of weight loss treatment.
It comes as the Danish company last week announced plans to cut around 9,000 roles as part of a wider shake-up under new CEO Mike Doustdar, who has vowed to reset the company after a period of weaker growth.
“What we are doing now is focusing on our core, which is diabetes and obesity. That will include continuous investment in both diabetes and obesity, and also, as we discussed, the related comorbidities,” Lange said Wednesday.
