A capsule type of Wegovy, the favored weight problems drug beforehand accessible solely by injection, is now being stocked by pharmacies.
Novo Nordisk
conceal caption
toggle caption
Novo Nordisk
The Wegovy capsule launched Monday, and the beginning dose is now accessible at pharmacies across the nation with larger doses arriving by the tip of the week.
The Meals and Drug Administration authorized the capsule for weight problems on Dec. 22. It is also authorized to scale back the danger of coronary heart assault and stroke in sufferers who’re overweight or obese.
The capsule follows the blockbuster success of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy injection, which has been in the marketplace since 2021 and have become so well-liked that it was briefly provide till February 2025.
The capsule model of the drug helped sufferers lose about as a lot weight because the injection. In a examine printed within the New England Journal of Medication, a 25 milligram Wegovy capsule led to a 13.6% discount in weight on common over 64 weeks. Sufferers taking a placebo within the examine misplaced 2.2% of their weight. For sufferers who stayed on the therapy, lowered their calorie consumption and exercised, Novo Nordisk estimates they’d have a 16.6% discount of their weight.
Nevertheless, sufferers have to take the Wegovy capsule on an empty abdomen and wait a half hour earlier than consuming anything for the drugs to be correctly absorbed. The commonest unintended effects with the Wegovy capsule are just like the injection and embrace nausea, diarrhea and vomiting.
When Novo Nordisk introduced its drug-pricing take care of the Trump administration in November, it promised to make the weight problems capsule accessible for $149 a month to sufferers not utilizing their medical insurance. Nevertheless, that is solely the beginning dose for the direct-to-consumer value. The upper doses might be accessible for $299 a month.
The value that impacts insurance coverage protection, known as an inventory value, is identical because the Wegovy injection: $1,349 a month.
Insurance coverage protection for weight problems medication grew to become extra restrictive in 2025, in accordance with an evaluation from GoodRx, an internet site that helps sufferers discover reductions on prescribed drugs. However Novo Nordisk says sufferers with insurance coverage protection can get the Wegovy capsule for as little as $25 a month.
Though the Wegovy capsule is the primary of its variety to win FDA approval, Novo Nordisk’s Kind 2 diabetes capsule, Rybelsus, is already in the marketplace. It comprises the identical energetic ingredient, semaglutide, however the doses are completely different.
Eli Lilly, which makes the Zepbound injection, utilized to the FDA in late 2025 for approval of its competing weight problems capsule. The company gave the corporate a voucher for a precedence overview and a call might come early this yr.
Discussion about this post