The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a pill version of the weight-loss drug Wegovy, according to pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk.<\/p>\n
It is the first pill of its kind to receive approval from the regulator, marking a new era for weight-loss drugs.<\/p>\n
Wegovy’s Danish makers Novo Nordisk said the once-daily pill was a \u00ab\u00a0convenient option\u00a0\u00bb to the injectable and would provide the same weight loss as the shot. It comes after Wegovy was approved by the FDA specifically for weight loss.<\/p>\n
Others like Ozempic, which has similar weight-loss effects, were primarily approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n
The BBC has contacted the FDA for comment.<\/p>\n
The Wegovy pill showed an average weight loss of 16.6% during Novo Nordisk’s trials, the firm said on Monday.<\/p>\n
A third of around 1,300 participants experienced 20% or greater weight loss in the same trial, it added.<\/p>\n
The pill is expected to be launched in the US in early January 2026.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Patients will have a convenient, once-daily pill that can help them lose as much weight as the original Wegovy injection,\u00a0\u00bb said Mike Doustdar, the firm’s chief executive.<\/p>\n
The pill version of Wegovy could give Novo Nordisk’s sales a boost after a challenging year which saw its shares slide as it warned over its profits.<\/p>\n
The company has faced intense competition in the weight-loss market from rival drugmakers like Eli Lilly.<\/p>\n
Novo Nordisk’s shares rose by almost 10% in after-hours trade in New York after the announcement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a pill version of the weight-loss drug Wegovy, according to pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk. It is the first pill of its kind to receive approval from the regulator, marking a new era for weight-loss drugs. Wegovy’s Danish makers Novo Nordisk said the once-daily pill was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9592","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}