A capsule type of Wegovy, the favored weight problems drug beforehand accessible solely by injection, is now being stocked by pharmacies.
Novo Nordisk
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Novo Nordisk
The Wegovy capsule launched Monday, and the beginning dose is now accessible at pharmacies across the nation with increased doses arriving by the tip of the week.
The Meals and Drug Administration accepted the capsule for weight problems on Dec. 22. It is also accepted to scale back the chance of coronary heart assault and stroke in sufferers who’re overweight or chubby.
The capsule follows the blockbuster success of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy injection, which has been in the marketplace since 2021 and have become so widespread 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, diminished their calorie consumption and exercised, Novo Nordisk estimates they might have a 16.6% discount of their weight.
Nonetheless, sufferers must 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 most typical uncomfortable side effects with the Wegovy capsule are much 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. Nonetheless, 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, referred to as an inventory value, is identical because the Wegovy injection: $1,349 a month.
Insurance coverage protection for weight problems medicine turned extra restrictive in 2025, based on an evaluation from GoodRx, an internet site that helps sufferers discover reductions on pharmaceuticals. 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 Sort 2 diabetes capsule, Rybelsus, is already in the marketplace. It accommodates 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 evaluate and a call might come early this 12 months.
