Novo Nordisk boosts the case for its obesity pill
A view shows a Novo Nordisk sign outside its office in Bagsvaerd on the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 14, 2025.
Tom Small | Reuters
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All eyes are on new pills and a treatment against obesity Novo Nordisk He or she may be the first to reach patients.
The 25-milligram oral version of the Danish drugmaker’s obesity drug Wegovy may be approved by the end of the year. While waiting for regulatory approval, Novo Nordisk strengthened the bet by launching its experimental pill. new data at the ObesityWeek scientific conference in Atlanta last week to underscore its safety and effectiveness.
Novo Nordisk’s US chief medical officer, Dr. “I think it adds to the evidence base to help healthcare professionals and patients make more decisions about their particular case and what might be right for them in particular,” Jason Brett said in an interview about the new results.
The pill’s launch will be crucial for the drugmaker, which recently lost a heated bidding war. Pfizer Obesity biotechnology is on Metsera. Novo Nordisk is trying to strengthen its sales pipeline as it loses share of the blockbuster weight-loss drug market to chief rival Eli Lilly.
Here’s what the results of the conference say about the pill’s performance.
cardiovascular benefits
New analyzes from the company’s OASIS 4 clinical trial showed that the pill improved blood sugar control and provided cardiovascular benefits.
In one analysis, 71.1% of participants with prediabetes taking the pill achieved normal blood sugar at 64 weeks, compared with 33.3% of those taking a placebo.
People who took the pill in the trial were more likely to lose 15% or more of their body weight than those who took a placebo. Patients who lost at least 15% of their body weight showed greater improvement in blood pressure and reductions in inflammatory markers and triglycerides.
Comparable results to Wegovy
An indirect comparison between the OASIS 4 study and the earlier study on injectable Wegovy showed that oral and injectable formulations yielded comparable results in terms of weight loss and cardiometabolic markers and safety.
“It’s not that surprising to me because semaglutide is semaglutide. We’re just introducing it through a different method of administration,” Brett said. Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Wegovy and the drugmaker’s diabetes vaccine Ozempic.
Some people are happy with a once-a-week injection, but it’s important for healthcare providers and patients to have alternative options, Brett said.
“I really think it will open up access even further and help expand the market,” Brett added, to patients who might benefit from a weight-loss treatment but are not getting injections for reasons such as fear of needles.
Weight loss according to menopause stage
An additional analysis found that the Novo Nordisk pill was associated with significant weight loss in obese women, regardless of the stage of menopause they were in.
Premenopausal women lost an average of 18.2% of their body weight over 64 weeks, while premenopausal women lost an average of 15% and postmenopausal women lost an average of 15.7% of their weight.
Brett acknowledged the small differences between the groups but noted that weight loss was “robust and meaningful” in all of them. For people going through menopause, losing weight can be more challenging due to the hormonal changes they experience, he said.
Improvements in physical function
Another analysis found that people who took the pill at the beginning of the trial and reported poor physical function saw improvements at week 64 compared to the general study population. Physical function levels were determined by a questionnaire called the Patient’s Global Impression of Status.
According to Novo Nordisk, most patients taking the pill, 77.3%, had a “significant change” in physical function, compared to 42.9% of patients taking a placebo.
Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas, and data to Annika in a new email: annika.constantino@versantmedia.com.
The latest on healthcare: Could these GLP-1 prices be extended to employer plans?
I was in Washington for much of last week, in the Oval Office of the White House, announcing lower prices for GLP-1 drugs from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.
While Trump administration officials are touting tough negotiations to lower the prices of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs for Medicare and Medicaid plans to levels paid in Europe, my question was whether they could apply those prices to commercial plans as well.
Half of Americans have employer and private health plans, and many of them do not cover GLP-1 for weight loss due to cost. I asked how insurers could raise these prices beyond government-run plans so workers could afford the drugs.
“That’s a good question,” President Donald Trump told Medicare Director Chris Klomp, who helped negotiate the deal with drugmakers.
“Companies have committed to ensuring that prices remain level in the worst case scenario.” [most-favored nation] “We are determined to continue to negotiate downwards on GLP-1s based on the volume of these prices,” Klomp said.
When it comes to healthcare, lower rates for Medicare and Medicaid often result in costs being shifted to commercial plans, which charge higher prices to compensate for provider margins.
Lowering prices to the most preferred country level would require pharmacy benefit managers to work to match government prices by collaborating with drug manufacturers.
Some pharmacy benefits executives praised the administration’s pricing agreement, but it’s unclear at this point whether they will renegotiate 2026 PBM contracts for GLP-1s. Management pressure may be needed to bring MFN pricing into commercial plans next year.
Considering Trump’s post this week condemning “money sucking insurance companies,” major insurers with large PBMs may already be feeling the pressure.
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