A view shows a Novo Nordisk sign outside its office in Bagsvaerd, on the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 14, 2025.
Tom Little | Reuters
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All eyes are on new pills for obesity – and a treatment from Novo Nordisk could be the first to reach patients.
The 25-milligram oral version of the Danish drugmaker’s obesity drug Wegovy could win approval by the end of the year. As it waits for regulators to sign off, Novo Nordisk bolstered the case for its experimental pill by releasing new data to underscore its safety and effectiveness at the ObesityWeek scientific conference in Atlanta last week.
“I think that it adds to the evidence base to help health care professionals and patients make further decisions about what may be right for their specific case and for them in particular,” Dr. Jason Brett, principal U.S. medical head at Novo Nordisk, said in an interview about the new results.
The pill’s launch will be crucial for the drugmaker, which just lost a heated bidding war with Pfizer over the obesity biotech Metsera. Novo Nordisk is working to beef up its pipeline as it loses share in the blockbuster weight loss drug market to chief rival Eli Lilly.
Here’s what the results from the conference say about the pill’s performance.
Cardiovascular benefits
New analyses from the company’s OASIS 4 clinical trial showed that the pill improved blood sugar control and delivered cardiovascular benefits.
In one analysis, 71.1% of participants with prediabetes who took the pill achieved normal blood glucose at 64 weeks, compared with 33.3% on placebo.
People on the pill were more likely to lose 15% or more of their body weight than those who took a placebo in the trial. And patients who lost at least 15% of their body weight saw greater improvements in blood pressure and reductions in inflammatory markers and triglycerides.
Comparable results to Wegovy
An indirect comparison between the OASIS 4 trial and the earlier study on injectable Wegovy showed that the oral and injectable formulations delivered comparable results on weight loss and cardiometabolic markers, as well as safety.
Brett said, “That’s not too surprising for me, because semaglutide is semaglutide. We’re just getting it into the system in a different route of administration.” Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Wegovy and the drugmaker’s diabetes shot Ozempic.
Brett said some people are content with a once-weekly injection, but noted it’s important for health-care providers and patients to have alternative options.
“I think it will really open up access further and help to expand the market” to patients who could benefit from a weight loss treatment but aren’t taking an injection for reasons such as being afraid of needles, Brett added.
Weight loss by menopause stage
One additional analysis found that Novo Nordisk’s pill was associated with significant weight loss in women with obesity, regardless of the stage of menopause they were in.
Pre-menopausal women lost an average of 18.2% of their body weight over 64 weeks, while peri-menopausal women lost an average of 15% and post-menopausal women lost an average of 15.7% of their weight.
Brett acknowledged the small differences between groups, but noted that the weight loss across all of them was “robust and significant.” He said weight loss can be more challenging for people in the menopausal stages due to the hormonal changes they experience.
Improvements in physical function
One other analysis found that people who took the pill and self-reported low physical function at the start of the trial saw improvements compared to the overall study population at 64 weeks. Their level of physical function was determined by a questionnaire called the Patient Global Impression of Status.
A “meaningful change” in physical function was achieved by most patients, or 77.3%, taking the pill compared to the 42.9% who took a placebo, according to Novo Nordisk.
Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at a new email: annika.constantino@versantmedia.com.
Latest in health-care: Could those GLP-1 prices be extended to employer plans?
I was in Washington for much of last week and was in the Oval Office for the White House announcement on lower prices for Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 medications.
While Trump administration officials touted the hard-fought negotiations to bring down GLP-1 weight loss drug prices for Medicare and Medicaid plans to levels paid in Europe, my question was whether they could extend those prices to commercial plans.
Half of Americans have employer and private health plans, many of which don’t cover GLP-1s for weight loss because of the cost. I asked how insurers could extend those prices beyond government-run plans so workers could afford the drugs.
“That’s a good question,” President Donald Trump said, deferring to Medicare Director Chris Klomp, who helped negotiate the deal with the drugmakers.
“The companies have committed to ensure that at worst, prices are at [most-favored nation] on GLP-1s, and are committed to continue to negotiate those prices down based on volume,” Klomp said.
When it comes to health care services, lower rates for Medicare and Medicaid often result in cost-shifting to commercial plans, which are charged higher prices to make up for provider margins.
Reducing prices to the most-favored nation level would require pharmacy benefit managers to engage with the drugmakers to try to match the government prices.
Some of the pharmacy benefit managers praised the administration’s pricing deal, but it’s not clear whether they will renegotiate 2026 PBM contracts for GLP-1s at this point. It might take administration pressure to bring the MFN pricing to commercial plans next year.
Given Trump’s post this week decrying “money sucking insurance companies,” the large insurers who own the major PBMs may well be feeling the pressure already.
Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Bertha at bertha.coombs@versantmedia.com.
