- A daily pill version of the medicine that's in the popular drug Ozempic could be coming soon.
- It's designed to promote weight loss in overweight and obese adults without a weekly shot.
A once-daily pill version of the drug popularly known as Ozempic is one step closer to market.
Drugmaker Novo Nordisk announced the results of a large, phase 3 trial of oral semaglutide on Monday. Semaglutide is the same medicine that's in Ozempic and Wegovy, which are typically given as weekly shots.
In the new trial, patients treated with a semaglutide pill for a year and four months achieved more than 15% weight loss. Patients on a placebo pill during that time lost just 2.4% of their weight.
Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president for Development at Novo Nordisk, said in a statement that the results of the pill trial were "comparable" to injectable Wegovy.
"We are very pleased with the weight loss," he said. "The choice between a daily tablet or weekly injection for obesity has the potential to offer patients and healthcare providers the opportunity to choose what best suits individual treatment preferences."
Until now, Ozempic and Wegovy have only been available as once-weekly injections, and they can cost upwards of $1,000 a month without insurance.
A daily pill could be a better option for people who don't like needles. It's unclear how much the new pill might cost. Rebelsys, another, far lower dose oral version of semaglutide that is on the market now for diabetics, is not significantly cheaper than Ozempic.
In the press release, Novo Nordisk said it expects to file for regulatory approval of the pill version of the medicine in both the US and Europe sometime this year.