The first and only oral GLP-1 for weight loss in adults is now available to consumers.
Drugmaker Novo Nordisk announced Monday that its daily oral Wegovy pill is now available by prescription.
Consumers with prescriptions may pick up the new Wegovy pill at pharmacies nationwide or have it delivered through telehealth companies, according to Novo Nordisk.
“We are launching the Wegovy pill like we have never launched before,” Dave Moore, Novo Nordisk’s executive director of U.S. operations, said in an interview that aired Monday on “Good Morning America.” “It’s our opportunity to bring this new medicine to market in all channels, all at once. Having it available through commercial insurance from day one, and available in brick and mortar pharmacies like CVS and Costco, but then also partnering with telehealth companies.”
The oral Wegovy pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December. The pill is an oral semaglutide medication, which works by slowing down the movement of food through the stomach and curbing appetite, thereby causing weight loss.
Novo Nordisk — as well as some doctors — has touted the oral Wegovy pill as a game-changing alternative form of injectable GLP-1 medications. The pill is cheaper to produce, does not have to be refrigerated and is taken as a pill daily as opposed to a weekly injection.
The Wegovy pill is required to be taken 30 minutes before any other medication, food or coffee, according to Novo Nordisk.
When it comes to cost, the Wegovy pill is expected to be a $25 or less copay per month if covered by insurance.
Without insurance, the price varies by dosage between $149 and $299 per month, according to Novo Nordisk.
The weekly injectable version of Wegovy runs upwards of $300 per month without insurance.
Clinical trials have shown similar weight loss results between the oral pill and injectables. People who took the pill in clinical trials also experienced similar side effects as those on injectables, including gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, diarrhea and vomiting, according to Novo Nordisk.
Eli Lilly, a competitor of Novo Nordisk, is also manufacturing its version of a GLP-1 pill, orforglipron, which is also expected to be approved soon by the FDA.