For Novo Nordisk, the launch of the company\u2019s highly anticipated Wegovy pill at the start of the year\u2014representing the first oral GLP-1 for obesity\u2014marked an opportunity to recapture some of the chronic weight management market it had ceded to rival Eli Lilly in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, in an update to the oral semaglutide product\u2019s rollout so far, the scope of the pill\u2019s popularity and its potential to reach new obesity patients has become impossible to deny.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since the launch of the pill on January 5\u2014which came several months ahead of Lilly\u2019s own oral GLP-1 launch for Foundayo in early April\u2014oral Wegovy has garnered<\/a> more than 3 million prescriptions, marking \u201cone of the strongest US pharmaceutical launches by volume on record,\u201d according to a company press release, which dovetailed with Novo\u2019s presence at the American Diabetes Association 2026 Scientific Sessions in New Orleans over the weekend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Framed another way, that 3 million prescriptions over roughly five months equates to one Wegovy pill script filled \u201croughly every five seconds,\u201d according to the company.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t take long for the pill\u2019s momentum to build, either, with Novo pointing out that oral Wegovy reached an initial 1 million U.S. prescriptions in just 12 weeks after reaching pharmacies and online providers. The subsequent 2 million prescriptions were realized even faster, in a span of just 10 weeks, the company explained.<\/p>\n Novo had been hoping that the introduction of an oral option for chronic weight management could help it reach patients who hadn\u2019t previously tried an anti-obesity medication (AOM), with the added hope that the new format wouldn\u2019t cannibalize sales of injectable incretins. That thesis appears to have been borne out, too, with Novo remarking Sunday that more than 80% of new Wegovy pill prescriptions filled are going to patients new to GLP-1 therapy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the course of 2026, more patients starting a new weight management therapy have opted for Wegovy than any other AOM, according to the company. In addition, the Danish drugmaker touted \u201cstrong uptake\u201d of its recently launched<\/a> 7.2 mg high-dose injectable Wegovy.<\/p>\n Novo\u2019s Wegovy pill passed muster<\/a> with the FDA in late December, with the company unleashing<\/a> the drug onto the U.S. market two weeks later. Alongside its weight management nod, the Wegovy pill simultaneously picked up a green light to reduce cardio risks among people with obesity or who are overweight, mirroring one of the key indications held by its injectable counterpart.\u00a0<\/p>\n As analysts have tracked<\/a> the launches of both the Wegovy pill and Lilly\u2019s Foundayo, the Novo drug appears to be maintaining an impressive lead, at least on a numerical basis. Nevertheless, the analysis\u2014based on prescription data from IQVIA\u2014may be seriously underreporting telehealth referrals, thus skewing the numbers, according to teams at shops like Jefferies and Citi.\u00a0<\/p>\n All the same, that dynamic marks a reversal in roles that Novo Nordisk is no doubt pleased to see, coming off several years in which Lilly\u2019s injectable dual agonist for obesity, Zepbound, had superseded injectable Wegovy as the premier AOM in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Playing the long game<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Novo still has \u201cquite a lot of time on the horizon\u201d before semaglutide\u2019s loss of exclusivity, Ed Cinca, SVP of marketing and patient solutions at Novo Nordisk, who oversees U.S. commercial strategy for the company\u2019s cardiometabolic portfolio, said in an interview with Fierce during the ADA Scientific Sessions.<\/p>\n But as things stand, \u201cwe\u2019re only scratching the surface,\u201d Cinca said of overall penetration of anti-obesity GLP-1s.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe unfortunate reality is that it\u2019s approximately 120 million individuals in the U.S. who would qualify for an AOM, and such a small few are actually being provided AOM therapy,\u201d Cinca explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n As for how Novo plans to continue breaking through to people who could benefit from obesity medicines, \u201cit\u2019s about meeting patients where they are,\u201d Cinca said, adding that it\u2019s understood that some of the \u201cinhibition to receiving the medicines is cost and coverage, and that\u2019s a very real reality for patients and their families.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Affordability and catering to cash-pay patients was top of mind for Novo with the pill\u2019s launch earlier this year. With the rollout, the starting 1.5-mg dose of the oral option is set at $149 per month for patients paying out of pocket, while the monthly price for commercially insured patients may run as low as $25 for those utilizing savings plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Novo has been striving on multiple fronts to lower the costs of its incretins and secure broader coverage, \u201cform factor\u201d is also an important component, with Cinca noting that now having an efficacious obesity drug in pill form is \u201cessential\u201d for Novo as it continues its work to broaden the market.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, speaking to Novo\u2019s leveraging of direct-to-patient (DTP) platforms, digital pharmacies and telehealth providers, Cinca cited a \u201cmismatch\u201d between the number of patients seeking treatment and doctors seeking to treat. Aside from high demand outpacing \u201cthe supply of healthcare,\u201d perceptions of stigma around obesity, both from patients and doctors, add to the challenge of seeking out and receiving treatment, the Novo exec explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHaving an outlet where patients can obtain information, they can get the right answers, and ultimately the product through digital means\u2014that has been an incredible opportunity for so many patients, and I think you see it now, where patients are turning to online channels, whether it\u2019s some of the telehealth partners or our own pharmacy, Novocare, as well, and it\u2019s really quite empowering,\u201d the exec explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n Apart from its own online pharmacy offering, Novo has increasingly turned to virtual medicine outfits like LifeMD, Ro and its former nemesis<\/a> Hims & Hers to help broaden the reach of its therapies and meet patients who are turning to a more consumer healthcare approach to weight management.\u00a0<\/p>\n Novo Nordisk also ranks among the large drugmakers who\u2019ve struck \u201cmost favored nation\u201d pricing deals with the White House, and last November, the company announced price cuts<\/a> to Wegovy and its diabetes counterpart Ozempic for Medicare patients and self-paying patients alike, as well as listing its medicines through the government\u2019s online drug purchasing portal, TrumpRx<\/a>.<\/p>\n