Novo Nordisk\u2019s newly approved weight-loss pill version of Wegovy will be a test case for the fast-growing cash-paying consumer \u200dmarket, with plans for the first highly effective oral treatment to go straight to US self-pay channels in early January.<\/p>\n
The pill was granted US Food and Drug Administration approval on Monday, a boost \u200dfor Danish drugmaker Novo as it looks to claw back ground lost to US rival Eli Lilly.<\/p>\n
A key part of making it a success will be attracting cash-paying consumers, a stark shift from a business model where drug pricing is managed through health insurance plans, which has dominated for decades. Under a deal with the Trump administration in November, Novo and Lilly agreed \u200cto sell starter doses of their weight-loss pills, if approved, for $149 a month to US Medicare and Medicaid patients and cash-paying customers who cannot get insurance coverage for the medications.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a self-pay \u2060offer from day one for US patients,\u201d David Moore, Novo\u2019s executive vice president for US operations, told Reuters in an interview ahead of \u200cthe \u200bpill\u2019s approval. Novo \u200dplans to launch the Wegovy pill on multiple channels – including retail pharmacies such as CVS and Walmart, online platforms like GoodRx and telehealth partners including Ro and WeightWatchers – so people can start treatment without waiting for insurance coverage, he said.<\/p>\n
The share of US Wegovy prescriptions – until now injectable versions – via self-pay channels has jumped from about 5 per cent to double digits this year, \u2060Mr Moore said.<\/p>\n
The focus on cash-paying consumers aims to revive Novo\u2019s slowing sales growth and turbocharge the next stage of expansion for the \u2060wider market. Novo has lost hundreds of billions of dollars \u2060in market capitalisation since mid-2024 amid rising competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never launched this way before,\u201d Mr Moore said.<\/p>\n
In the past, \u201cthe mindset was more traditional \u2013 the product is available, you wait for insurers to cover it, and it\u2019s at the retail pharmacy\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
Novo is \u200dfacing intensifying competition from Lilly\u2019s rival obesity drug Zepbound, known outside the US as Mounjaro, and pressure from cheaper, unapproved compounded versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient in the Wegovy injection and pill. Lilly is awaiting US approval for its weight-loss pill, which could come as early as March.<\/p>\n
Novo hopes the once-daily oral dose of Wegovy could be a turning point in attracting people who were not motivated to start treatment with GLP-1 injections.<\/p>\n
Novo\u2019s US medical head, Dr Jason Brett, told Reuters that the pill could broaden access by giving doctors more choice in what they prescribe, and help \u201cmeet patients where they are\u201d via telehealth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need ways to keep patients on these medicines long term, and \u200can effective oral preparation could help \u200cus do that,\u201d said Dr W. Timothy Garvey, a professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and obesity researcher who worked on clinical trials for the Wegovy pill.<\/p>\n
Novo does not expect the pill to cannibalise its injectable Wegovy business. Analysts and \u200cindustry executives also do not expect oral GLP-1s to fully replace injections, but say pills could capture 20 per cent of the global obesity drug market by 2030.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people who are needle-phobic, \u2060people who develop \u2018injection fatigue,\u2019 and people who don\u2019t see themselves as sick and feel an injectable is too serious,\u201d said Zachariah Reitano, chief executive of telehealth company Ro.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor all of them, a pill is a much easier on-ramp.\u201d – Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novo Nordisk\u2019s newly approved weight-loss pill version of Wegovy will be a test case for the fast-growing cash-paying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,129137,18,2898,19,17,5362,6526,7176,5359,564,129238],"class_list":{"0":"post-247601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-david-moore","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-fda","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-mounjaro","15":"tag-novo-nordisk","16":"tag-obesity","17":"tag-wegovy","18":"tag-weight-loss","19":"tag-weight-loss-pill"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}