U.S. Food and Drug Administration Approves Wegovy Pill

What Happened?

This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a daily pill version of the popular weight loss medication Wegovy. The drug, which Novo Nordisk refers to as the Wegovy pill, uses the same active ingredient, semaglutide, found in the original Wegovy, along with its sister drug for diabetes, Ozempic.

According to Novo Nordisk, the new Wegovy pill showed similar weight loss and side effects in clinical trials as the weekly Wegovy injection and will be available by prescription in the U.S. in January. ‘We believe it will expand access and options for patients,’ said Dr. Jason Brett, principal U.S. medical lead for Novo Nordisk. 

Why it Matters

Weight loss drugs have soared in popularity during the past five years, with a record one in eight Americans reporting they are taking either Wegovy or Ozempic as of 2025. The number of people taking weight loss drugs is expected to increase even more in 2026 since the Wegovy pill is one of two expected to become available in the next few months. The other, from Eli Lilly, is called orforglipron, until it receives a brand name and is expected to be approved by the FDA by summer.

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According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly half of all Americans are overweight. Obesity causes or contributes to a wide range of health problems, including diabetes, chronic back and joint pain, and heart disease. One often overlooked reason why healthcare is so expensive in the U.S. is because so many people are overweight, which causes more health problems and makes existing ones more expensive to treat. 

Wegovy works by mimicking the hormone GLP-1, or Glucagon-Like Peptide-1. GLP-1 is a natural gut hormone that helps control blood sugar and appetite, and GLP-1 drugs, also known as agonists, mimic this hormone to treat Type 2 diabetes and promote significant weight loss by increasing insulin, slowing digestion, and reducing hunger. People who take Wegovy on a weekly basis report a significant decrease in appetite, which doesn’t go away even after they begin losing weight, making the drug ideal for long-term use.

A pill version of Wegovy may be more popular because pills are easier to take and less painful than shots. Getting a weekly shot requires giving or receiving injections as well as acquiring injectors, but pills can simply be taken home and swallowed once a day. While agonists often cause side effects such as nausea and vomiting, thus far, those side effects have not been severe enough to deter patients from taking them regularly.

How it Affects You

The availability of such an effective weight loss pill for consumers will likely continue to increase the number of people taking medications like Wegovy. Novo Nordisk has not yet announced the regular price of those pills, but the starting dose for patients paying out of pocket will be $149, according to the Trump Administration.