Novo Nordisk flies in Copenhagen after Fda OK for slimming drug in pill

 (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - In Copenhagen, the stock linked to the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is in turmoil. A move that follows the approval in the United States of the pill version of the slimming drug Wegovy by the Food and drug administration (Fda). However, the stock remains down about 47% since the beginning of the year.

The drug in an oral formulation has been approved for the reduction of excess body weight, the maintenance of weight loss over the long term, and the reduction of the risk of serious cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, in adults with obesity and established cardiovascular disease. This is the first oral glp-1 receptor agonist therapy approved for weight management.

According to the company, the efficacy of the oral formulation is comparable to that of the 2.4 milligram injectable version, which has had strong commercial success in the US in recent years, along with Ozempic, another semaglutide drug indicated for diabetes. The pill contains a higher dose of the active ingredient, because in this formulation only a portion is absorbed into the bloodstream. "The pill has arrived. With the approval of Wegovy in an oral version, patients will havea daily, convenient solution that can help them lose as much weight as the original Wegovy injection," said Mike Doustdar, president and CEO of Novo Nordisk. The company plans to launch the pill in the US in early January 2026.

The approval gives Novo Nordisk an advantage over its US rival Eli Lilly, which is developing its own oral pill against obesity and diabetes, based on orforglipron and expected on the US market no earlier than March 2026, but still awaiting the Fda green light. Oral formulations are considered strategic because they are simpler and cheaper to produce than injections, with potentially lower prices and a wider patient base

Clinical data cited by Novo Nordisk indicate that in a study of 205 patients treated with Wegovy pills and 102 with placebo, the average weight loss after 71 weeks was 13.6%, compared to just over 2% in the placebo group. In a phase three study of over 300 non-diabetic obese adults, a 25 milligram oral dose led to an average weight reduction of up to 16.6% after 64 weeks. This figure drops to 13.6% when considering all patients, including those who discontinued the therapy. David Kessler, former Fda commissioner, however, urged caution in the New York Times, saying that 'the actual effectiveness of these drugs will have to be determined by hard evidence', because the results of clinical trials 'always look better than they do in practice'.