Novo Nordisk Flags Wegovy Pilum weight loss online with injection

Novo Nordisk said on Wednesday that the results of the tests at an advanced stage for its obesity pill once a day have shown a “significant” weight reduction and tolerability in accordance with its WEGOVY blockbuster injection, while drug manufacturers rush to obtain oral treatment on the market.

The results of the phase 3 OASIS 4 trial showed that the oral semaglutide pill resulted in an average weight reduction of 16.6% after 64 weeks in patients with obesity or overweight and at least a weight -related comorbidity, the Danish pharmaceutical company said.

Actions jumped 5.4% at 10:23 a.m. London time (5 h 23 HE).

Nicknamed the “Wegovy pill”, the director of sciences of Novo Nordisk, Martin Holst Lange, told CNBC that oral treatment offered patients an important alternative to its injection once a week existing.

“Our work was to show that with the tablet, we could obtain the same efficiency and the same security and the same tolerability as possible with the injectable. What we did,” Lange said by phone.

“This essentially means that we can offer patients the choice between the tablet and the injectable, and it will make a difference for certain patients,” he added.

The oral treatment of Novo Nordisk is based on the same SEMAGLUTID GLP-1 medication which underlies the existing treatments for the obesity and diabetes of the company, Wegovy and Ozempic. Wegovy has proven to reduce the weight by 15% on average in overweight patients or obesity and at least a weight -related comorbidity in an anterior Novo study.

The pill is currently under examination of the US Food and Drug Administration, having been submitted under a new request for medication in February. A decision is due to the fourth quarter of this year.

If it is approved, the company said that the pill will be fully carried out in the United States, it comes when global pharmaceutical companies have increased their American investments in the midst of the Trump administration to strengthen domestic production.

There is currently no oral versions of GLP-1 approved for weight loss on the market, but competition is heating up quickly. Pill treatments are considered a key step for companies seeking to make medicines more accessible, including those with needle aversals.

Analysts told Reuters on Tuesday that his rival Eli LillyThe competitor’s obesity pill, OrForglipron, could be accelerated for approval in one to two months under the “National Priority Voucher of the Commissioner” of the FDA – a new initiative to pursue the drug development objectives of the Trump administration.

Lange said Novo is hosting “good competition”, but added that it was focused on drug results, including long -term adoption rates.

“In this situation, we examine the data,” said Lange. “The semaglutide as a tablet has the potential to offer 17% body weight loss and with a good safety and tolerability profile.”

“What we have seen from our competitor is a little more than 12% weight loss. And, once again, we cannot make direct comparisons, but at least we can see a stop rate, suggesting that perhaps semaglutide also has a (more) safety and effective tolerability profile.”

In a phase 3 attack-1 test published on Tuesday, Eli Lilly said that Orforglipron had led to an average weight loss of 12.4% in the highest dose after 72 weeks in obesity adults, or overweight with at least comorbidity.

However, the American medication manufacturer said on Wednesday that his pill had outperformed the NOVOs in the first tête-à-tête study comparing the effectiveness of the two drugs in reducing blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The two companies have experienced new so -called new generation drugs, with promising Novo Tuesday in his Amyline analog to Cagriloutide – an emerging form of weight loss treatment.

This occurs when the Danish company announced last week its intention to reduce approximately 9,000 roles as part of a larger upheaval under the new CEO Mike Doustdar, which promised to reset the company after a lower period of growth.

“What we are doing now is to focus on our hearts, which is diabetes and obesity. This will include continuous investments in diabetes and obesity, and also, as we have discussed, related comorbidities,” Lange said on Wednesday.

Clarification: This story has been updated to specify that there is currently no oral versions of GLP-1 approved for weight loss on the market.