With only a few months left before Eli Lilly expects to launch its own oral GLP-1 obesity drug, Novo Nordisk is making the most of its head start with the Wegovy pill. The Danish company, which secured FDA approval for its oral semaglutide formulation in late December, is now capitalizing on its temporary market lead.
U.S. sales of the Wegovy pill, which launched on January 5, broke records in just two weeks. During this period, between 18,400 and 20,000 prescriptions were written for the new drug, according to various estimates. The swift uptake of Novo’s new oral obesity offering is impressive and appears “numerically higher” than both injectable Wegovy (roughly 1,600 prescriptions) and its Lilly counterpart Zepbound (around 7,300 prescriptions) in the first two weeks of their respective launches, analysts at Jefferies noted.
“That’s good news for Novo, which needs to capitalize on the Wegovy pill’s prospects to regain some of the obesity market territory it ceded to Lilly last year,” reports Fierce Pharma.
In late December 2025, Novo’s Wegovy pill became the first oral GLP-1 to win FDA approval to treat obesity. The once-daily medication, which can be given at a maintenance dose of up to 25 mg, is also cleared for cardiovascular risk reduction. Wasting little time, Novo kicked off the pill’s launch on January 5, setting the monthly cost for a starting 1.5-mg dose at $149 for cash-paying patients (approximately $5 per day). Commercially insured patients using Novo’s savings plan can potentially pay as low as $25 per month for the drug.
