Wegovy pill get green light – helps users shed as much weight as jabs,
A pill version of blockbuster slimming drug Wegovy got the green light from US health chiefs last night, with the daily tablet expected to be launched in America in January.
The approval marks the first time an oral drug has been authorised specifically to treat obesity, offering an alternative to the jabs that have transformed weight loss medicine in recent years.
Its makers, Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, confirmed to the Daily Mail today that they are working towards bringing the pill to the UK, with a regulatory submission planned for 2026.
‘Regarding the UK, we are working towards a submission for Wegovy in a pill in 2026,’ a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk UK said, adding they could not yet give any further detail on timelines.
The US decision was taken by the Food and Drug Administration, following large clinical trials of the once–daily Wegovy pill which found it was as effective as the injectable form.
The tablet contains 25mg of semaglutide – the same active ingredient used in injectable Wegovy and the diabetes drug Ozempic.
While Ozempic is licensed to treat type 2 diabetes and is often prescribed off–label for weight loss, Wegovy was developed and approved specifically for obesity.
In trials involving around 1,300 participants, people taking the Wegovy pill lost an average of 16.6 per cent of their body weight after just over a year, according to Novo Nordisk.
Around a third of participants lost 20 per cent or more.
‘Patients will have a convenient, once–daily pill that can help them lose as much weight as the original Wegovy injection,’ said Mike Doustdar, Novo Nordisk’s chief executive.
Injectable GLP–1 weight–loss drugs such as Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound have fuelled a global boom in obesity treatments, particularly in the US, where an estimated 100 million people are living with obesity.
The drugs work by mimicking a natural gut hormone that suppresses appetite and increases feelings of fullness.
However, access has been limited by high costs, supply shortages and the need for regular injections.
Experts say pill–based versions could widen uptake by making treatment easier to use and potentially cheaper to manufacture, although pricing has not yet been confirmed.
The move also gives Novo Nordisk an advantage over rival drugmaker Eli Lilly, which is developing its own daily oral obesity pill, orforglipron, that remains under regulatory review.
The approval comes as Europe’s drugs watchdog has also moved to widen access to powerful weight–loss injections for children.
The European Medicines Agency has recommended that the blockbuster jab Mounjaro can be prescribed to children as young as ten with type 2 diabetes – a condition that raises the risk of heart disease, kidney failure and stroke.
Until now, treatment options for young patients have largely been limited to metformin and insulin.
Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide, is already approved in adults for weight loss and uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. It works by mimicking hormones that regulate appetite and blood sugar.
In a late–stage trial published in The Lancet, children aged ten to 17 who received the drug not only improved blood–sugar control but also lost significant weight, with those on the highest dose shedding an average of 11.2 per cent of their body mass within 30 weeks.
