An oral version of Ozempic is in the works


Injectable weight-loss medication Wegovy and its counterpart Ozempic will likely be available in pill form in the future, researchers said Sunday at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions conference.
According to one of the two studies presented, 50 milligrams of semaglutide, the active ingredient in both medications, ingested orally each day "is roughly as effective as weekly Wegovy shots in reducing weight in people who are overweight or obese," The New York Times reported, noting that Wegovy injections themselves contain 2.4 milligrams of semaglutide.
In the second study, roughly 1,600 Type 2 diabetics (the intended clientele for Ozempic) were divided into groups and given different daily doses of oral semaglutide. Those who received the two highest doses lost more weight than those who took the lowest dose, and also saw greater reductions in blood sugar, per the Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I suspect there are a lot of people that are not using these treatments because it requires an injection," said the American Diabetes Association's Dr. Robert Gabbay. "If you could say, 'Well, actually, it doesn't,' that's big."
Novo Nordisk, the company that manufactures both drugs and funded the trials, plans to file for approval with the Food and Drug Administration at some point in 2023, a spokesperson told NBC News. The company also already offers a lower-dose oral semaglutide called Rybelsus, which is approved for adults with Type 2 diabetes and is reportedly less effective than both Ozempic and Wegovy.
While the promise of an effective weight loss drug sounds enticing, both Wegovy and Ozempic are not without their side effects, which can include vomiting, nausea and diarrhea. And that's also without mentioning their possible broader societal impacts, such as the detrimental idealization of a certain body type.
"I am concerned about these medications being broadly used just to promote weight loss" and "how it contributes to our general diet culture, our cultural obsession with thinness," Dr. Scott Hagan, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington, told the Times.
Likewise, Tigress Osborn, chair of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, worries that a highly-effective weight loss pill will put pressure on those who are obese to use it, even if they don't want to. "There is no escape from the narrative that your body is wrong and it should change," he told The Associated Press.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
Speed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreads
Speed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozens
Speed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cows
Speed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study finds
Speed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addiction
Speed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published