After years of attempting to drop pounds “the correct manner,” Jane Zuckerman realized that “placing within the work simply wasn’t sufficient.”
Zuckerman, a 32-year-old information analyst primarily based in Washington, D.C., stated she misplaced 90 kilos in school and spent years biking by way of nutritionists, remedy and strict routines — solely to search out herself at her heaviest after the pandemic, at 270 kilos.
Zuckerman stated GLP-1 injections have been out of the query, as a result of she’s afraid of needles. However when the primary GLP-1 capsule for weight problems grew to become accessible in early January, Zuckerman referred to as her physician instantly, she stated.
Virtually a month after beginning Novo Nordisk‘s new Wegovy capsule shortly after it launched, she stated, she had misplaced round 11 kilos.
Zuckerman is amongst tens of 1000’s of sufferers who drove an explosive demand for prescriptions for Novo’s capsule simply three months into its launch. A lot of them share a typical thread: They’d lengthy held off on utilizing GLP-1s as a result of boundaries akin to excessive out-of-pocket prices for injections or a concern of needles.
That is one of many earliest takeaways from the rollout: Novo’s capsule seems to be increasing the weight problems therapy market, largely drawing in new sufferers slightly than changing current ones from injections. CNBC spoke with 5 U.S. sufferers who just lately began the capsule following its launch, all of whom stated they haven’t beforehand taken branded GLP-1 injections.
However it’s early days for the capsule. Many sufferers have but to achieve greater doses of the drug, and their experiences range. It’s going to take extra time to find out how efficient the capsule is in supporting sufferers’ long-term weight reduction journeys, whether or not it helps hold customers on GLP-1s for longer than injections do and whether or not demand for Novo’s product will maintain within the face of recent competitors from Eli Lilly.
Novo has a head begin within the capsule area over Lilly, which simply received U.S. approval of its personal GLP-1 drug for weight problems final week. Analysts beforehand advised CNBC they nonetheless anticipate that rival capsule, referred to as Foundayo, to seize a section of the market, partially as a result of it lacks the dietary restrictions that include Novo’s oral drug.
Nonetheless, the Wegovy capsule seems to have had probably the most explosive launch of a GLP-1 product but. The most recent quantity that Novo disclosed in February is that greater than 600,000 prescriptions had been written since its launch, together with for greater than 3,000 sufferers within the first week.
Analysts at BMO Capital Markets attributed a number of the early uptake to an “engaging” entry value of $149 per thirty days and its connection to the well-known Wegovy model. The capsule carries one of many lowest money costs for a GLP-1 remedy, starting from $149 to $299 per thirty days, relying on the dose.
Even so, the capsule’s launch has accomplished little to spice up Novo’s inventory value, because the Danish drugmaker is struggling to win again market share from Lilly within the broader weight problems area and persuade buyers that its drug pipeline may help it develop past its current merchandise.
Novo is predicted to report first-quarter gross sales, which can embody the capsule for the primary time, in Could. However gross sales of the general Wegovy portfolio are anticipated to extend from $13.5 billion in 2026 to $18.9 billion in 2031, with the capsule contributing $2.76 billion, in line with a March GlobalData report.
Reaching new sufferers
The Wegovy capsule is attracting sufferers with a concern of needles, which is estimated to have an effect on as much as 25% of U.S. adults. However the drug can also be another for individuals who have had problem accessing branded GLP-1 injections or different medicines.
“There are a handful of sufferers that do not wish to be stung by the needle within the case of a vial and syringe, or stung by the value,” Jamey Millar, Novo’s head of U.S. operations, advised CNBC in an interview final week. “We’re interesting to each.”
Dr. Eduardo Grunvald, medical director of the UC San Diego Well being Heart for Superior Weight Administration, stated the principle motive he is prescribed the Wegovy capsule to some sufferers is value, since its money costs are barely decrease than these of injections. However Grunvald stated general, weight problems drugs specialists like him will nonetheless be inclined to prescribe injections over oral medicine, partially as a result of the pictures are more practical.
A field of Wegovy tablets organized at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, US, on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.
George Frey | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Value was a deciding issue for Amy Sawyer-Williams, who works at a theater firm in Raleigh, North Carolina, and has gestational diabetes. In 2023, a number of years after her son was born, she stated, she started creating prediabetes and met the standards for weight problems. She stated she would have began utilizing GLP-1 injections sooner, however her insurance coverage wouldn’t cowl them for her.
That was lengthy earlier than Novo and Lilly slashed the money costs of their weight problems and diabetes injections.
The record costs of their pictures are roughly $1,000 per thirty days earlier than insurance coverage and different rebates, or reductions for cash-paying sufferers — a sum that has lengthy prevented many others from beginning and staying on therapy. Novo has dedicated to slicing the month-to-month record costs of its medicine within the U.S. by as much as 50%, however that change will not go into impact till 2027.
Excessive costs additionally shut Sawyer-Williams out from taking the branded weight administration therapy Contrave, pushing her to mix two generic medicines to imitate the drug’s results, she stated. However earlier this 12 months, she stated, her endocrinologist advisable the Wegovy capsule, partially as a result of its decrease $149 per thirty days pricing for the beginning dose.
Sawyer-Williams grew to become the primary affected person at her physician’s observe and native Walgreens to take the capsule, beginning in mid-January, she stated.
Some Wegovy capsule customers are sufferers who needed to modify over from injections, stated Dr. Heather Hofflich, a doctor and endocrinologist at UCSD Well being. She stated she’s prescribed the capsule for some folks whose insurance coverage stopped masking the injections however who wish to proceed therapy.
Hofflich stated she has additionally prescribed the oral drug to sufferers who misplaced weight initially on a shot however are actually attempting the capsule to take care of that progress.
Early progress
Whereas it is nonetheless early, some sufferers stated they’re already benefiting from taking Novo’s drug.
Zuckerman was initially skeptical of how efficient the product could be, as a result of it is an oral remedy. However, she stated, “I swear I felt the impression on the primary day,” notably decreased urge for food and disinterest in meals.
“Issues that used to present me enjoyment, or issues I used to binge on, they simply do not style pretty much as good anymore, and I simply do not see the purpose in consuming them, actually,” Zuckerman stated, itemizing espresso, cheese, bread and fries, amongst different meals and drinks.
She stated she handled nausea — a typical aspect impact of the GLP-1 class — however that grew to become extra manageable after the primary two weeks on the capsule.
Zuckerman additionally stated what issues greater than the burden loss or meals urges is how she feels: “My garments are looser, I’ve extra vitality, I genuinely really feel higher.”
Cherie Marcus, 72, a retired material designer and theater editor primarily based in Brooklyn, stated she’s additionally seen gradual progress — even on the bottom 1.5-milligram dose of the drug. She stated that over the past 30 years, after her daughter was born, she’s gained weight and seen her hemoglobin A1c — a key measure of blood sugar ranges — creep up.
Marcus stated she began the capsule on Jan. 24, and has misplaced a few pound per week whereas taking the bottom dose for seven weeks. Sufferers usually improve their dosage after a month, however Marcus stated she’s nonetheless taking the bottom power as of early April.
However her weight has “leveled off” over the previous few weeks, she stated, so she’s going to probably transfer to a better dose if she stops shedding weight completely. Marcus sees herself taking the capsule long run, with a purpose of shedding round 30 kilos.
Novo’s Millar final week stated some sufferers might begin on decrease doses and “be completely high-quality with that,” hitting their very own private targets for weight reduction. However the firm is monitoring what number of sufferers improve to greater doses of the drug, notably the 9-mg and 25-mg variations.
Courtney Kim, a stay-at-home mother primarily based in Pittsburgh, is among the many sufferers taking the Wegovy capsule who’ve but to expertise notable unintended effects.
Whereas she would not qualify as overweight, Kim stated, the “weight would simply not come off” after she had her three kids. She began the capsule round mid-February after struggling to drop pounds with using different prescription medicines and dietary supplements, she stated.
Kim began at a weight of roughly 158 kilos and has up to now misplaced almost 7 kilos on the capsule, she stated. She just lately began the 4-mg dose of the drug.
“It is truly working, and I am shocked that the burden is definitely like coming off and staying off,” Kim stated. “To date I’ve had a constructive expertise.”
Some sufferers wait and see
The early expertise with the capsule hasn’t been clean for everybody. UCSD’s Hofflich stated she had one affected person who couldn’t tolerate the capsule as a result of its gastrointestinal unintended effects, which is a typical concern with the injections, as nicely.
One other affected person needed to swap to an injection as a result of the capsule’s dietary restrictions — which contain taking it with a small quantity of water and ready half-hour earlier than consuming or consuming — didn’t match into their way of life, Hofflich stated. Two sufferers who have not seen progress on greater doses of the capsule are switching to injections, she stated.
Hofflich stated different sufferers who have not seen progress on decrease doses are beginning to take greater doses to see if that may make a distinction.
That features a affected person primarily based in New Hampshire named Amy, who stated she started taking the Wegovy capsule in early February. She requested CNBC to not use her final title, for privateness causes.
Amy stated she initially thought of a branded GLP-1 therapy two years in the past after her weight crept as much as 190 kilos, however her physician stated her insurance coverage would not cowl it. Amy then turned to cheaper, unapproved compounded variations of GLP-1s for a 12 months and misplaced 30 kilos earlier than stopping in November.
She stated the 2 lowest doses of the Wegovy capsule — 1.5 mg and 4 mg — “did completely nothing for me” over two months.
Novo’s money reductions allowed Amy to pay roughly $300 complete for a month’s value of every dose, however she stated she feels “pissed off” that she nonetheless feels hungry and has seen no modifications other than unintended effects together with constipation. Amy stated her weight is “hovering” round 170 kilos.
“It simply form of felt like a waste of time,” she stated.
Amy stated she plans to start out the 9-mg dose of the capsule quickly, hoping that she’ll start to see the advantages of therapy. She stated if that does not work, she’ll focus on along with her physician whether or not to strive the best dose, 25 mg, or probably flip again to compounded GLP-1s.
In the meantime, Sawyer-Williams is restarting the bottom dose of the capsule after pausing the drug as a result of gastrointestinal unintended effects. She stated she was nervous about beginning the capsule, as a result of she’s all the time had a delicate abdomen.
Throughout her first three weeks on the 1.5-mg dose of the oral drug, she didn’t discover any weight reduction, however skilled nausea if she did not eat, Sawyer-Williams stated. She began to really feel much less occupied with meals by her fourth week, she stated, however started taking the subsequent dose, 4 mg, shortly after.
On the seventh day of taking that dose, Sawyer-Williams stated, she skilled “the worst” nausea, vomiting and dehydration, which brought on her to cease therapy.
“I want I had simply stayed on the 1.5” dose, she stated. “I used to be actually, actually sick. Even after I give up the capsule, I simply could not hold down water.”
Sawyer-Williams began at a weight of 177 kilos and misplaced 5 kilos general after taking the drug, she stated. She’s been off therapy for a number of weeks, however began the bottom dose of the capsule as of early April with new habits, together with staying hydrated and beginning to elevate weights, she stated.
“We will simply must hope that it is sufficient to assist me,” she stated, referring to the bottom dose.
Dr. Andrea Traina, Novo’s weight problems medical director, advisable that sufferers who’re fighting unintended effects discuss to their health-care supplier about methods to mitigate them. For instance, she stated some folks might profit from staying on a decrease dose till they tolerate the drug higher earlier than growing to a better dosage.
“Treating weight problems, similar to most continual illnesses, is form of a marathon, not a dash,” Traina stated in an interview. “So including an additional month or two to assist with tolerability upfront may help with form of long-term success.”
Unanswered questions
A number of questions stay in regards to the long-term use of the capsule, particularly on greater doses, and it is probably not the very best weight problems therapy for each affected person, consultants stated.
Traina stated every affected person has a person response, and so they might reply nicely above or nicely under common when it comes to weight reduction and unintended effects. That may be tied to their genetics, atmosphere or dietary habits, and experiences can range barely throughout sure populations and age teams, she stated.
“It’s extremely powerful to know why one affected person’s responding to one thing and one other is not,” Traina stated, including that it is “one of many many advantages of getting a number of therapy choices accessible.”
Having an oral possibility at decrease money costs that “may be attainable for a bigger inhabitants is an excellent factor, to assist us treatment or alleviate this continual illness state,” stated UCSD’s Hofflich.
She stated within the coming months, notably with the rollout of Lilly’s new drug, “we’ll have many extra tales and outcomes” of tablets to judge, permitting for clearer comparisons between the 2 tablets in addition to injections.
Sufferers akin to Zuckerman might provide an early glimpse of those that stand to profit most from the capsule — and the circumstances the place it resonates.
“I used to be on this boat of seeing the capsule as dishonest and feeling like I needed to lose the burden the onerous manner,” she stated. “However that does not work for everyone, and finally I acquired to the purpose the place I used to be like, do I wish to be cussed and take a look at to do that the ‘proper manner,’ or do I wish to die from being overweight?”
“Leaping on the chance to [take] the capsule at this stage in my life was the correct resolution,” Zuckerman stated.
