Novo Nordisk’s new oral version of its obesity drug Wegovy has reached nearly 3,100 patients in its first week on the market. The company launched the pill form on January 5, and according to data from IQVIA cited by Leerink Partners analysts, prescriptions for oral Wegovy totaled 3,100 by the week ending January 9.
The launch led to a notable increase in Novo Nordisk’s share price, which rose 6.5% on Friday to close at $60.53. This marks the highest trading price for Novo since September, as reported by Reuters.
For comparison, Eli Lilly’s Zepbound—an autoinjector pen—reached about 1,300 new patients during its own launch week in December 2023. However, despite the strong start for oral Wegovy, total prescriptions for all forms of Wegovy dropped by 11% compared to the previous week. In contrast, Zepbound prescriptions continued to grow at a rate of 3% weekly.
Novo Nordisk received FDA approval for oral Wegovy last month. Phase III clinical trial results showed that patients taking the pill experienced an average weight loss of 16.6%, similar to results seen with the injectable version. Analysts at BMO Capital Markets wrote in a December note that this approval “gives Novo a much-needed win in light of recent challenges maintaining incretin market share dominance.”
Despite being an early leader in GLP-1 therapies—a class of drugs used for diabetes and obesity—Novo Nordisk has faced increased competition from Eli Lilly. During Novo’s first-quarter earnings call in May last year, some analysts expressed concerns about the company’s ability to maintain its position against competitors like Lilly. Peter Verdult, analyst at BNP Paribas, told executives: “I’m struggling to understand where the disconnect has been,” and asked if their main competitor was outperforming them.
In the first nine months of 2025, worldwide sales for Wegovy reached $8.9 billion while Ozempic—another semaglutide product from Novo indicated for type 2 diabetes—generated $14.8 billion in revenue. Over the same period, Zepbound sales were nearly $9.3 billion and Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro brought in $15.55 billion.
Eli Lilly became the first pharmaceutical company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization last month due to strong performance from its GLP-1 products.
###
