A pill form of Ozempic is on the horizon
Novo Nordisk, the company that produces Wegovy and Ozempic, funded both studies.
“I suspect there are a lot of people who don’t use these treatments because they require an injection,” said Dr. Robert Gabbay, the chief scientific and medical officer of the American Diabetes Association. “If you could say, ‘Well, not really,’ that’s great.”
The higher the dose of oral semaglutide, the more side effects it seems to come with. In the trial of overweight or obese people, 80 percent of those taking oral semaglutide reported gastrointestinal problems such as vomiting, nausea, constipation or diarrhea. Nearly 13 percent said they experienced an “altered sensation of the skin,” such as tingling. The majority of the study participants were white and female, the authors noted, meaning the results may not apply to the broader population of obese people.
The second trial, in people with diabetes, showed similar side effects: 80 percent of those taking the 50-milligram dose reported side effects, mostly gastrointestinal problems, that were more common in people taking the higher doses than those taking 14 milligrams. Thirteen percent of the people who received the 50-milligram dose stopped taking the medication because of the side effects. Injectable semaglutide causes similar side effects; in a previous study74.2 percent of participants who received 2.4 milligrams of injectable semaglutide (the amount contained in Wegovy) weekly experienced gastrointestinal distress.
Another trial presented at the conference and published Friday the New England Journal of Medicine looked at another oral compound, orforglipron, which is in the same class of drugs as semaglutide. The study was funded by Eli Lilly. Pfizer also tested its own pill in that drug class.
Oral semaglutide isn’t new: There’s already a tablet form of the compound on the market, sold under the name Rybelsus. The Food and Drug Administration has only approved that drug for adults with type 2 diabetes, and the tablets are available in relatively smaller daily doses, up to 14 milligrams. The tablets work similarly to semaglutide injections, which regulate insulin, lower blood sugar and slow stomach emptying, helping people feel fuller longer, said Dr. Andrew Kraftson, a clinical associate professor at Michigan Medicine.