Oral Obesity Drugs on the Horizon... Can They Replace Wegovy and Mounjaro?

Once-a-Month Injections: Next-Generation Obesity Treatments

A notice saying "Wegovy In Stock" is posted at a pharmacy in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

As next-generation obesity treatments continue to be developed, there are growing expectations that new drugs capable of replacing existing therapies will soon enter the market.

The Washington Post reported on the 27th (local time) that "some of the new obesity drugs are likely to be released within a few months." Although these drugs have not yet received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the pharmaceutical and medical industries are paying close attention because these new medications are expected to improve upon the limitations of current drugs or offer higher efficacy.

Currently, Wegovy and Mounjaro are administered as injections and require refrigeration, making their use and storage inconvenient. The high distribution costs are also cited as a factor that increases the price burden for patients. To address these limitations, pharmaceutical companies are accelerating the development of oral obesity medications. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are developing oral treatments that are taken once daily, and it is reported that they are proceeding with clinical trials aiming for FDA approval and market release next year.

However, based solely on the results so far, the effectiveness of oral obesity drugs is lower than that of current injectable treatments. In clinical trials lasting over a year, patients who took these oral medications experienced an average weight loss of 11-14%, which is less than the 15-20% reduction achieved by injectable obesity drugs.

Among these, Novo Nordisk's oral version of Wegovy is considered the most likely to be released first. The company expects the FDA to decide on approval by the end of this year, and if successful, the drug could become available as early as the beginning of next year.

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Eli Lilly is developing a GLP-1 pill called "Orforglipron," and claims it will be more convenient because there are no restrictions regarding food intake or alcohol consumption. Both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly anticipate that, if successful in developing oral obesity treatments, they could offer the lowest dosage to consumers at around $150 per month (approximately 220,000 KRW).

There are also efforts to develop an injectable treatment that is administered once a month, rather than daily medication or weekly injections. The startup Metsera, which is developing obesity and diabetes treatments, is researching this approach. Additionally, Amgen's experimental drug "MariTide," which is still in the trial phase, has shown an average weight loss of 16% over one year with monthly injections. However, concerns about side effects have also been raised, indicating that further verification will be necessary in the future.

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