LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) newly approved weight-loss pill version of Wegovy will be a test case for the fast-growing cash-paying consumer market, with plans for the first highly effective oral treatment to go straight to US self-pay channels in early January.
The pill was granted US Food and Drug Administration approval on Monday, a boost for Danish drugmaker Novo as it looks to claw back ground lost to US rival Eli Lilly (LLY).
A key part of making it a success will be attracting cash-paying consumers, a stark shift from a business model where drug pricing is managed through health insurance plans, which has dominated for decades.
Under a deal with the Trump administration in November, Novo and Lilly agreed to sell starter doses of their weight‑loss pills, if approved, for $149 a month to US Medicare and Medicaid patients and cash-paying customers who cannot get insurance coverage for the medications.
“We have a self-pay offer from day one for US patients,” David Moore, Novo’s executive vice president for U.Soperations, told Reuters in an interview ahead of the pill’s approval.
Novo plans to launch the Wegovy pill on multiple channels – including retail pharmacies such as CVS (CVS) and Walmart (WMT), online platforms like GoodRx and telehealth partners including Ro and WeightWatchers – so people can start treatment without waiting for insurance coverage, he said.
The share of US Wegovy prescriptions – until now injectable versions – via self-pay channels has jumped from about 5% to double digits this year, Moore said.
The focus on cash-paying consumers aims to revive Novo’s slowing sales growth and turbocharge the next stage of expansion for the wider market. Novo has lost hundreds of billions of dollars in market capitalisation since mid-2024 amid rising competition.
“We’ve never launched this way before,” Moore said.
In the past, “the mindset was more traditional – the product is available, you wait for insurers to cover it, and it’s at the retail pharmacy,” he said.
Novo is facing intensifying competition from Lilly’s rival obesity drug Zepbound, known outside the US as Mounjaro, and pressure from cheaper unapproved compounded versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient in the Wegovy injection and pill.
Lilly is awaiting US approval for its weight-loss pill, which could come as early as March.
Novo hopes the once-daily oral dose of Wegovy could be a turning point in attracting people who were not motivated to start treatment with GLP‑1 injections.
