Popular weight-loss drugs are likely to become available in pill form in 2026, offering millions of patients a more convenient and cheaper alternative to current weekly injections.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have said the pills could help obesity medicines reach more patients, including those who fear needles or don’t consider their need significant enough to warrant injections, according to CNBC.
The daily pills won’t be more effective than weekly injections, but health experts say expanding treatment options could represent a significant win for patients. Both companies have already begun producing large quantities to meet expected demand.
Goldman Sachs analysts predict pills will capture 24 per cent of the global weight-loss drug market by 2030, worth approximately $22 billion.
Novo Nordisk expects to beat rival Eli Lilly to market. The Danish pharmaceutical company’s oral semaglutide—the active ingredient in its Wegovy injection and Ozempic diabetes vaccine—was expected to receive approval in late December 2025. The pill will also be called Wegovy.
Eli Lilly has not yet submitted its approval application for orforglipron, its oral GLP-1 pill, but the company is preparing to do so soon. The US Food and Drug Administration announced in November that it has granted a priority voucher for the pill, which could speed up the review timeline by several months.
CNBC reports it remains unclear when exactly approval could come, but the pill will likely reach the market within 2026.
Neither pharmaceutical company has published specific list prices for their pills, though both plan to offer patient discounts.
The companies have said initial pricing for their pills, pending approvals, will be $149 per month for all patients who obtain them through the TrumpRx website, which will begin operating in January.
That price is lower than the current injections from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Obesity injection drugs such as Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound currently have list prices of approximately $1,000 per month.
In trials, Novo Nordisk’s 25-milligram semaglutide pill helped patients lose up to 16.6 per cent of their body weight on average at 64 weeks, according to a 2024 medical bulletin.
However, the slightly lower effectiveness of Eli Lilly’s pill may not be significant enough to deter patients from choosing it.
In an August note, Goldman analysts said they expect Eli Lilly’s pill to hold a 60 per cent market share whilst Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide will hold 21 per cent. They expect the remaining 19 per cent to go to other upcoming pills.