A Tablet Model of Wegovy Hits Pharmacies

[ad_1] Within the final week of December, whereas a lot of the U.S. was nonetheless in vacation mode, Novo Nordisk’s plant in North Carolina was working at full capability.

On Dec. 22, the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the corporate’s oral model of Wegovy, making it the primary tablet of the favored GLP-1 drugs to get the inexperienced mild for weight reduction. Individuals who wish to drop some pounds and are prescribed Wegovy now have the choice of taking the pill every day, versus injecting themselves with the drug as soon as per week. They’ll lose about the identical quantity of weight with both model: between 16% and 17% of their beginning physique weight.

The plant, simply exterior of Raleigh, is working across the clock to supply bottles of drugs in 4 totally different doses. The bottles are sure for retail shops and on-line pharmacies and might be obtainable beginning on Jan. 5. “Weight problems has turn out to be a consumer-oriented illness,” mentioned Novo Nordisk’s CEO Mike Doustdar in an interview with TIME. “We’re embracing that.”

The corporate’s complete provide of the drug, from begin to end, might be manufactured in North Carolina. Days earlier than the launch of Wegovy tablet, TIME visited the plant to look at how the primary Wegovy drugs are being produced, bottled, and packaged for sufferers.

<img alt="" loading="lazy" width="1920" height="2400" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="h-auto w-full object-cover" style="color:transparent" srcset="/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-01.jpg&w=1920&q=75 1x, /redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-01.jpg&w=3840&q=75 2x" src="https://time.com/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-01.jpg&w=3840&q=75"/> A technician displays one in every of many steps within the modification and purification course of that produces semaglutide, the principle ingredient in Wegovy. Jeremy M. Lange for TIME All of it begins with yeast Wegovy tablet begins with a fungus: particularly, the identical yeast used to make bread, known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However as a substitute of fermenting sugars or grains to make bread rise, the yeast cells are genetically engineered at Novo Nordisk’s facility in Clayton, North Carolina to supply a protein that undergoes fermentation in a number of four-story tall tanks, then a number of purification steps over a couple of month to supply semaglutide, a compound that mimics a human hormone that regulates urge for food by working within the reward heart of the mind. It may well assist folks really feel full and scale back emotions of starvation.

Harvesting the principle ingredient After the fermentation and purification course of, semaglutide types a beige paste with the consistency of pancake batter. In one of many few guide steps within the largely automated manufacturing, technicians scrape the paste from giant funnels and freeze it at -20°C, the place it retains for as much as 5 years. However given the recognition of Wegovy and the anticipated demand for the tablet, the corporate at present has a couple of month’s provide of semaglutide in its freezers.

Taking tablet type Within the ultimate step of the method, the paste is thawed and purified right into a liquid at a excessive temperature. That heated liquid is then spray-dried right into a effective white powder, much like the way in which snow-making machines flip scorching water into snow. That powder, collected in giant luggage from a funnel that extends via three flooring, is then pressed into Wegovy tablets.

<img alt="Wegovy pill launch" loading="lazy" width="2400" height="1920" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="h-auto w-full object-cover" style="color:transparent" srcset="/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-04.jpg&w=2400&q=75 1x, /redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-04.jpg&w=3840&q=75 2x" src="https://time.com/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-04.jpg&w=3840&q=75"/> The best dose Wegovy drugs are sorted earlier than bottling on the Novo Nordisk Strong Dosage Types (SDF) facility in North Carolina on Dec. 30, 2025. Jeremy M. Lange for TIME An extended path to the tablet Whereas this semaglutide tablet is the primary to deal with weight problems, it isn’t the primary that Novo Nordisk has made. The corporate’s scientists first grew to become serious about semaglutide as a diabetes remedy since it might probably additionally assist management blood glucose, and its first semaglutide-based remedy, Ozempic, was authorized in 2017 for diabetes. Sufferers injected themselves as soon as per week to regulate blood sugar, however to make taking the drug simpler, the corporate additionally developed a tablet type, known as Rybelsus, which the FDA authorized in 2019. Turning Ozempic into an oral tablet required discovering a method to shield the drug from the hostile setting of the abdomen simply lengthy sufficient for it to be absorbed by the physique. “However with numerous these methods, it might trigger an excessive amount of permeability—so issues that shouldn’t be absorbed, like micro organism or different issues, had been absorbed,” says Andrea Traina, senior medical director for weight problems and liver well being at Novo Nordisk. The scientists in the end discovered a method to create a chemical buffer to protect the drug whereas it launched sufficient semaglutide to be efficient. Nonetheless, as a result of the tablet has to undergo the abdomen and digestive tract, it’s usually not as efficient because the injected Ozempic.

<img alt="Wegovy pill launch" loading="lazy" width="1920" height="2400" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="h-auto w-full object-cover" style="color:transparent" srcset="/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-10.jpg&w=1920&q=75 1x, /redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-10.jpg&w=3840&q=75 2x" src="https://time.com/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-10.jpg&w=3840&q=75"/> Bottle caps containing a drying agent to maintain tablets from publicity to moisture are transported throughout the packaging part of the Novo Nordisk Strong Dosage Types (SDF) facility on Dec. 30, 2025 in North Carolina. Jeremy M. Lange for TIME When diabetes sufferers observed they had been shedding weight on semaglutide, Novo Nordisk and different firms started to review the compound for its potential results on weight problems. Research confirmed what these sufferers had been experiencing, and in 2021, the FDA authorized Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy to deal with weight problems. However folks nonetheless needed to inject themselves with the treatment to profit from its results. Growing the Wegovy tablet grew to become the subsequent problem, and the identical hurdles the corporate confronted in growing Rybelsus remained. However this time, the researchers developed a proprietary fatty acid by-product to raised navigate the troublesome setting of the abdomen. “After you swallow the pill, it is available in contact with the abdomen lining and begins to dissolve and create a foamy microenvironment across the tablet,” says Traina. “Image an Alka-Seltzer pill dissolving in water.” The response quickly inhibits abdomen enzymes within the space from breaking down the drug, which supplies the semaglutide sufficient time to be absorbed. “The entire course of takes about half an hour,” she says, after which period “the microenvironment of the abdomen goes again to regular.” To maximise the tablet’s capability to soak up, folks taking it ought to swallow it very first thing within the morning on an empty abdomen with as much as half a glass of water with no meals, drinks, or different drugs for at the least half-hour, the corporate advises, so nothing will intrude with the tablet’s exercise.

<img alt="Wegovy pill launch" loading="lazy" width="2400" height="1920" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="h-auto w-full object-cover" style="color:transparent" srcset="/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-07.jpg&w=2400&q=75 1x, /redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-07.jpg&w=3840&q=75 2x" src="https://time.com/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-07.jpg&w=3840&q=75"/> Piles of 25mg Wegovy drugs await bottling and packaging. Jeremy M. Lange for TIME Stiff competitors Wegovy tablet is just not the one GLP-1 weight-loss tablet on the horizon. Eli Lilly, which makes the injectable GLP-1 medication Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight reduction (utilizing the lively ingredient tirzepatide) has developed a tablet known as orforglipron. In December, the corporate launched optimistic information displaying its tablet may assist folks keep weight reduction after utilizing injected types of GLP-1 medication for greater than a 12 months and submitted a request to the FDA for approval. The company granted orforglipron a precedence voucher in November, that means the FDA will conduct an expedited evaluation in order that tablet can come to market a lot quicker than the everyday drug.

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been locked in a GLP-1 competitors for years. Some analysis has discovered that Lilly’s drug Zepbound results in larger weight reduction—as much as 21% of physique weight—in comparison with 15% on Wegovy. “The distinction may be very largely linked to doses,” says Doustdar; the very best dose tirzepatide is larger than that of semaglutide in Wegovy. For that cause, Novo Nordisk is growing the next dose of Wegovy within the injectable type that produces comparable quantities of about 20% weight reduction. “We might be bringing Wegovy-Plus into the market [in 2026] so it can shut the hole with our competitor,” he says.

<img alt="Wegovy pill launch" loading="lazy" width="1920" height="2400" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="h-auto w-full object-cover" style="color:transparent" srcset="/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-08.jpg&w=1920&q=75 1x, /redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-08.jpg&w=3840&q=75 2x" src="https://time.com/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-08.jpg&w=3840&q=75"/> Ultimate packaging for the 1.5 mg Wegovy drugs on the Novo Nordisk Strong Dosage Types (SDF) facility on Dec. 30. 2025 in North Carolina. Jeremy M. Lange for TIME He additionally sees semaglutide as the corporate’s “secret sauce” that appears to supply quite a lot of well being advantages. It’s the one GLP-1 drug that the FDA permits to say on its label advantages forthat coronary heart illness and sure liver circumstances profit. Whereas current analysis discovered that the compound didn't gradual Alzheimer’s illness, as many had hoped it might, the drug’s capability to cut back irritation may result in further well being advantages in different metabolic ailments.

Doustdar, who was appointed to move Novo Nordisk final summer season as the corporate started dropping market share within the GLP-1 house to Eli Lilly, sees Wegovy tablet as a coup for the corporate—and a return to specializing in diabetes and weight problems. “It is a large illness space. We’re speaking about two billion folks, and finally, somebody has to supply all of the doses for them. We're sitting in the best spot proper now [to do that], and nonetheless solely touching a fraction of the people who find themselves in want.”

<img alt="Wegovy pill launch" loading="lazy" width="2400" height="1920" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="h-auto w-full object-cover" style="color:transparent" srcset="/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-03.jpg&w=2400&q=75 1x, /redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-03.jpg&w=3840&q=75 2x" src="https://time.com/redesign/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.time.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2Fwegovy-pill-launch-2026-03.jpg&w=3840&q=75"/> A 25mg Wegovy tablet on the Novo Nordisk Strong Dosage Types (SDF) facility. All Wegovy drugs might be bottled and packaged at this facility and the API (lively pharmaceutical ingredient) facility producing semaglutide close by. Jeremy M. Lange for TIME Choices for the tablet In coming weeks, Wegovy tablet might be obtainable in 4 doses: a starter dose of 1.5 mg, in addition to 4 mg, 9 mg, and 25 mg. As with injectable Wegovy, most sufferers will begin with the bottom dose and step by step ramp up their dosage over a interval of months till they attain the utmost dose, which they are going to proceed to take care of their new weight.

As the corporate and the White Home introduced in November, the starter dose will price $149 for a month’s provide for folks paying out-of-pocket and utilizing federal insurance coverage. The following-highest dose might be $149 till April 2026, after which it can enhance to $199 a month. The 2 highest doses will price $299 for a month’s price of drugs. Folks with insurance coverage that cowl the drugs might pay as little as $24 for a 30-day provide.

Doustdar says the White Home announcement was the results of a number of months of debate to achieve a mutually agreeable value plan for the drug. “For us to have the ability to make any offers, it has to not be a zero-sum sport, however a win-win state of affairs,” he says. “We wanted to elucidate that the price of operations within the U.S. may be very totally different from the price of operations in Europe.”

“Alternatively, we additionally acknowledge that at larger costs, we is not going to get entry to larger volumes,” he says—and with a whole lot of thousands and thousands of individuals world wide who may probably profit from a weight-loss drug, Doustdar hopes Wegovy tablet might be extra handy, and accessible, for them.