Novo presents four new oral semaglutide analyses at ObesityWeek 2025

On November 5, 2025, Novo Nordisk presented four new analyses of oral semaglutide 25 mg at the ObesityWeek 2025 conference, adding detail on how the pill affects blood sugar, blood pressure, and weight loss across different groups of patients ^[2]. At the time, the company's US application for the pill was still under review; the FDA approved it about seven weeks later, on December 22, 2025, as the Wegovy pill, the first oral GLP-1 medicine cleared for weight loss in adults ^[1][2].

The new analyses built on the Phase III OASIS 4 trial, a 64-week study of 307 adults with obesity or overweight and at least one weight-related health problem, which excluded people with diabetes ^[2]. Participants took oral semaglutide 25 mg or a placebo pill once daily, after a 12-week dose increase period ^[2]. In the main trial results published earlier in 2025, people who took the full dose as directed lost an average of 16.6% of their body weight at 64 weeks, compared with 2.7% for placebo, and just over a third reached at least 20% weight loss versus under 3% on placebo ^[2].

One of the new post hoc analyses looked at blood sugar and cardiovascular risk factors. Among trial participants who had prediabetes at the start of the study, 71.1% of those on oral semaglutide had normal blood glucose by week 64, compared with 33.3% of those on placebo ^[2]. Within the semaglutide group, participants who lost at least 15% of their body weight saw larger drops in blood pressure than those who lost less: systolic blood pressure fell by 10.1 mmHg versus 4.1 mmHg, and diastolic pressure fell by 4.3 mmHg versus 1.1 mmHg ^[2].

A separate pooled analysis combined data from OASIS 4 and the earlier STEP trials to look at weight loss by menopause stage. Weight loss was substantial across all three groups: 18.2% for pre-menopausal women, 15.0% for peri-menopausal women, and 15.7% for post-menopausal women ^[2]. The source material describes these two analyses in detail but does not spell out the content of all four analyses referenced in the ObesityWeek presentation title, so the full scope of what was shown is not fully known from available reporting.

Serious side effects were less common with oral semaglutide than with placebo in the original OASIS 4 results — 3.9% versus 8.8% — which Novo Nordisk said was consistent with the drug's broader real-world safety record ^[2].

Why it matters for patients

These analyses go beyond the headline weight-loss numbers and speak to how the pill might affect blood sugar and blood pressure, two factors tied to heart disease and diabetes risk. For people with prediabetes considering treatment, the finding that most participants' blood sugar returned to normal range may be relevant context, though this comes from a subgroup analysis within one trial rather than a dedicated study of prediabetes ^[2]. The blood pressure findings also suggest that the amount of weight lost may matter for how much blood pressure improves, which could factor into expectations about outcomes at different response levels ^[2]. The menopause-stage data may be useful for women across different life stages who are weighing treatment, since it shows meaningful weight loss regardless of menopause status in this pooled dataset ^[2].

What happens next

Novo Nordisk said it planned a full US launch of the Wegovy pill in early January 2026, with manufacturing underway at its North Carolina facilities ^[2]. The company also submitted the oral formulation for approval to the European Medicines Agency and other regulators during the second half of 2025 ^[2]. The FDA approval that followed in December 2025 covers both weight reduction and reducing the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke in adults with established cardiovascular disease and obesity or overweight ^[1].