Novo reports Wegovy results across menopause stages

Novo Nordisk presented new data on Wegovy at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) on May 12, 2026, describing "substantial weight loss" in women at every stage of menopause, along with early signals related to heart and migraine outcomes ^[1]. About a month later, Eli Lilly released a comparable menopause-focused analysis for Foundayo, its oral orforglipron pill, reporting significant weight loss across menopause stages as well ^[2].

The Novo menopause presentation was one of several Wegovy updates at ECO that week. The same day, Novo also shared an early-responder analysis of higher-dose injectable Wegovy showing weight loss approaching 28%, and the next day it reported that the Wegovy pill produced 21.6% weight loss in early responders along with a doubling of mobility improvement ^[1]. The source material available for this article gives headline-level descriptions of the menopause findings but does not include the specific weight-loss percentages or statistical detail for the heart and migraine signals, so those exact figures are not yet known from what has been published ^[1].

Wegovy is approved in the US as both an injection and a tablet, for weight management, for reducing cardiovascular risk in adults with established heart disease and obesity or overweight, and, since August 2025, for a liver condition called MASH ^[1]. It carries a boxed warning for thyroid C-cell tumors, and common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation ^[1]. Foundayo, approved by the FDA on April 1, 2026, is Lilly's once-daily oral GLP-1 pill that can be taken without food or water restrictions ^[2]. In its ATTAIN-1 trial, patients who stayed on the highest Foundayo dose lost an average of 12.4% of body weight, compared with 0.9% on placebo ^[2]. Lilly's menopause-specific report followed on June 7, 2026, using similar language about weight loss across menopause stages, though again without the detailed percentages included in the available material ^[2].

The menopause data arrived amid a broader commercial push for both drugs. Novo's oral Wegovy pill, launched in the US on January 5, 2026, had weekly prescriptions above 200,000 by mid-April and more than 2 million total prescriptions since launch, generating about DKK 2,256 million in first-quarter sales ^[4]. A higher-dose injectable version, Wegovy HD, was approved in March 2026 and showed 20.7% average weight loss in its STEP UP trial ^[4]. In Europe, regulators recommended approval of both an oral Wegovy pill and the Wegovy HD pen in May 2026, based partly on a separate trial showing about 17% average weight loss versus 3% with placebo ^[3].

Why it matters for patients

Menopause is linked to weight gain and higher cardiovascular risk, so data suggesting a GLP-1 drug works consistently before, during, and after menopause could matter to women deciding whether timing affects how well these medicines work ^[1]. Signals on heart and migraine outcomes, if eventually confirmed in full published studies, could be relevant to women who deal with both conditions, but what's available here comes from conference presentations rather than peer-reviewed papers with complete numbers, so the strength of those signals is not yet clear ^[1][2]. Because Novo and Lilly are now presenting similar menopause-specific analyses within weeks of each other, patients comparing Wegovy and Foundayo may see this data used in marketing or discussed by their doctors, even though the underlying figures needed for a side-by-side comparison are not laid out in what has been published so far ^[1][2].

What happens next

Lilly's menopause analysis for Foundayo followed Novo's by about a month, appearing June 7, 2026, with a separate Lilly report on three pivotal type 2 diabetes trials published June 8, 2026 ^[2]. In Europe, a final decision from the European Commission on oral Wegovy and the Wegovy HD pen was pending after the CHMP's May 2026 recommendation ^[3].