Novo Nordisk says 80% of Wegovy pill users are new to GLP-1 drugs

Novo Nordisk says most people starting its new Wegovy pill had never taken a GLP-1 medicine before, and the company says the product reached 3 million U.S. prescriptions in about five months.

CEO Mike Doustdar told CNBC at the American Diabetes Association's 2026 Scientific Sessions that "80% of the customers are GLP-1 naive" — meaning they had not previously used drugs in this class ^[1]. In a company update at the same meeting, Novo said more than 80% of new Wegovy pill prescriptions filled go to patients new to GLP-1 therapy ^[2].

The pill is oral semaglutide, the first oral GLP-1 approved in the U.S. for obesity. It cleared the FDA in late December and reached pharmacies and online providers on January 5, several months before Eli Lilly's oral GLP-1, Foundayo (orforglipron), launched in early April ^[2].

The numbers

Doustdar said it took about 12 weeks to reach 1 million prescriptions, and the next 2 million came in the following 10 weeks, putting the total past 3 million by week 22 ^[1]. Novo framed the volume as one Wegovy pill prescription filled roughly every five seconds ^[2]. Doustdar said prescriptions accelerated even after the competitor pill arrived, and he described the launch as the strongest in the history of pharmaceutical products ^[1].

The pill brought in $355 million in its first quarter on the market ^[2]. Novo adjusted its 2026 sales guidance to a 4% to 12% decline, slightly better than the 5% to 13% decline it had forecast in February ^[2].

Doustdar said 65% to 70% of customers are women, and said the drug has few interactions with other medications, including birth control pills, because it is a peptide that is not metabolized in the liver ^[1]. He also said the Wegovy pill produced 16.6% weight loss when taken daily, compared with 12.4% for the competitor pill, a difference he described as more than 34% ^[1]. Those figures are the CEO's own comparison, offered in an interview rather than presented as data from a head-to-head trial ^[1].

Analysts tracking both oral launches caution that prescription data from IQVIA, which their estimates rely on, may underreport telehealth referrals and therefore skew the counts, according to teams at Jefferies and Citi ^[2].

Ed Cinca, who oversees U.S. commercial strategy for Novo's cardiometabolic portfolio, said overall use of obesity medicines is still small relative to need. "The unfortunate reality is that it's approximately 120 million individuals in the U.S. who would qualify for an AOM, and such a small few are actually being provided AOM therapy," he said ^[2]. He added that cost and insurance coverage remain real barriers for patients and families ^[2]. Novo priced the starting 1.5 mg dose of the pill at $149 per month for people paying cash, with monthly costs as low as $25 for commercially insured patients using savings programs ^[2].

Why it matters for patients

If the 80% figure holds, the pill is adding people to GLP-1 treatment rather than shifting existing users from injections. That matters for the large group Novo says has been waiting for a non-injection option, and for anyone whose choice was limited mainly by a dislike of needles ^[1].

It also means the U.S. market now has two oral GLP-1s competing on price, coverage and convenience, after Foundayo's April launch ^[2]. What the prescription totals do not show is how many people stay on the pill, how much weight they lose, or how coverage decisions change over time. None of that has been disclosed in these figures.

What happens next

Novo recently relaunched Rybelsus, its older oral semaglutide for diabetes, as "the Ozempic pill." Doustdar said it is "too early to tell" how that rebranding is going and that it may take time to show up in financial results ^[1].

Novo presented data on CagriSema, a combination of semaglutide and an amylin compound, at the ADA meeting over the weekend. Doustdar said it produced 23% weight loss and that Novo has designed a dual-chamber pen that mixes both drugs in one injection ^[1]. Positioning and timing for bringing it forward were not disclosed ^[1].