Anvisa approves Wegovy pill, the first oral semaglutide for obesity
Novo Nordisk's daily 25 mg version requires a prescription and should reach pharmacies next semester; the price has not yet been set
Translated from the Portuguese original by the Panorama newsroom. Read in Portuguese
Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.
Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has approved the pill version of Wegovy, Novo Nordisk's semaglutide-based drug, for the treatment of obesity and overweight. According to g1, it is the first oral drug in the GLP-1 agonist class authorized in Brazil for this purpose.
The authorization was published as a resolution in the Official Gazette; the company had filed its application on January 30. The new product is a 25 mg pill taken once a day and, like the pen, requires a prescription. The manufacturer has not yet set the price and says only that it should reach pharmacies next semester.
Until now, people using semaglutide to lose weight depended on the weekly injection. Another pill from the same company, Rybelsus, is already available in the country, but it is indicated for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
The substance mimics GLP-1, a hormone released by the gut after meals that signals fullness to the brain and slows the emptying of the stomach. Because much of the active ingredient is destroyed in the stomach when swallowed, the daily oral dose is much higher than the 2.4 mg of the weekly maintenance injection.
In the main study supporting the approval, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, those who took the pill lost an average of 13.6% of their weight over 64 weeks, compared with 2.2% in the group that received a placebo. According to the authors, the result is close to that seen with the injectable version.