The Wegovy daily tablet, the first weight loss medication to transition from injection to pill form, goes on sale in Britain today, with pharmacists bracing for a significant spike in demand and issuing warnings about dangerous counterfeit versions.
New Pill Form of Wegovy Launches
The Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) licensed the Wegovy pill last month, allowing it to be sold via private prescriptions from today. The NHS is still considering whether to offer it. The pill is expected to trigger a boom in sales, as millions have already started taking the powerful drugs as weekly injections.
Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “This is a significant day and pharmacies are bracing themselves for a surge in demand for this new form of weight loss treatment. This is particularly significant for patients who cannot or do not want to take an injectable medicine.”
Pricing and Usage
Lower dose starter pills are expected to cost around £80 to £100 per month, with mid-doses costing £140-£190 and higher dose pills costing over £200. The pill must be taken in the morning on an empty stomach with a small glass of water, and users must wait 30 minutes before eating, drinking, or taking other medicines. Unlike the weekly injection, Wegovy tablets do not need to be refrigerated.
However, both pills and injections come with side effects such as nausea and constipation. They must be prescribed alongside support for dietary changes and increased exercise, or users risk losing dangerous amounts of muscle and bone density.
Warning Against Counterfeit Versions
A poll of pharmacists by the NHS showed that 97% are concerned about potentially contaminated, unlicensed weight loss pills being sold on the black market. Picard warned: “Pharmacies are concerned about a dangerous and growing black market for weight loss medicines, with tablet form of medication likely to be easier for criminals to counterfeit. Patients should be wary of sites offering medicines at a cost that is too good to be true or providers who are not offering consultations before prescribing. If anyone is concerned by a medicine they have bought online, they should speak to their local pharmacist for advice.”
How Wegovy Works
Wegovy works by mimicking the actions of a natural hormone called GLP-1, which suppresses appetite and slows digestion to keep users feeling fuller and less hungry. Pills are eventually expected to bring the price of GLP-1 drugs down as they are cheaper to mass produce. This first pill has been developed by Danish multinational pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, with more from other firms in the research pipeline.
To prevent the tablet from being destroyed by stomach acid, the Wegovy pill uses a special protective coating called SNAC. Once swallowed, this coating shields the tablet from stomach acid, allowing it to safely pass through the stomach wall and into the bloodstream.
Clinical Trial Results
Trials of higher doses of the Wegovy pill showed that obese users lost on average 16.6% of their body weight. Nine out of ten lost at least 5% of their body weight, and one in three lost 20% or more.
James O’Loan, CEO of online pharmacy Chemist4U, said: “Today marks the next step in how we treat obesity in this country. We have seen record demand since the MHRA’s approval of weight loss pills... we have seen ten times more enquiries for consultations related to Wegovy pills than injections in this timeframe.” He added: “Weight loss tablets could change far more than how GLP-1 treatments are taken. They could change who feels comfortable accessing them in the first place. For millions of people put off by injections, tablets may finally make clinically proven weight loss treatment feel like a realistic option. This innovation is set to increase the scale at which we can treat obesity in this country.”
