The launch of the world’s first weight-loss pill

Bad news for all those who have been trying to make “Jabuary” a thing, said Angus Colwell in The Spectator. The launch of the world’s first weight-loss pill – which has gone on sale in the US at a fraction of the cost of injectable versions – has rather stolen their thunder. Patients used to paying more than $1,000 a month for the jabs can now get the “starting dose” of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill for a knockdown $149 per month.

The Danish pharma has stolen a march on its US rival Eli Lilly with the pill, which received approval from the US regulator just before Christmas, said Julia Kollewe in The Guardian. Prepare for an accelerating “price war” as Eli Lilly prepares to launch its own oral treatment.

Novo Nordisk could certainly use the head start. Once the most valuable company in Europe, it is hoping to “claw back market share” after a disastrous 2025 in which it “issued several profit warnings, cut thousands of jobs” and underwent a boardroom coup, after losing out to Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound treatments. Shares rose by more than 4% after the pill launched, but are still down by 44% over the past year.

Novo Nordisk hopes that the pill – which mimics the GLP-1 hormone that reduces appetite – will unleash huge pent-up demand from patients who baulked at the idea of injections. Still, competition is intensifying, said Patrick Temple-West in the Financial Times. A Pfizer drug is in early-stage testing, and “nearly two dozen” Chinese companies are preparing to launch generic weight-loss drugs, according to Goldman Sachs. Anti-fat drugs have delivered “outsized profits”, but pressure on pricing is building. The question for 2026 is whether investors will “lose their appetite for the obesity trade”.