Real-world data analysis published by Novo Nordisk on Wednesday showed that people who switched from obesity injections to its new version of Wegovy oral tablets continued to lose weight after three months.

Real-world studies assess correlation, not causal relationships. However, the results indicate that Wegovy oral tablets may not only help maintain the weight loss achieved in the early stages of treatment with potent injectable drugs but also have the potential to further reduce weight. This also means that patients may not need to inject Wegovy and Zepbound once a week forever; instead, they can opt for a more convenient treatment method such as Novo Nordisk's oral tablets.

Novo Nordisk's analysis utilized data from 194 obese or overweight patients on the telemedicine platform Ro, of which approximately 56% were female. Half of the patients initially used Novo Nordisk's Wegovy injection, while the remaining patients initially used Eli Lilly's Zepbound injection.

Novo Nordisk stated that patients who switched from injections to Wegovy oral tablets and continued treatment for three months experienced an average weight loss of about 4%, which is an additional average weight loss of 8.8 pounds. The company noted that this was calculated based on an average pre-treatment weight of approximately 221 pounds.

Among these participants, two-fifths of them achieved at least a 5% weight loss after three months of using the oral tablets. Meanwhile, the proportion of people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above decreased by over 21% after three months of switching to the oral Wegovy. A BMI of 30 or above indicates that a person has moved from the overweight category to the obese category.

"We have a unique advantage: in the market, the subcutaneous injection version of Wegovy can now be interchanged with the tablet version of Wegovy. Patients can expect the same tolerance and safety, and in fact, they can also lose a little more weight, which is exactly what many people want," said Martin Holst Lange, Chief Scientific Officer of Novo Nordisk, in an interview.

Among patients with available data, approximately 82% reported at least one improvement during the treatment with oral tablets. Of these, nearly 70% stated that their clothing fit better, and about 51% said they began to pursue a healthier diet.

According to Novo Nordisk's data, approximately 75% of the patients in this analysis stated that they were satisfied with switching to the oral tablets.

“I think we’re witnessing a shift. Perhaps just a year ago, we still believed that the vast majority of patients seeking treatment for obesity were willing to undergo subcutaneous injections,” said Lange, “But now we have a different perspective on this. We clearly see that patients prefer oral medications.”

He mentioned that those who frequently travel on business and don't want to constantly worry about keeping injectable medications refrigerated are a typical group of patients among them.

This is one of the first real-world pieces of evidence regarding the weight loss outcomes of patients transitioning from potent weight loss injectables, particularly Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy injection and Eli Lilly’s competing product Zepbound, to new oral medications. However, Novo Nordisk notes that this study also has its limitations, including differences in data collection timing and completeness within routine telemedicine care, potential biases due to self-reported data, and the results “cannot be generalized to a broader population.”

These data are also one of several new sets of information released by Novo Nordisk at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference held in Milan, Italy this week, focusing on its product pipeline for obesity and diabetes.

Also on Wednesday, Novo Nordisk announced that its experimental next-generation obesity drug CagriSema can reduce "food noise" – namely, the constant thoughts about food – and has shown benefits in terms of organ and bone health. This is based on the results of a one-year functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. Functional MRI is a non-invasive method of measuring brain activity during specific tasks.

CagriSema is composed of semaglutide from Novo Nordisk – which is also the active ingredient in Wegovy – and is combined with a drug called cagrilintide that targets amylin. CagriSema is expected to be launched at the beginning of next year, followed by the standalone cagrilintide, as well as a higher dose version of CagriSema, which is anticipated to be introduced in 2028.

Novo Nordisk stated that in this study, CagriSema altered the brain's response to high-calorie, tempting foods in obese or overweight individuals, involving brain regions related to craving, pleasure, and self-control.

"This change in signals in the brain is actually related to an improvement in quality of life," said Lange.

The company also added that in adult patients with type 2 diabetes, CagriSema reduced harmful fat around abdominal organs, including fat in the liver and pancreas. Novo Nordisk noted that preliminary findings also indicate that despite a significant weight loss among the patients, their bone health was maintained.

The pharmaceutical company stated that these findings indicate that CagriSema may act on the underlying factors of obesity and diabetes in the brain as well as in multiple organs and tissues, rather than merely affecting body weight and blood sugar levels.