Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Wegovy and Ozempic, funded both studies.
“I suspect there are a lot of people who don’t use these treatments because they require an injection,” said Dr. Robert Gabbay, the senior scientific and medical director of the American Diabetes Association. “If you could say, ‘Well, actually, it’s not,’ that would be a big deal.”
The higher the dose of oral semaglutide, the more side effects seem to be associated with it. In the study of overweight or obese people, 80 percent of those taking oral semaglutide reported gastrointestinal problems such as vomiting, nausea, constipation, or diarrhea. Nearly 13 percent said they experienced a “changed skin feel” like tingling. The majority of study participants were white and female, the authors said, meaning the results may not apply to the broader population of people with obesity.
The second study of people with diabetes showed similar side effects: 80 percent of those taking the 50-milligram dose reported side effects, most commonly gastrointestinal problems, which were more common among people taking higher doses than those taking higher doses who took 14 milligrams. Thirteen percent of people who received the 50-milligram dose stopped taking the drug because of the side effects. Injectable semaglutide produces similar side effects; In a previous study, 74.2 percent of participants who received 2.4 milligrams of injectable semaglutide each week (the amount found in Wegovy) had gastrointestinal disorders.
Another study presented at the conference and published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at another oral drug, orforgliprone, which belongs to the same class of drugs as semaglutide. The study was funded by Eli Lilly. Pfizer has also tested its own pill in this drug class.
Oral semaglutide isn’t new: there’s already a tablet form of the compound on the market, sold under the name Rybelsus. The Food and Drug Administration has approved this medication only for adults with type 2 diabetes, and the tablets come in comparatively smaller daily doses of up to 14 milligrams. The tablets work similarly to semaglutide injections, regulating insulin levels, lowering blood sugar and slowing stomach emptying, allowing people to feel fuller longer, Dr. Andrew Kraftson, clinical associate professor at Michigan Medicine.