Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk began selling its once-daily Wegovy weight-loss pill in the United States on Jan. 5 after the product received U.S. regulatory approval last month, offering a needle-free option in the booming obesity-drug market and amid intensifying competition with rival Eli Lilly.

The pill, approved last month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will initially be sold in 1.5-milligram and 4-milligram doses priced at $149 per month for self-paying patients, Novo said in a statement. Commercially insured patients could pay about $25 per month under savings programs.

Novo added that higher doses of 9 mg and 25 mg will also be available, priced at $299 per month, while the 4 mg dose will rise to $199 from April 15.

“We know there are people who are interested in addressing their weight but have been waiting on the sidelines for a medicine that was right for them,“ Ed Cinca, senior vice president of marketing & patient solutions at Novo Nordisk, said in a statement, adding that Wegovy ”represents a significant innovation as the first and only GLP-1 pill for weight loss.”

GLP-1 drugs, which mimic the natural hormone that controls weight by creating a feeling of fullness, were originally made to treat diabetes and then repurposed when their weight loss effects were discovered.

Shares of Novo Nordisk rose about 3 percent in afternoon trading in Europe, while Lilly shares slipped roughly 1 percent in U.S. premarket trade.

Push to Win Cash-Paying Patients

The launch marks the first time an oral version of Wegovy has been made available in the United States, potentially broadening access to GLP-1 obesity drugs that have largely been sold as injections costing around $1,000 a month at list price.

The pill contains semaglutide, the same active ingredient used in Novo’s injectable weight loss and diabetes treatments marketed under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic. Novo also sells an oral semaglutide diabetes treatment under the brand name Rybelsus.

Novo has said the pill could appeal to patients who dislike injections and to those unable to obtain insurance coverage, positioning cash-paying consumers as an important part of the drug’s commercial performance.

“This moment is about changing what’s possible in weight management, and to make that possible, we have worked to ensure Wegovy pill is affordable and accessible to those who need it, however they choose to receive their care,” Cinca said.

Wegovy pills are now available at more than 70,000 U.S. pharmacies—including CVS and Costco—and through telehealth providers and the company’s own NovoCare Pharmacy network, Novo said.

Trump Admin Push to Cut Drug Prices

The FDA’s approval on Dec. 22 gave Novo an early edge over Lilly, whose experimental obesity pill orforglipron is still under regulatory review, with a decision expected later this year. Lilly has said it plans to cap higher doses of its pill, if approved, at $399 a month for repeat cash buyers.

Lilly’s injectable obesity drug Zepbound has outpaced Novo’s Wegovy in weekly U.S. prescriptions over much of the past year, highlighting the competitive pressure Novo faces.

The launch of the Wegovy pill comes amid a broader push by President Donald Trump to lower prices for obesity drugs, which have drawn political scrutiny over costs.

The White House said in November that Novo and Lilly had both agreed to offer starter doses of approved weight-loss pills at around $149 per month to Medicare and Medicaid enrollees, as well as to cash-paying consumers, under a new direct-to-consumer federal platform known as TrumpRx.

Administration officials have said that TrumpRx, expected to launch later this month, is intended to allow patients to purchase certain brand-name medicines directly from manufacturers at negotiated prices, bypassing traditional insurance and pharmacy benefit managers.

“President Trump is taking decisive action to rebalance a system that has allowed pharmaceutical manufacturers to offer low prices to other wealthy nations while charging Americans significantly higher prices,” a White House fact sheet states, noting that the prices Americans pay for brand-name drugs are more than three times higher than those in other developed nations.

Under the deal with the Trump administration, prices for Ozempic and Wegovy injections could fall from about $1,000–$1,350 per month to around $350 through TrumpRx, with a co-pay of $50 a month applying for covered Medicare beneficiaries, according to the White House.

Rachel Roberts and Reuters contributed to this report.