Novo Nordisk put the Ozempic pill on shelves across the United States on May 4, giving people with type 2 diabetes a daily oral option to replace the drug's familiar weekly injection. The new tablet is a reformulation of the company's existing oral GLP-1 medication Rybelsus, which the Food and Drug Administration approved in 2019, but it arrives in smaller doses: 1.5 milligrams, 4 mg, and 9 mg, compared to Rybelsus's 3 mg, 7 mg, and 14 mg doses.
Novo Nordisk officials say the reformulated pill delivers the same efficacy and safety profile as the original formulation despite the lower doses. The injectable version of Ozempic remains available and continues to be prescribed off-label for weight loss, a use that made the drug a household name in recent years.
Michael Radin, MD, the executive medical director for Novo Nordisk, said the rebranding is meant to simplify choices for patients and doctors. "With an updated formulation and new branding, oral semaglutide, now under the Ozempic name, helps patients and healthcare professionals more easily recognize the available FDA-approved treatment options for type 2 diabetes that contain the semaglutide molecule," Radin told Healthline.
For patients who already know the Ozempic name from advertising or word of mouth, Mir Ali, MD, a bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, said the significance of the new pill is that it "carries greater name recognition." That familiarity, he suggested, may make patients more likely to ask their doctors about it.
The pill may also appeal to people who simply dislike needles. Pouya Shafipour, MD, a family and obesity medicine physician at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, said the demand for a non-injectable option is real. "A lot of people are needle-averse," Shafipour told Healthline. "Over the long term, a lot of people get tired of poking themselves."
The Ozempic pill is the third GLP-1 medication to receive approval in pill form in 2026 alone. In January, the FDA cleared Wegovy, also from Novo Nordisk, as an oral tablet for weight management. In April, Eli Lilly's Foundayo received approval in pill form for weight management as well, though the FDA ordered the company to study potential heart, liver, and other risks associated with that pill.
Radin said patients should work closely with their doctors to decide which format fits their routines. "By offering Ozempic in both a pill and injection form, patients can work with their healthcare professional to pick the option that best fits their lives and daily routines," he said.
Novo Nordisk is not finished expanding the pill's reach. Company officials said they expect a federal regulatory decision on a higher-dose 25 mg Ozempic tablet by the end of 2026, which could broaden the drug's oral options further. For now, the three lower doses are what pharmacies will carry, and prescriptions can begin immediately for adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
