Many pharmaceutical industry experts had expected that patients would prefer pills over injections, for convenience. Novo's U.S. chief Jamey Millar in June said the firm's research indicated that Medicare beneficiaries prefer the oral pill to the injectable on a two-to-one basis.
Yet eight of 10 doctors interviewed by Reuters and three pharma sector analysts said many are opting for the injectables.
"Hands down — these patients are asking for injections as they know they work and it has been so costly in the past," said Dr. Sarah Ro, director of University of North Carolina Health's weight-management program.
Ro said patients who meet the criteria have been generally receiving approvals quickly once the clinicians became familiar with the process.
U.S. approvals for injectable Zepbound and Wegovy were based on separate trials in which the Lilly drug helped patients lose more than 22% of their weight after 72 weeks, while Wegovy led to 15% weight loss after 68 weeks.
Oral Wegovy led to about a 14% reduction in body weight over 64 weeks, and Foundayo about an 11% reduction over 72 weeks, in separate studies.
"Prescribing patterns have evolved over time as new options have become available, but the majority of patients are still prescribed injectable therapies," said analysts with investment bank William Blair in a July 13 note, citing a call with an obesity medicine specialist.
To be sure, demand for the Wegovy pill has been strong, and analysts said the most recent publicly available data from data firm IQVIA show that prescriptions for Lilly's pill Foundayo jumped in the week to July 10. IQVIA did not confirm the data.
But patients generally seem to be opting for the injectables once they learn about the efficacy.
"A year ago if you'd asked me, I would have thought people would be jumping at the pill," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh. "But it turns out that for most people, it's all about efficacy."
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