What is Ozempic 2.0? Will it be a gamechanger for weight loss? Here's all you need to know

With the growing market for weight loss medications, the companies that manufacture Ozempic and Mounjaro are reportedly planning to launch a new weight loss drug that could be a game-changer in the process.

The new medicine won't need a needle and can be 'taken once per day without food and water restrictions'.

Both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have developed oral versions. Though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet given its approval, the first oral medicine could see the green light soon.

According to NPR, Novo Nordisk's obesity pill is expected to be approved first and it has the same ingredient — semaglutide — that's in Wegovy and Ozempic.

Ladbible reported that while GLP-1 medicine is for adults with Type-2 diabetes, the weight loss drug Mounjaro can be prescribed through the NHS.

Eli Lilly said that the initial tests showed that it ‘lowered weight by an average of 10.5 per cent (22.9 lbs) compared to 2.2 per cent (5.1 lbs) with a placebo’, reported Ladbible.

Eli Lilly Chief Scientific Officer Dan Skovronsky said that for the majority of patients, this could be the main medicine that they need to control their Type 2 diabetes as well as their obesity.

Quoting Novo Nordisk's obesity director Andrea Traina, the report said that "if you think about dropping an Alka-Seltzer tablet in a glass of water, that immediate fizzy reaction that occurs, that is what happens in your stomach. It creates this little foamy environment directly around the tablet."

The foam prevents a stomach enzyme from breaking the tablet down, lowering the stomach's acidity slightly.

In a study published in September in the New England Journal of Medicine, average weight loss of 16.6% was achieved by people taking oral semaglutide 25 mg compared to 2.7% for placebo at 64 weeks.

Martin Holst Lange, chief scientific officer and executive vice president of Research & Development at Novo Nordisk, said, "The oral semaglutide 25 mg data show compelling efficacy for an oral weight management medication with 16.6% weight loss and a safety and tolerability profile consistent with injectable Wegovy®.”

Whereas, announcing the safety and efficacy of Orforglipron in September, Eli Lily said that at 72 weeks, all three doses (6 mg, 12 mg and 36 mg) of orforglipron met the primary endpoint of superior body weight reduction compared to placebo.

Sean Wharton, MD, director at Wharton Medical Clinic and lead investigator, stated that “obesity is a complex, global health challenge — and patients need treatment options that are both effective and easy to integrate into everyday life”.

Earlier this week, the Danish drugmaker said that Alzheimer’s patients who took the medicine didn’t see their disease progress more slowly based on a cognitive assessment.

Novo will discontinue a planned one-year extension of the studies.