New weight-loss drugs: the 2025-2026 announcements, and where cagrilintide stands

The two newest FDA-approved diet pills of this period are both GLP-1 receptor agonists taken once a day, but they are different kinds of molecule.

Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide 25 mg)

Approved on 22 December 2025 as the first oral GLP-1 medicine for weight management, for adults with obesity or with overweight and at least one weight-related condition, and also to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events ^[1]. The approval rests on OASIS 4, a 64-week trial in 307 adults without diabetes, in which weight fell 13.6% on the pill against 2.2% on placebo counting everyone randomised ^[15]; Novo's adherent-only figure is 16.6% ^[1]. Gastrointestinal adverse events were reported by 74.0% on the pill and 42.2% on placebo ^[15]. Novo announced broad US availability on 5 January 2026 ^[16]. The active ingredient is the same one described on the semaglutide record.

Foundayo (orforglipron)

Approved on 1 April 2026 for chronic weight management in adults with obesity, or with overweight and a weight-related condition ^[3]. Orforglipron is a small, non-peptide molecule, and Lilly's approval announcement describes it as a GLP-1 pill that can be taken at any time of day without food or water restrictions ^[3]. In the ATTAIN-1 trial, 3,127 adults with obesity and without diabetes lost 11.2% of body weight on the 36 mg dose over 72 weeks, against 2.1% on placebo, counting everyone randomised ^[8]. Adverse events led 5.3% to 10.3% of people on orforglipron to stop treatment, against 2.7% on placebo ^[8].

On launch pricing, both companies published self-pay prices for the lowest doses: Novo listed $149 a month for the Wegovy pill's 1.5 mg starting dose ^[16], and Lilly listed Foundayo from $149 a month for self-pay ^[3]. Higher doses, insurance terms and later changes are set by the manufacturers and change over time; the dates above are when each figure was published.

The FDA approved a higher dose of injectable semaglutide, 7.2 mg once weekly, on 19 March 2026, as the fourth product cleared under its Commissioner's National Priority Voucher pilot, 54 days after filing ^[2]. In the STEP UP trial cited by the FDA, mean weight change was -18.7% on 7.2 mg, -15.6% on 2.4 mg and -3.9% on placebo ^[2]. The indication is weight reduction and long-term maintenance in adults with obesity, or overweight with at least one weight-related condition ^[2].

This is a new dose of an existing medicine rather than a new molecule, and the extra effect over 2.4 mg is about three percentage points of body weight. That is relevant to cagrilintide: Novo's next CagriSema trial pairs cagrilintide 2.4 mg with this higher semaglutide dose of 7.2 mg ^[13].

The new GLP-1 drugs and their successors that are closest to approval, as of 29 October 2026. None of these is approved for weight loss, and every number comes from a trial of the manufacturer's product.

Retatrutide has the largest effects reported so far in this list. Its phase 2 trial reported -24.2% at 48 weeks on 12 mg ^[17], and Lilly's phase 3 toplines have followed: up to 28.7% in TRIUMPH-4 ^[11], and up to 20.8% in adults with type 2 diabetes (TRIUMPH-2) and 22.6% in adults with severe obesity and cardiovascular disease (TRIUMPH-3) at 80 weeks ^[5]. In August 2026 Lilly said the data package was complete and the US filing is planned for the first quarter of 2027 ^[18]. The retatrutide record has the trial-by-trial detail. Retatrutide has never been tested together with cagrilintide; the cagrilintide with retatrutide page explains what that absence means.

Amylin is the new mechanism. Three of the four drugs above act on amylin receptors, the pathway cagrilintide was built for. The amylin approach and its other candidates, including Lilly's eloralintide, are covered in amylin analogs and eloralintide, and the mechanism itself in how cagrilintide works.

Cagrilintide is in two places in the pipeline at once. As part of CagriSema, it is under FDA review: Novo filed on 18 December 2025 ^[12] and expects a decision in Q4 2026 ^[4]. On its own, it entered a dedicated phase 3 programme, RENEW, after the cagrilintide-only arm of REDEFINE 1 lost 11.8% of body weight over 68 weeks against 2.3% on placebo among people who took it as intended ^[9]. Novo announced that programme in September 2025 ^[9].

The most recent cagrilintide news came in three pieces. First, CagriSema did not win the REDEFINE 4 head-to-head with tirzepatide (23.0% vs 25.5% in people who took treatment as intended) ^[13]. Second, REDEFINE 5, published in April 2026, found that adding cagrilintide to semaglutide gave 18.4% against 11.9% for semaglutide alone in 331 adults in Japan and Taiwan ^[19]. Third, a post hoc analysis in October 2026 reported 25.0% average weight loss in women on CagriSema, which Novo labels hypothesis-generating ^[4].

The full dated record of CagriSema's trials and filing is on CagriSema news and approval timeline, and the combination itself on the CagriSema guide. For the doses the cagrilintide trials gave, as trial protocol, see cagrilintide dosage; for how cagrilintide compares with the drug it is paired with, see cagrilintide vs semaglutide.

One of the most widely covered weight-loss drug announcements of the period was not an approval. On 6 November 2025 the White House announced pricing agreements with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk covering GLP-1 medicines. They include a Medicare price of $245 a month for Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound and plans for Medicare coverage of obesity medicines for some beneficiaries ^[10]. The Wegovy pill's self-pay launch price of $149 a month for the starting dose followed in January 2026 ^[16].

How those agreements reach a given patient depends on the coverage programme, the insurer and the dates on which each part takes effect, which have shifted since the announcement. This site reports the announced figures with their dates and does not track coverage rules; the manufacturers and Medicare publish the current terms.

Every drug on this page works at least partly through the GLP-1 or amylin pathways. These slow stomach emptying and act on appetite centres in the brain. The trials report the same leading side effects: nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation, mostly mild to moderate and concentrated in the dose-escalation weeks.

• Wegovy pill: gastrointestinal adverse events in 74.0% of people on oral semaglutide 25 mg against 42.2% on placebo over 64 weeks ^[15].
• Foundayo: adverse events led 5.3% to 10.3% of people to stop orforglipron, depending on dose, against 2.7% on placebo; gastrointestinal effects were the most common ^[8].
• CagriSema: in REDEFINE 1, gastrointestinal adverse events were reported by 79.6% on CagriSema against 39.9% on placebo, and 5.9% against 3.5% stopped because of adverse events ^[12].
• Wegovy HD: the FDA lists gastrointestinal reactions as the most common with the 7.2 mg dose ^[2].

Two things the trials of the newest drugs have not yet answered at scale are what happens to weight after stopping and what the long-term outcomes are beyond the trial period; for semaglutide alone, the semaglutide record covers what the longer trials found. For cagrilintide's own side-effect profile, see cagrilintide side effects.

Most headlines about new weight-loss drugs report one of four things, and they carry very different weight.

• An FDA approval means a product, a dose range and an approved population exist, with a label that lists the warnings. This happened three times in this period ^[1][2][3].
• A filing means the manufacturer has asked for approval. CagriSema is at this stage ^[12].
• A topline result is a company announcement of a trial's main numbers before peer review, such as Lilly's retatrutide readouts ^[14]. Figures can shift slightly when the paper is published.
• A post hoc or subgroup analysis looks again at a finished trial, such as the women-only CagriSema figure ^[4]. It generates questions rather than settling them.

Two numbers per trial are normal. Companies lead with the result among people who stayed on treatment; journals lead with the result among everyone randomised. For CagriSema's REDEFINE 1 that is 22.7% versus 20.4% ^[20][7], and comparing one drug's first number with another drug's second is the most common error in obesity drug news.

None of these announcements concerns research-chemical products sold online under the same drug names. Trial results apply to the manufacturer's product in the trial population. The diabetes side of the same pipeline, including the Ozempic pill and once-weekly insulins, is covered in new diabetes medications and the wider diabetes medications guide; tirzepatide has its own record.