GLP-1 pills are coming, and they could revolutionize weight-loss treatment

At least a dozen experimental weight-loss drugs designed to be taken as pills are working their way through clinical trials, with the most advanced now in the third and final stage of testing.

Jared Holz thought about taking one of the new GLP-1 drugs for weight loss for months before he actually filled the prescription. And even when he got the drug, he waited a month before using it. Part of his hesitation: He dislikes needles, and all the drugs in this class that have been approved for weight loss come as shots that users give themselves once a week. “This has been really challenging,” Holz, 44, said about a week into treatment. But the need for needles may soon change. At least a dozen similar experimental weight-loss drugs designed to be taken as pills are working their way through clinical trials, with the most advanced now in the third and final stage of testing. They’re likely to “drastically change the landscape for weight management in several ways,” said Dr. Jody Dushay, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an attending physician in endocrinology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who prescribes weight-loss medications. It’s a field that’s already undergoing a revolution, with millions of people across the US now using semaglutide and tirzepatide, sold as Wegovy and Zepbound for weight loss (and for diabetes as the better-known Ozempic and Mounjaro).