Oral Obesity Drugs: Novo Nordisk's USD 2.6Bn Hengrui Deal

Oral obesity drugs are becoming an increasingly important battleground in the pharmaceutical industry as drug makers look beyond injectable GLP-1 therapies.

The shift gained another signal on September 29, 2026, when Novo Nordisk agreed to license Hengrui Pharmaceuticals’ HRS-1596 in a deal worth up to USD 2.6 billion, including a USD 300 million upfront payment.

The potentially once-weekly oral GLP-1/GIP dual-receptor agonist adds to Novo’s expanding oral obesity drug pipeline.

More broadly, the transaction highlights how pharmaceutical companies are competing to make obesity treatment more convenient while addressing the next questions around efficacy, dosing frequency and oral drug delivery.

Why are oral obesity drugs becoming the next pharma battleground?

Injectable GLP-1 medicines have transformed obesity treatment, but pharmaceutical companies are increasingly developing alternatives that can be administered as tablets.

Convenience is a major driver, particularly as treatment moves toward long-term use and potentially broader patient populations.

Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar has said weight-loss pills could account for up to 50 percent of the global obesity drug market by 2030, while the company is continuing to expand its oral obesity drug portfolio.

Novo already has multiple oral treatments in development and is increasing its focus on therapies that can offer patients alternatives to injections.

The shift therefore represents more than another formulation change. It is creating a new competitive segment in which companies are attempting to combine weight-loss efficacy with easier administration.

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Which companies are developing the next oral obesity treatments?

Novo Nordisk is expanding beyond oral semaglutide through a pipeline that includes a next-generation dual-acting tablet, an oral amylin analogue and a small-molecule candidate.

The company has also set a 2030 ambition to scale capacity sufficiently to serve 10 times more people with obesity on oral GLP-1 therapies.

Eli Lilly is also pursuing the oral market with orforglipron, while other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are developing oral GLP-1 candidates and multi-receptor therapies.

Viking Therapeutics, for example, is developing both oral and injectable versions of VK2735, illustrating how companies are pursuing different administration routes within the same obesity-drug pipeline.

This competition is creating several approaches to oral treatment, including small-molecule GLP-1 drugs, oral peptide therapies and multi-receptor agonists.

What does Hengrui’s USD 2.6 billion deal signal?

Hengrui’s HRS-1596 provides another example of how the oral obesity drug race is expanding geographically and technologically. Under the agreement, Novo receives exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize the treatment outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Hengrui will receive USD 300 million upfront, with milestone payments and royalties potentially taking the deal to USD 2.6 billion. HRS-1596 has received approval in China to begin Phase 1 clinical trials for weight management and type 2 diabetes.

Its potential once-weekly oral dosing is particularly relevant as pharmaceutical companies seek to reduce the administration burden associated with existing obesity treatments.

The transaction also adds to Hengrui’s growing presence in innovative drug licensing, particularly as Chinese pharmaceutical companies seek global partners for novel therapies.

Can oral obesity drugs overcome the next treatment challenges?

The growth of oral obesity treatments does not remove the technical challenges facing GLP-1 drug development. Oral delivery can involve questions around absorption, bioavailability, gastrointestinal tolerability and maintaining sufficient exposure to achieve meaningful clinical effects.

The competition is consequently moving beyond simply developing another weight-loss medicine. Drugmakers are attempting to establish combinations of efficacy, dosing convenience, tolerability and scalable delivery that can support long-term treatment.

For Novo Nordisk, the Hengrui transaction adds another potential oral asset as the company prepares for a market in which pills could represent a substantially larger share of obesity treatment.

For the wider pharmaceutical industry, it signals that the next phase of the obesity-drug race may increasingly be fought through the development of oral therapies rather than injectable medicines alone.