New drug aims to turn obesity into treatable chronic condition.
One remarkable feature of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy (semaglutide) story is the lightning speed of the US launch, one of the fastest ever for the organization. The sales team was in the field with the obesity drug just 72 hours after its FDA approval on June 4, 2021; it hit the pharmacy shelves on June 18. Doug Langa, executive vice president, head of North America operations and president, Novo Nordisk US, attributes this giddying momentum to a “one-team approach.” The drug had already sped quickly through the FDA approval process thanks to a priority review voucher; in the face of a condensed timeline, “everybody really stepped up,” Langa told Pharm Exec. “From development through regulatory to sales and marketing, we all worked together with a singular purpose.”
