Weight Loss Drug Frenzy: What’s Here and What’s Likely Coming Next

Weight Loss Drug Frenzy: What’s Here and What’s Likely Coming Next

The market for weight loss drugs is exploding and patients may have several new options in coming years

By Peter Loftus, WSJ

March 26, 2026

The obesity drug market has long been dominated by two shots, Wegovy and Zepbound, and their diabetes versions, Ozempic and Mounjaro.

That is about to change.

Pills have just started to enter the market, and drugmakers are racing to develop next-generation medications in hopes of helping people lose even more weight with fewer side effects. Some of the drugs in development are designed to be taken less often than those already out there.

What's likely coming

These experimental drugs might help people lose weight so quickly that they will be marketed for more severe forms of obesity. Other, less powerful drugs might end up being “maintenance” medications for people after they have already lost a substantial amount of weight. Any number of these drugs might be used in combinations.