GLP-1 drugs not approved yet: how far off each is
Three heavily searched GLP-1 molecules are not approved yet, and they are not the same distance away. One already has an application with the FDA; one has finished its trials; one has trials running into 2028. Below is what the sponsors have announced and what the trial registry says, which is the closest thing to a schedule that exists in public.
How close is each of these to being something you can buy?
None of the three can be bought today. None holds an approved application in Drugs@FDA, checked on 2026-08-28; the same query returns six for semaglutide, so the blank is a finding rather than a failed search. Drugs@FDA lists approvals, not filings, and past that the three stand at different points. CagriSema: Novo Nordisk submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA on 18 December 2025, based on REDEFINE 1 and REDEFINE 2, and says the FDA is expected to review it in 2026, although 5 of its 12 registered phase 3 trials in obesity or overweight are complete and 6 still running, the last reaching primary completion in March 2030. Survodutide: all 6 of its phase 3 trials in obesity or overweight have completed. Retatrutide: 4 of its 9 registered phase 3 trials in obesity or overweight are complete and 5 still running, the last reaching primary completion in October 2028. A sponsor may file on part of a program rather than all of it, so trial dates bound nothing on their own: a filing is what brings an approval into view, and the FDA still decides in its own time.
Side by side
| Drug | Sponsor | Phase 3 in obesity | Last readout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survodutide | Boehringer Ingelheim | 6 of 6 complete · 7,811 enrolled | none outstanding |
| Retatrutide | Eli Lilly and Company | 4 of 9 complete · 5 running · 8,757 enrolled | 2028-10 |
| CagriSemafiled with the FDA 2025-12-18 | Novo Nordisk | 5 of 12 complete · 6 running · 1 withdrawn · 10,594 enrolled | 2030-03-20 |
Counted from ClinicalTrials.gov on 2026-08-28, restricted to phase 3 studies registered against obesity, overweight or weight. Approval status from Drugs@FDA the same day; a filing only from the sponsor's own announcement — Novo Nordisk: files for FDA approval of CagriSema, 18 December 2025.
Drugs not approved yet, answered
- Can I buy any of these now?
- No, at any price and through any route. None holds an approved application in Drugs@FDA, checked on 28 August 2026 — a check worth naming because the same query returns six applications for semaglutide, so the blank is an answer rather than a failed lookup. Outside a clinical trial there is no legal supply, and a compounding pharmacy cannot fill the gap either: compounding starts from an approved drug or a permitted bulk substance, and an unapproved molecule is neither.
- Which one arrives first?
- CagriSema looks closest, on the one fact that bears on it: Novo Nordisk submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA on 18 December 2025, based on REDEFINE 1 and REDEFINE 2, and says the FDA is expected to review it in 2026. For Survodutide and Retatrutide this page has no filing to report, only the trial registry: Survodutide — all 6 of its phase 3 trials in obesity or overweight have completed. Retatrutide — 4 of its 9 registered phase 3 trials in obesity or overweight are complete and 5 still running, the last reaching primary completion in October 2028. None of that is an approval date: a sponsor can file before its last trial reads out, as Novo Nordisk did, and the FDA decides in its own time.
- Why do these have no price here when everything else does?
- Because there isn't one. A price on this site carries its source and the date it was read; an unapproved drug has no seller and no page. Any figure you see quoted for these is a forecast or an invention. When one is approved and sold it gets a card like the rest, with the same sourcing.
What you can buy today
Last updated 2026-08-28 — trial registry and Drugs@FDA checked. Read and dated by Alex Seot.