Individuals using injectable GLP-1 therapies—a class of drugs that imitates the hormone to manage diabetes and aid weight loss—now have an alternative way to take the medication.

On Dec. 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Wegovy pill from Novo Nordisk. The tablet will contain 25 mg of semaglutide—the same compound in the injectable version of Wegovy—to treat overweight or obesity, whether for people starting a weight-loss program with the pills or maintaining weight loss. Those prescribed the pill will take one daily. (By comparison, users of the pen-form medication self-inject once a week.)

“I’m excited to launch the pill because I’ve seen so many people need weight loss but still hold back from [medications like Wegovy] due to the stigma around injections,” Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar tells TIME. “They want to swallow a pill without being judged if someone sees them injecting [a medication]. We waited patiently to ensure the pill is the right, most effective one when it arrives.”

In the studies the company submitted to the FDA, people who took the daily Wegovy pill lost roughly the same amount of weight—around 16.6% of their body mass—as those who gave themselves weekly Wegovy injections for just over a year.

A safe and effective weight-loss pill has long been a holy grail for pharmaceutical companies. A major challenge in developing one is that medicines often struggle to survive harsh stomach acids. The new pill uses Novo Nordisk’s proprietary technology to temporarily modify the specific part of the stomach where the pill lands, preventing it from being broken down too quickly by digestive enzymes, says Andrea Traina, Novo Nordisk’s medical director. “This results in the daily Wegovy pill having bioavailability, efficacy, and safety consistent with the injectable Wegovy formulation,” she explains. “Over a week, the average exposure levels of the two versions are similar.”

The Wegovy pill is not Novo Nordisk’s first oral GLP-1 launch. Rybelsus is a semaglutide pill the FDA approved in 2019 to treat diabetes. Doustdar says Rybelsus and the Wegovy pill differ in dose and the conditions they treat. The Wegovy pill contains about twice the highest dose of Rybelsus—what studies show is needed to achieve meaningful weight loss.

Since both the injectable and pill versions of Wegovy share the same main ingredient, semaglutide, the pill’s label also notes it can lower the risk of .

The Wegovy pill is the first oral GLP-1 approved by the FDA to treat obesity. On Dec. 18, Novo Nordisk’s competitor Eli Lilly submitted an FDA request for approval of its GLP-1 pill, , to help people maintain weight loss after a year of using injectable GLP-1. In November, the company received a Commissioner’s Priority Voucher, which means the drug’s review process could be shortened from months to weeks.

Both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly partnered with the White House to make GLP-1 drugs—including the pills—more affordable. The maintenance dose of the pills will cost $149 per month for people without insurance or who get them through government programs.

Novo Nordisk plans to launch the Wegovy pill in January.