Wegovy: UK approves higher dose for obesity patients

UK’s health regulator said on Friday it had approved a maximum weekly dose of up to 7.2 milligrams of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight-loss drug, Wegovy, to be administered as three separate injections for patients with obesity.

The higher dose, cleared by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, broadens treatment choices for patients and physicians beyond the current 2.4 mg limit.

Novo CEO Mike Doustdar said in the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference on Tuesday that the company had initially taken a cautious approach while developing semaglutide, opting to bring the 2.4 mg dose to market after studies showed it delivered around 15%–16% weight loss.

Subsequent trials, however, showed that a stepped-up dose of 7.2 mg could deliver around 20% weight loss, comparable to newer rival medicines, without abandoning semaglutide’s established benefits for the heart, kidneys and other organs, he said.

In an interview at the conference this week, Novo’s executive vice president for international operations, Emil Kongshoj Larsen, said that outside the United States, the company would be “particularly busy with the high-dose Wegovy launches,” which he described as critical to entering new markets with strong weight-loss messaging.

“That’s number one priority (ex-U.S.) this year,” he added.

The approval adds to the growing arsenal of GLP-1 drugs available in Britain as regulators worldwide expand dosing options for the class of medicine that has reshaped pharmaceutical markets.

The MHRA said on Friday the tripled dose does not apply to overweight patients with a BMI below 30 or those using Wegovy to reduce cardiovascular risk, and patients must be on the standard 2.4 mg dose at least for four weeks before escalating.

The Danish drugmaker is also awaiting a ruling from Britain’s medicines regulator on the easier-to-administer pill version of its weight-loss treatment.

Separately, prescription data showed signs of an encouraging U.S. launch for Novo’s Wegovy pill, which recorded 3,071 prescriptions in its first four days on the market, according to IQVIA data released on Friday.

The figures capture retail prescriptions for oral Wegovy, and not those filled through the drugmaker’s online NovoCare Pharmacy, so actual prescription numbers will be higher, Barclays analysts said in a note.

Novo’s Denmark-listed shares rose nearly 4% on Friday, while its U.S.-listed shares were up at similar levels in premarket trading.