A Wegovy injection pen is shown in Waterbury, Vermont, on April 28, 2025.
Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | fake images
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Nordisk released new data on Tuesday that could help boost the case for the higher-dose version of its blockbuster Wegovy obesity shot.
It comes just a month after the launch of that 7.2-milligram shot in the US.
Patients receiving that higher-dose shot lost an average of 27.7% of their weight at 72 weeks in a late-stage trial, according to a new analysis presented by Novo at the European Congress on Obesity.
Novo said those patients are a group of “early responders” who reacted faster to the treatment, losing at least 15% of their weight after 24 weeks, or the first six months of treatment.
Overall, people taking that highest dose in that study lost almost 21% of their weight on average. Before the launch of that new dose, the highest available injectable dose of Wegovy was 2.4 milligrams, which helped patients achieve weight loss of more than 17% on average in the trial at 72 weeks.
Here's why this new data is important.
Novo is positioning this high-dose version of Wegovy to serve as a stronger competitor to Eli Lilly's Zepbound, which has become the preferred drug for obesity due to its greater effectiveness. Zepbound has shown an average weight loss of over 20% in late-stage studies.
Novo has said the roughly 20%-plus similar efficacy between high-dose Wegovy and Zepbound could help the company regain market share from Lilly. And the new data shows Wegovy's potential to deliver even greater weight loss, which may be encouraging for some doctors and patients.
Novo said on an earnings call last week that it is already seeing users ramp up to the 7.2 milligram dose, and that three of the largest U.S. pharmacy benefit managers have added it to their standard formularies as an extension of Wegovy.
But there are some caveats here.
First, it's unclear what the average weight loss is for Zepbound “first responders.” That makes it difficult to really compare these new Wegovy results to Lilly's drug.
Second, it is not known which patients will respond early to Wegovy and achieve those higher levels of weight loss. Patients looking at this data should not expect to eventually lose 28% of their weight if they start taking high doses of Wegovy; It is not a guarantee.
The company said about one in four people taking the higher dose experienced that early treatment response in the trial, compared to about one in five at the 2.4 milligram dose.
The average weight loss of patients who did not have an “early” response to treatment in the trial was 15.4%, according to a statement from Novo.
However, in the statement, Dr. Dror Dicker, associate clinical professor of internal medicine at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Tel-Aviv University, Israel, said that those who do not have an “early” response to treatment still experience “substantial and clinically significant weight loss.”
A third point to note here: Analysts previously told CNBC that it's difficult to say whether high-dose Wegovy will significantly change the market share dynamic between Novo and Lilly, since Zepbound is already established as the top product in the injectable market.
Only time will tell, so we will be attentive to the launch of this new dose.
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