{"id":556429,"date":"2026-03-22T06:04:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T06:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/556429\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T06:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T06:04:20","slug":"fda-approves-new-high-dose-wegovy-in-us-for-boosted-weight-loss-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/556429\/","title":{"rendered":"FDA Approves New High-Dose Wegovy in US For Boosted Weight Loss : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

(AP) \u2013 Federal regulators on Thursday approved a new higher-dose version of the blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy<\/a> that may help users lose more weight and keep it off.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a 7.2-milligram dose of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide. Previously, the highest approved dose of the drug, taken as a weekly shot, was 2.4 milligrams.<\/p>\n

The new dose received accelerated review through the FDA’s ultra-fast drug review program.<\/a> The approval was granted 54 days after the request for review was approved, the agency said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The new dosage will be available in April at pharmacies in the U.S., with a price to be announced then, according to the company.<\/p>\n

European drug regulators approved the higher-dose version of Wegovy in February.<\/p>\n

Called Wegovy HD, the higher-dose drug helped participants in a study lose about 19% of their body weight, or almost 47 pounds, versus about 16% of body weight, or 39 pounds with the lower dose over almost 17 months.<\/p>\n

\"ManThe new 7.2-milligram dose is significantly higher than the 2.4-milligram version. (imyskin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The higher dose was developed because while the 2.4-milligram shot is effective, “some individuals do not reach their therapeutic goals” at that dose, according to results published last year in the medical journal Lancet Diabetes<\/a> & Endocrinology.<\/p>\n

The FDA in December approved an oral Wegovy pill.<\/a> It contains 25 milligrams of semaglutide, the amount needed to ensure the drug is absorbed via the digestive system.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrinologist and obesity expert at Harvard Medical School, welcomed the approval of the higher-dose shot.<\/p>\n

It “may be especially helpful for people” who are tolerating the lower-dose version, but “have had suboptimal weight loss,” she said in an email. It also could be helpful for people who don’t have a robust response to the highest dose of Eli Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound, she added.<\/p>\n

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Still, side effects such as nausea, vomiting and constipation were reported in more than 70% of those who took the higher dose of Wegovy, compared to more than 60% taking the lower dose and about 43% taking a dummy medication, the study showed.<\/p>\n

And a condition in which people experience unpleasant skin sensations such as burning, stabbing or a feeling like an electrical shock occurred in about 23% of those taking the higher dose of Wegovy versus 6% of those taking the lower dose and less than 1% in people who received a placebo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: Ozempic-Like Drugs Can Help You Lose Weight, But There’s a Catch<\/a><\/p>\n

Serious adverse events were reported in nearly 7% of those taking the 7.2-milligram dose of the drug in the study, versus about 11% of those taking the 2.4-milligram dose and about 5% of those who received a placebo.<\/p>\n

Increasing the highest dose of Wegovy from 2.4 milligrams to 7.4 milligrams is “quite a big jump,” especially without an intermediate dose, Dushay noted.<\/p>\n

“It will be important to see if in the real world, versus in a clinical study, side effects are any worse,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(AP) \u2013 Federal regulators on Thursday approved a new higher-dose version of the blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":["post-556429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}