European Commission Approves 7.2 mg Dose of Wegovy for Obesity Treatment

The European Commission has approved a new 7.2 mg once-weekly maintenance dose of Wegovy (semaglutide injection) for adults living with obesity. This provides physicians with an additional treatment option for patients who require further weight reduction after being treated with the 2.4 mg dose.

Following the approval, doctors across the EU can prescribe the 7.2 mg dose as three 2.4 mg injections administered during a single weekly session. The approval is based on a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's scientific committee (CHMP) on 12 December 2025. The approval means that in the European Union, adults with obesity may now step directly from Wegovy 2.4 mg (for at least four weeks) up to 7.2 mg if they need greater weight loss while preserving muscle function.

Wegovy injections are now offered across all 27 EU member states in strengths of 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1.0 mg, 1.7 mg, 2.4 mg and 7.2 mg, for use alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity to support weight management. The 7.2 mg dose of Wegovy is already approved and marketed in the United Kingdom, and regulatory filings are under review with the FDA and other health authorities worldwide.

The EC approval is mainly supported by data from the phase III STEP UP study, which showed that obesity patients, who do not have diabetes, receiving a 7.2 mg dose of Wegovy for 72 weeks achieved an average weight loss of 20.7% compared with 2.4% with placebo and 17.5% with a 2.4 mg Wegovy dose. In the two clinical studies, STEP UP (1,407 participants) and STEP UP T2D (512 participants), adults with obesity, without and with type 2 diabetes, respectively, who took the 7.2 mg dose once a week, plus lifestyle changes, lost considerably more weight than people on placebo.

Additional analyses from the study showed that 33.2% of patients who took the 7.2 mg dose achieved at least 25% weight loss at 72 weeks compared with 16.7% in the 2.4 mg dose group. No patients in the placebo arm met this criterion. Data indicated that most of the weight loss with Wegovy, about 84%, was attributable to fat mass reduction, while muscle function was shown to remain intact.

The safety and tolerability profile of the higher dose was consistent with that of the approved 2.4 mg dose. The most common side effects were nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting (24.8%) and dysaesthesia (22.9%). These events were usually mild to moderate and transient. The data package also included results from the phase III STEP UP T2D study, which evaluated Wegovy 7.2 mg in obesity patients with type II diabetes.

Novo Nordisk has submitted a regulatory application seeking the approval of a dedicated 7.2 mg single-dose pen in the EU, which could become available later this year if authorized. The dedicated 7.2 mg pen product has not yet been approved. Novo Nordisk applied for approval of the Wegovy 7.2 mg product with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November last year and is awaiting the results.

Wegovy is currently approved in the EU for weight management, reducing major cardiovascular events, easing HFpEF symptoms, and relieving osteoarthritis-related knee pain in patients with obesity. In December 2025, Novo Nordisk secured the FDA approval of the Wegovy pill (once-daily oral semaglutide 25 mg) to reduce excess body weight and maintain weight reduction in the long term, and to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events. The approval of oral Wegovy marked a major milestone, making it the first GLP-1 RA approved in an oral form for weight management. Wegovy pill was subsequently launched in the United States in early January. A regulatory filing seeking the approval of once-daily oral semaglutide 25 mg for obesity is also currently under review in the EU.