The European Commission (EC) has approved a higher dose of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy (semaglutide), marking a win for the drugmaker as it looks to recover competitiveness in the weight loss market.
The authorisation means a new 7.2mg once-weekly maintenance dose of Wegovy will be available for adults with obesity. The approval follows a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA’s) scientific committee (CHMP) in December 2025.
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The higher dose adds to previous injectable Wegovy doses of 0.25mg, 0.5mg, 1.0mg, 1.7mg, and 2.4mg. The 7.2mg dose is administered as three 2.4mg injections in one sitting. Novo has separately applied for approval of a 7.2mg single-dose pen in the EU, the company says market launch could come later this year pending approval.
Data from around 2,000 patients across two Phase III trials demonstrated that the 7.2mg dose led to 21% body weight loss. As per previous studies, patients on the 2.4mg pen lost an average of 15% of their body weight.
Novo’s executive vice president of international operations, Emil Kongshøj Larsen, said: “This approval is another important step in helping people living with obesity reach very significant weight loss. The new dose gives healthcare professionals even more flexibility to tailor treatment and help people with obesity achieve their weight loss and health goals.”
Wegovy 7.2mg was approved in the UK in January 2026 and is currently under review in the US. The latter is being expedited via the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) programme.
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By GlobalDataMarketing a higher dose version of Wegovy is key component of Novo’s strategy to gain back market share in the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) market. Eli Lilly has gained a dominant position in the weight loss sector with its GLP-1RA tirzepatide, branded as Mounjaro for obesity in Europe. Mounjaro’s highest approved dose in Europe is 15mg.
Mounjaro generated approximately $23bn in global revenue in 2025, while Zepbound – the US brand name for obesity – contributed $13.5bn. Global revenue for Wegovy reached $12.5bn. The obesity market across the seven major markets (7MM: the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Japan) is forecast to reach $173.5bn by 2031, as per GlobalData analysis.
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Alongside the 7.2mg launches, Novo will be pinning much of its growth hopes on oral Wegovy (semaglutide), which launched in the US in January 2026 as the first GLP-1RA pill for obesity after gaining approval in December 2025. UBS analysts project 400,000 prescriptions for Novo’s pill in Q1 2026, signifying strong uptake for the new treatment modality. Novo Nordisk confirmed in its 2025 earnings call that there had been 50,000 prescriptions for the pill by the end of January 2026.
