The logo of pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is displayed in front of the company’s offices in Bagsvaer, Copenhagen, Denmark, on February 4, 2026.
Tom Little | Reuters
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced that a higher-dose version of novo nordiskCompany develops blockbuster weight loss injection Wegovy to take back market share from biggest rival Eli Lilly.
Novo plans to launch a higher-dose 7.2-milligram dose of Wigoby in April. The Danish drugmaker is positioning this version to be more competitive with Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound, which has been proven to be more effective at promoting weight loss than the standard dose of 2.4 milligrams of Wigovy.
Although Zepbound entered the U.S. market later than Wegovy, its high efficacy made it the preferred obesity treatment among prescribers and patients, cementing Lilly’s position as a dominant player in the field.
In a Phase 3 trial, high doses of Wegovy reduced body weight by an average of 20.7% after 72 weeks in obese patients. Standard doses of Wegovy have shown average weight loss of approximately 15% in clinical trials.
“I think this will really make us more competitive and really narrow the delta,” Dr. Jason Brett, Novo Nordisk’s chief U.S. medical officer, said in an interview Thursday ahead of the approval.
“But I think more importantly, it just gives patients another option if they don’t meet their goals and can’t achieve higher weight loss for certain patients,” he added.
In another Phase 3 trial in patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes, high doses of Wegovy demonstrated an average weight loss of 14.1%. People with diabetes usually have a harder time losing weight than people without diabetes.
This is the first approval of a GLP-1 therapy under FDA’s new National Priority Voucher Program. The plan aims to shorten drug review times to one to two months for companies that the FDA says support U.S. national health priorities. The FDA began its trial program in June.
