Novo Nordisk says high-dose Wegovy helped some patients lose nearly 28% of their weight

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Novo Nordisk released new data on Tuesday that could help boost the case for the higher dose version of its blockbuster obesity injection Wegovy. 

It comes just one month after the launch of that 7.2-milligram shot in the U.S. 

Certain patients on that higher dose injection lose 27.7% of their weight on average at 72 weeks in a late-stage trial, according to a new analysis Novo presented at the European Congress on Obesity. 

Novo said those patients are a group of “early responders” who reacted faster to treatment, losing at least 15% of their weight after 24 weeks, or the first six months of treatment.

Overall, people who took that higher 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 more than 17% weight loss 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 obesity drug due to its higher efficacy. Zepbound has shown average weight loss of more than 20% in late-stage studies. 

Novo has said that the similar roughly more than 20% efficacy between high-dose Wegovy and Zepbound could help the company win back market share from Lilly. And the new data shows Wegovy’s potential to offer even greater weight loss, which may be encouraging for some prescribers and patients to see.  

Novo said on an earnings call last week it is already seeing users ramp up to the 7.2-milligram dose, and that three of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the U.S. have added it to their standard formularies as an extension to Wegovy. 

But there are some caveats here.  

First of all, it’s unclear what the average weight loss is for any “early responders” of Zepbound. That makes it difficult to really compare these new Wegovy results to Lilly’s drug.  

Second, there’s no telling which patients will respond early to Wegovy and reach those higher levels of weight loss. Any patients who see this data shouldn’t expect to eventually lose 28% of their weight if they start taking high-dose Wegovy – it’s not a guarantee. 

The company said around one in four people taking the highest dose experienced that early treatment response in the trial, compared to about one in five on the 2.4-milligram dose.

The average weight loss of patients who didn’t have an “early” treatment response in the trial was 15.4%, according to a release from Novo. 

In the release, however, Dr. Dror Dicker, associate clinical professor of internal medicine at The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Israel, said those without an “early” treatment response still experience “a substantial and clinically meaningful weight loss.”

A third point to note here: Analysts previously told CNBC that it’s difficult to say whether high-dose Wegovy will meaningfully change the market share dynamic between Novo and Lilly, as Zepbound is already entrenched as the best product in the injectable market.

Only time will tell, so we’ll be keeping an eye on the rollout of this new dose. 

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at a new email: annika.constantino@versantmedia.com.