A high dose of Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug Wegovy led patients to lose substantial weight in a clinical trial, but still less than what’s been seen with Zepbound.

Novo Nordisk said a higher dose of its drug Wegovy led to greater weight loss in patients during a late-stage trial, but the results fell short of the weight loss achieved with Eli Lilly's rival drug Zepbound,

Fresh from a $400 million series A round, Kailera Therapeutics has shown off phase 2 data on an obesity candidate it believes can muscle in on the market. Kailera and partner Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals linked the injectable GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist to 22.8% mean weight loss after 36 weeks.

Wegovy, the weight-loss brand of semaglutide, has a recommended maintenance dose of 2.4 mg. Novo ran the Phase III STEP UP trial to evaluate the effect of increasing the maximum dose to 7.2 mg. The trial randomized 1,407 adults with obesity, but not diabetes, to receive either 7.2 mg or 2.4 mg of semaglutide or placebo.

The Biden administration said Medicare will negotiate discounts with drug companies on 15 drugs prescribed to treat cancer, diabetes and asthma.

People who stayed on a 7.2 milligram weekly dose of semaglutide lost around 20% of their body weight over 72 weeks.

Tripling the dosage of the Wegovy weight-loss drug leads to more weight loss, Novo Nordisk said Friday. The Danish drugmaker announced results from a Phase 3B trial of semaglutide at a 7.2 milligram dosage,

Novo Nordisk said patients taking a bigger dose of its blockbuster obesity drug lost more weight than those on a lower dose, without experiencing an increase in side effects.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) announced Friday that a higher-dose version of its popular obesity therapy, semaglutide, marketed as Wegovy led to 20.7% weight loss over 72 weeks compared to 17.5% weight loss achieved by regular semaglutide in a late-stage trial.