FDA approves Wegovy, semaglutide injection, for chronic weight management
The US drug regulator cleared Novo Nordisk's weekly semaglutide injection for obesity, opening the era of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
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On 4 June 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration (the federal drug regulator) approved Wegovy, a once-weekly injection of semaglutide 2.4 mg made by Danish company Novo Nordisk. It was cleared for chronic weight management in adults with obesity, or with overweight and at least one weight-related condition such as high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes. It was meant to be used alongside a reduced-calorie diet and more physical activity.
Semaglutide was already sold at lower doses as Ozempic, approved in 2017 for type 2 diabetes. It mimics GLP-1, a gut hormone that reduces appetite and slows digestion. In the STEP clinical trials, people taking Wegovy lost about 15% of their body weight on average over roughly 68 weeks, far more than earlier obesity drugs had achieved.
The approval mattered because it showed that medication could deliver large, sustained weight loss. It set off a surge in demand, supply shortages and a race among drugmakers to develop stronger and more convenient successors, which is the background to today's next-generation obesity treatments.
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Next-generation obesity drugs after Ozempic · 3 updates
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