How many strengths of Wegovy are there — and what does each one do?

Step 1: The starting dose, 0.25 mg

The journey with Wegovy begins at 0.25 mg, taken once a week by subcutaneous injection. This is a tolerability step. Its job is to let your body get used to a GLP-1 receptor agonist rather than to produce meaningful weight loss straight away. Most people find the first four weeks relatively manageable precisely because the dose is low.

After that initial month, the prescriber typically moves you to 0.5 mg. Neither of these early doses is where the medicine does its main work, think of them as the body's settling-in period before the therapeutic doses begin. The full Wegovy dose schedule is worth reading if you want a complete picture of the timeline.

Storage matters from the very start: keep each pen in the fridge door between 2°C and 8°C, away from the freezer shelf, and check the patient information leaflet for the specific window you have if the pen is left out at room temperature.

Step 2: Building through the middle doses (0.5 mg, 1.0 mg and 1.7 mg

The three middle strengths) 0.5 mg, 1.0 mg and 1.7 mg, are the escalation phase. Roughly every four weeks, and only if the previous dose was tolerated well, the prescriber moves the schedule up one rung. This gradual increase is deliberate: it keeps gastrointestinal side effects like nausea, diarrhoea and indigestion at a level most people can manage without stopping treatment.

It is also the point where many people start noticing a real change in appetite. Semaglutide slows gastric emptying and acts on appetite-regulating pathways in the brain, so the sense of feeling full sooner tends to become more noticeable as the dose climbs. The semaglutide strengths guide explains the pharmacology behind each step in more detail.

Cost is a practical consideration at this stage too. Private treatment pricing varies by dose and provider, the Wegovy cost overview sets out what the market looks like and what a legitimate prescription typically includes.

Step 3: Maintenance at 2.4 mg, and the new 7.2 mg option

The standard maintenance dose is 2.4 mg, reached after roughly 16 weeks of titration. This is the strength used in the pivotal STEP 1 trial, which showed an average weight reduction of around 15% over 68 weeks among adults with obesity, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. For most people, 2.4 mg is where they stay for the duration of their treatment.

In January 2026, the MHRA approved a 7.2 mg maintenance dose of semaglutide (Wegovy), initially supplied as three 2.4 mg pens used together weekly. On 14 April 2026, the MHRA approved a dedicated single-dose 7.2 mg pen, one pre-set weekly injection with a built-in covered needle that locks after use. This higher dose is licensed for adults with a BMI of 30 or above only and is not available for the cardiovascular indication. Trial data reported around 20.7% average weight loss over 72 weeks at 7.2 mg, bringing results closer to those seen with tirzepatide at higher doses.

The MHRA's approval announcement for the 7.2 mg single-dose pen has the official detail. Whether this strength is right for any individual is a clinical decision made with a prescriber, not a self-referral.

What this means for you

If you are wondering what the Wegovy strengths actually are and how they differ from one another, that is a reasonable place to start before discussing options with a prescriber. You start low, move up slowly, and settle at the dose your body responds to and tolerates. The prescriber leads that process at every stage; you do not decide when to move up yourself.

The Wegovy treatment overview covers eligibility, the NHS vs private routes, and how the prescription process works. If you have questions about a specific dose, our clinical team is well-placed to answer them.

As a prescription-only medicine, Wegovy requires clinical assessment before any Wegovy strength is prescribed. If you are considering treatment, starting a free consultation is the first step, our prescribers review every application the same day.