What doses of Wegovy are there — and which one applies to you?

The five injection strengths and what each one is for

The Wegovy injection schedule is a structured climb, not a pick-your-own menu. You begin at 0.25 mg once weekly. That first pen's only job is to let your body adjust to semaglutide, nausea is common early on, and starting low keeps it manageable. After four weeks, a prescriber typically moves you to 0.5 mg, then 1.0 mg, then 1.7 mg, with each step separated by roughly a month.

The 2.4 mg weekly injection is the licensed maintenance dose for weight management, the level at which the STEP 1 trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, recorded an average body-weight reduction of around 15% over 68 weeks. That figure comes from a placebo-controlled trial involving adults with obesity or overweight alongside a weight-related condition, so your own experience will vary.

If side effects at any rung are significant, a prescriber can pause the titration or step back. Moving up is not automatic; it follows a review. That review is also the safeguard that catches when someone shouldn't continue at all. If you want to understand how the Wegovy dose steps work and what each one is designed to achieve, that page is worth reading alongside this.

The 7.2 mg dose (what changed in 2026

On 14 April 2026, the MHRA approved a dedicated single-dose 7.2 mg Wegovy pen) one pre-set weekly injection with a covered auto-needle that locks after use. This is a higher maintenance option for adults with a BMI of 30 or above; it is not licensed for the cardiovascular indication and is not for people below that BMI threshold.

Trial data reported approximately 20.7% average weight loss over 72 weeks at 7.2 mg, narrowing the gap with tirzepatide's results at its highest dose. The starting point is still 0.25 mg, you titrate through the same steps before reaching 7.2 mg as the ceiling, rather than jumping straight to it. The MHRA's announcement on GOV.UK sets out the full approval detail.

Whether a specific pen format is available at any given time is something confirmed at consultation, stock availability for newer formats can shift. If you're wondering about the broader range of dose options side by side, this page covers all Wegovy doses in one place.

The Wegovy tablet, a completely separate schedule

Since June 2026, Wegovy is also available as a once-daily tablet, making it the first oral GLP-1 medicine licensed in the UK for weight management. The tablet schedule is distinct: 1.5 mg, 4 mg, 9 mg, and 25 mg as the maintenance dose, each held for at least a month before stepping up. It is taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach with a small amount of plain water, then you wait at least 30 minutes before food, coffee, or other medicines.

A common question (understandably) is whether the tablet milligram numbers correspond to the injection strengths. They don't. The absorption mechanism is different, and the doses are calibrated separately. The 25 mg tablet is not equivalent to 2.4 mg of the injection; they are different formulations of the same molecule. This distinction matters if you are ever considering switching, which should always happen under clinical guidance.

One practical difference people appreciate: the tablet needs no refrigeration. Worth knowing if you're planning travel or if your fridge situation is complicated, though tablets come with their own morning routine requirements that injections don't. If you're weighing up the two formats, our treatments page walks through what's currently available and how to start a conversation with a prescriber.

What actually determines the dose you're prescribed

The dose schedule is the framework; your prescriber fills in the detail. Starting BMI, any weight-related conditions, how your body responds to each step, tolerability of side effects, and whether you're reaching clinically meaningful progress, all of these feed into the clinical picture. NICE's guidance on semaglutide for weight management recommends considering stopping if there is less than 5% weight loss after six months at the maintenance dose, which is one of the formal checkpoints a prescriber works around.

Eligibility itself is set by the licensed indication: adults with a BMI of 30 or above, or 27 to 29.9 with at least one weight-related condition such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or obstructive sleep apnoea. Lower BMI thresholds apply for some ethnic backgrounds under UK guidance. Those thresholds apply equally to NHS and private routes, the prescription rules don't change depending on who's doing the prescribing.

If you're comparing how Wegovy's dose steps sit against tirzepatide's schedule, this breakdown of how many doses Wegovy has offers a clean reference point. And if cost is part of your thinking, understanding what private Wegovy treatment actually costs is a sensible next step before starting a consultation. Our prescribers review every application personally, a real clinician reads your answers, the same day you submit them, and confirms which dose pathway makes clinical sense for you.