Wegovy is a GLP-1 receptor agonist, a class of medications that mimic a natural gut hormone called GLP-1 to reduce appetite and promote weight loss. The active ingredient is semaglutide, and the drug is FDA-approved for chronic weight management in adults with obesity (BMI of 30 or higher) or overweight (BMI of 27 or higher) with at least one weight-related health condition. It’s also approved for adolescents aged 12 and older with obesity.
How GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Work
Your body naturally produces a hormone called GLP-1 after you eat. This hormone plays several roles: it signals your brain that you’re full, slows down how quickly food leaves your stomach, and tells your pancreas to release insulin. Wegovy is a synthetic version of that hormone. It binds to the same receptors as natural GLP-1 but lasts much longer in the body, which is why it only needs to be taken once a week rather than being constantly produced after meals.
The weight loss effect comes primarily from two mechanisms. First, Wegovy acts on areas of the brain that process hunger and fullness, reducing your appetite so you naturally eat less. Second, it slows stomach emptying, which means food stays in your digestive system longer and you feel satisfied for a longer period after meals. For people with type 2 diabetes, there’s an added benefit: the increased insulin release and reduced blood sugar spikes help with blood sugar control, though Wegovy is specifically branded and dosed for weight management rather than diabetes treatment.
How Wegovy Differs From Ozempic
This is one of the most common points of confusion. Wegovy and Ozempic contain the exact same active ingredient, semaglutide, but they are approved for different purposes and prescribed at different doses. Ozempic is approved for type 2 diabetes management, with a maximum dose of 2 mg per week. Wegovy is approved for weight management and cardiovascular risk reduction, with a standard maintenance dose of 2.4 mg per week. For patients who tolerate that dose and need additional weight loss, Wegovy can be increased to a maximum of 7.2 mg weekly.
Wegovy also now comes in an oral form. The pill version follows a different dosing schedule, starting at 1.5 mg daily and gradually increasing to a maintenance dose of 25 mg daily. The injectable version remains the more established option.
Dosing Schedule and How It’s Given
Wegovy is injected under the skin once a week using a prefilled pen. The dose starts low and increases gradually over about four months to give your body time to adjust and reduce side effects. The schedule looks like this:
- Weeks 1 to 4: 0.25 mg
- Weeks 5 to 8: 0.5 mg
- Weeks 9 to 12: 1 mg
- Weeks 13 to 16: 1.7 mg
- Week 17 onward: 2.4 mg (maintenance dose)
This gradual ramp-up is called titration, and it exists specifically because jumping straight to the full dose causes significantly more nausea and digestive discomfort. Some patients stay at 1.7 mg as their maintenance dose if they don’t tolerate the higher amount.
What Wegovy Is Approved to Treat
The FDA has approved Wegovy for several specific uses, all in combination with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity. For weight management, it’s indicated for adults with obesity or adults with overweight who also have at least one weight-related condition such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol. It’s also approved for teens aged 12 and older with obesity.
Beyond weight loss, Wegovy is approved to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events, including heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death, in adults who have established heart disease and either obesity or overweight. The SELECT trial, a large clinical study, found that semaglutide 2.4 mg reduced these major cardiovascular events by 20% compared to placebo in this population. More recently, it also received approval for treatment of a type of liver disease called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) with moderate to advanced scarring.
Common Side Effects
Digestive issues are by far the most frequent side effects. Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation top the list, and in clinical trials involving adolescents, 62% of those taking Wegovy experienced some form of gastrointestinal issue compared to 42% on placebo. These symptoms are typically worst during the dose increases and often improve once the body adjusts.
Other common side effects reported at rates of 5% or higher include abdominal pain, headache, fatigue, dizziness, bloating, heartburn, gas, and hair loss. About 4.3% of patients in trials stopped taking Wegovy because of gastrointestinal problems, with nausea being the leading reason at 1.8%. Severe digestive side effects occurred in roughly 4% of patients on the medication.
The gradual dose escalation helps, but some people find the stomach-related effects persistent enough to stay at a lower maintenance dose or discontinue treatment. Most side effects are mild to moderate and concentrated in the first few months of use.