Raising the dose of Novo Nordisk A/S’s obesity drug Wegovy helped patients shed more pounds in a trial while still falling short of the weight loss seen with rival Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zepbound.Patients who took a 7.

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.

In the ongoing quest to expand semaglutide’s clinical pedigree and cement the GLP-1's market position, Novo Nordisk is rolling out new data on a higher-dose injection in obesity. | In the phase 3b STEP UP study,

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.

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 said on Friday a late-stage trial with a high-dose version of its weight loss drug semaglutide helped overweight patients lower their weight by 20.7%.

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.