Two out of every five young children who took Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug Wegovy in a clinical trial lost enough weight to no longer be classified as having obesity, the drugmaker announced Sept. 7.
When combined with diet and exercise, the drug helped children ages 6 to younger than 12 lose significant weight. About 40.4% of children who got the weekly shot were no longer considered obese after 68 weeks. None of the children on placebo reached that mark.
More than 85% of the children in the trial started with severe obesity. Both groups followed a reduced-calorie diet and exercise plan during the study, and the children got a lower dose than adults typically receive. Novo Nordisk said side effects and safety results matched what it has seen in older kids and adults, with no new concerns and no signs of problems with growth or puberty.
Martin Holst Lange, MD, PhD, executive vice president and chief scientific officer at Novo Nordisk, said the results show Wegovy could help children manage obesity before it leads to bigger health problems.
This is the first trial to test Wegovy in children younger than 12, according to Bloomberg. Eli Lilly has not yet published trial results assessing how its competing drug works in that age group.
GLP-1 use among children is rare but has increased significantly in recent years. Among children ages 8 to 11 with obesity and without diabetes, GLP-1 prescribing increased from 0.03% in 2019 to 9.3% in 2026, according to a study published Sept. 4 in Pediatrics.
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