Study: Body's Response Determines Success of Obesity Therapy

A new analysis of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) 2026, has highlighted that a patient’s individual response is a key determinant of therapeutic success. The study of the 7.2 mg dose found that a subset of ‘early responders’—those who lost at least 15% of their body weight in the first 24 weeks—achieved an average weight loss of 27.7% after 72 weeks. However, this group represented only about one in four participants. Across all patients receiving the 7.2 mg dose, the average weight loss was nearly 21%, which is still higher than the 17% achieved with the 2.4 mg dose over the same period. Associate Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine Dror Dicker stated that even patients who were not early responders experienced a substantial and clinically meaningful average weight loss of 15.4%. The findings reinforce that responses to obesity therapy vary due to biological factors, metabolic conditions, and lifestyle, and that there is currently no method to predict which patients will be early responders.