Wegovy vs Ozempic: same molecule, different indications and pricing — my results so far

Dr.MetabolicMD said:

Albumin binding above 99% is the whole reason weekly dosing works, and it is also why the trough matters more than the peak.

All true, with one condition: that curve is for people who reached the dose on schedule. Anyone who slowed the ladder for tolerability is on a different, flatter curve, and comparing yourself with the published mean will make you feel like a non-responder when you are not.

Dr.MetabolicMD said:

Albumin binding above 99% is the whole reason weekly dosing works, and it is also why the trough matters more than the peak.

Filing a mild objection. Mild because I might be wrong; an objection because nobody has addressed the case that does not fit. The trial means are being read too generously in this thread. STEP populations were selected, supported, and titrated by protocol, and the real-world curves are consistently a few points worse. That difference is not noise, it is what happens when you remove the study infrastructure.

Short answer first, then the reasoning. The dose-response is real but shallow at the top. Across STEP 1 and STEP 4 the gap between 1.7mg and 2.4mg is a couple of percentage points of body weight on average, and the average is carrying a wide spread — plenty of people at 1.7mg sit above the 2.4mg mean. If a dose is working and tolerable, "working" is the relevant variable, not "maximal".

julia.endo said:

All true, with one condition: that curve is for people who reached the dose on schedule.

That holds for the injectable. The oral formulation has different absorption behaviour and the dose numbers are not interchangeable, which is worth saying out loud because people quote them as if they were.

If somebody has the primary source to hand I would rather cite it than paraphrase it.