semaglutide (Wegovy)
Adjunctive therapy • Brands: WEGOVY
Last reviewed: 2026-02-12
General information
- Primary label indications include: Chronic weight management (with diet and exercise) in adults and certain adolescents with obesity or overweight with weight-related comorbidities (label).
- Class: Adjunctive therapy
- Common US brands: WEGOVY
- Therapeutic drug monitoring not routinely recommended.
- Last reviewed: 2026-02-12
Dosing & forms
- Forms/strengths: —
- Frequency: —
- Food: —
- Typical range: —
Mechanism (brief)
Weekly injectable [[GLP-1]] receptor agonist (semaglutide 2.4 mg) indicated for chronic weight management (with diet and exercise). In mental health care it is most often discussed as a tool for obesity and antipsychotic-associated metabolic risk rather than for direct psychiatric indications.
Metabolism & Half‑life
- Metabolism: Proteolytic cleavage of the peptide backbone, Beta-oxidation of the fatty-acid side chain
- Half‑life: Single-dose mean 168 h
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM)
Recommended: No
Monitoring highlights
- —
Sources
- WEGOVY (semaglutide) injection prescribing information — DailyMed (2026)
- Once-weekly semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity — New England Journal of Medicine (2021)
- Effect of liraglutide treatment on prediabetes and overweight or obesity in clozapine- or olanzapine-treated patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder: a randomized clinical trial — JAMA Psychiatry (2017)
- Therapeutic management of atypical antipsychotic-related metabolic dysfunctions using GLP-1 receptor agonists: a systematic review — Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine (2023)