Wegovy Tablets Dosage: The 1.5mg to 25mg Schedule

Written by the ClariDay clinical team. Medically reviewed by Ali Salih, GPhC-registered Pharmacist Independent Prescriber.

Reviewed 19 July 2026. Next review 19 August 2026 (dosing and availability content is checked monthly).

Every clinical claim on this page is sourced to the manufacturer's Summary of Product Characteristics, the MHRA licence, or a named peer-reviewed trial. Sources are listed in full at the end.

Wegovy tablets (oral semaglutide) start at 1.5mg once daily and rise in steps to 4mg, 9mg and 25mg, with at least a month spent at each strength before the next increase. The 25mg tablet is the maintenance dose and also the highest dose. Most people reach it in their fourth month.

The MHRA licensed the Wegovy tablet (oral semaglutide) for weight management on 11 June 2026, and its dosage is fixed by that licence [1, 2]. Wegovy tablets dosage climbs in deliberate stages, and the gradual start is the part patients most often misjudge. A first month with little change on the scales can feel like failure when it is usually the schedule behaving as intended.

The mechanics of taking each dose, the morning fast, the small sip of water, the thirty-minute wait, are covered separately in how to take Wegovy tablets. This page stays with the numbers.

What is the full Wegovy tablets dosage schedule?

There are four tablet strengths, taken one at a time, and you move up a rung at a time: 1.5mg for the first month, then 4mg, then 9mg, then 25mg, with a minimum of a month at each [1].

Stage	Daily dose	Minimum time at this step	What it is for
Step 1	1.5mg	1 month	Letting your body settle in
Step 2	4mg	1 month	Building tolerance
Step 3	9mg	1 month	Building tolerance
Step 4 (maintenance)	25mg	Ongoing	Full treatment dose

A month is the shortest time the licence allows at each strength, not a schedule you are obliged to keep to. A prescriber can hold you on a strength for longer when that suits how you are feeling, so the climb can take longer than four months without anything being wrong.

Why does the dose start so low and build up so slowly?

Starting low protects you from feeling unwell, because semaglutide needs time to settle before the body tolerates a full dose comfortably. It quietens appetite and slows how quickly the stomach empties, and those changes take some adjusting to [7]. A high starting dose would not speed up weight loss; it would mostly bring on nausea.

The trial data show where the discomfort sits. Gastrointestinal effects, nausea most of all, clustered during the weeks when the dose was being increased, then settled [1]. In OASIS 4, the trial of the 25mg tablet, roughly 47 in every 100 people felt nauseous at some stage, against about 19 in 100 taking a dummy tablet, and most of those episodes were mild and short [1].

The early rungs, then, are about tolerance rather than results. That also makes the first few weeks a poor guide to how well the medicine will eventually work for you, because the dose that drives most of the weight change is still months away.

How long does it take to reach the full 25mg dose?

You reach the 25mg maintenance dose in your fourth month, provided each step is tolerated: a month each at 1.5mg, 4mg and 9mg, then 25mg from month four [1].

The tablet arrives at its full dose slightly sooner than the Wegovy injection, which takes sixteen weeks to build to its 2.4mg maintenance dose in the fifth month [3]. That month's difference is real but minor, and rarely what decides between the two forms. The daily empty-stomach routine the tablet asks for carries far more weight in that choice, and it is set out in is Wegovy a pill or an injection?.

Reaching 25mg means you are now on the full dose, and at the start of the maintenance phase that the rest of your treatment is built on.

What do the tablets and packs look like?

Each strength is its own separate tablet, dispensed one strength at a time as you climb, so there is no splitting or combining tablets to make up a dose. The tablets are small and round, and the starting 1.5mg tablet is white to light yellow, about 6.5mm across, marked "1.5" on one side [6].

They come in alu/alu blister cards in packs of 10, 30 or 90, and a 30-tablet pack is the usual month's supply for a once-daily medicine [4]. Because each strength is manufactured as a fixed tablet, the ladder has fixed rungs. There is no half-step between 9mg and 25mg, so a strength that proves hard is met with more time on it before the next increase.

What happens if a dose level does not suit you?

If a step up brings on side effects that do not settle, the dose can stay at the previous strength for longer instead of moving on schedule [1]. GLP-1 side effects tend to peak in the days after an increase and then ease, so the aim is a pace that stays tolerable while still moving upward. Spending two months at 9mg before trying 25mg is a reasonable version of that, and the decision sits with your prescriber.

Some people settle at a strength below 25mg for the long term. Because every rung sits within the licensed range, 9mg is a legitimate maintenance dose in its own right if 25mg proves too much.

What if you miss a dose?

Skip the missed dose and take the next one the following morning as usual; do not take two tablets to catch up [1]. Semaglutide stays active in the body for days, so a single missed tablet changes little, while doubling up mainly adds to the risk of nausea. If several days go by, a prescriber may want to check where you should rejoin the schedule before you restart. We cover this in Missed a Wegovy Tablet? (guide coming soon).

Can you switch to tablets from the Wegovy injection?

Someone on the 2.4mg weekly Wegovy injection can move straight to the 25mg tablet, taken once daily and started a week after the final injection [1, 2]. There is no need to climb the ladder again from 1.5mg, because the body is already used to a full dose of semaglutide.

That direct route applies only between these matched maintenance doses. Coming from a lower injection dose, or from a different medicine, is a separate judgement a prescriber makes case by case. How the two forms line up is explained in what is the Wegovy pill and how does it work?.

From the Clinic

Ali Salih

Pharmacist Independent Prescriber

The Wegovy tablet has only recently become available in the UK, so what I can draw on at this stage is the trial data, experience with the injectable form, and the early signals coming through from patients now beginning treatment.

The most common difficulty in the first month will not be side effects. It will be the absence of obvious effect. At 1.5mg very little is happening in terms of appetite suppression, and patients who arrive expecting something close to the results described in the trials are likely to find the early weeks disorienting. The starting dose exists to build tolerance, not to produce weight loss, and being explicit about that at the point of prescribing will matter more than it might seem.

From experience with the injection, the patients who find the titration period least difficult are those who have been told in advance what to look for rather than what to expect on the scales. Early appetite signals tend to arrive before meaningful weight change and are at least some indication that the medicine is beginning to act. Whether the same proves true for the tablet, and at what point in the schedule those signals emerge, will become clearer as clinical experience accumulates.

The morning routine is genuinely new territory. The injection asks for a weekly habit. The tablet asks for a daily one, with specific constraints around timing, water volume, and other medications that the injection does not carry. How patients adapt in practice, particularly those with complex morning routines or irregular working hours, is something the coming months will clarify.

What the trial data are clear on is that the dose schedule is a minimum, not a fixed timetable. A patient tolerating 9mg well and making steady progress does not need to be moved to 25mg simply because thirty days have passed. That flexibility is in the licence, and it is worth using it.

— Ali Salih, GPhC Pharmacist Independent Prescriber

How does the tablet dose compare with Rybelsus?

Rybelsus is also oral semaglutide, but it is licensed for type 2 diabetes and uses lower strengths than the Wegovy weight-management tablet [2]. The higher 25mg figure on the Wegovy tablet can look like the stronger medicine, though the numbers reflect the condition each product is titrated for rather than a scale of potency. The two are untangled in Wegovy tablets vs Rybelsus: not the same medicine.

In short

The Wegovy tablet asks to be climbed slowly, and the schedule earns that patience by keeping side effects manageable while the dose builds. Judge the early weeks by how comfortably you tolerate each step, not by the scales, and treat any difficult rung as a reason to talk to your prescriber about the pace. The weight loss the trials describe belongs to the months spent on the full dose, which are still ahead of you when you first reach 25mg.

Frequently asked questions

What is the maintenance dose of Wegovy tablets?

The maintenance dose is 25mg once daily, which is also the highest licensed dose [1]. Most people reach it in the fourth month of treatment after stepping up through 1.5mg, 4mg and 9mg.

How long do you stay on each Wegovy tablet dose?

At least one month at each step before moving up [1]. That is a minimum, so your prescriber may keep you on a step for longer if you need more time to adjust.

Can you start Wegovy tablets on a higher dose?

No. Everyone starting fresh begins at 1.5mg once daily and climbs the ladder [1]. The exception is people switching directly from the 2.4mg weekly injection, who can start at the 25mg tablet [1].

Is 25mg the same strength as the injection?

They are matched as maintenance doses rather than being the same number. The 25mg daily tablet is the tablet's full dose, and the 2.4mg weekly injection is the injection's full dose; a direct switch between them is licensed [1]. Absorption of the tablet is very low, which is why the milligram figure looks so much larger. See how do Wegovy tablets survive the stomach?.

What happens if you can't tolerate the next dose up?

The dose can be held at the previous level for longer if the next step is not tolerated [1]. This is a conversation to have with your prescriber, who can adjust the pace.

How much weight might you lose at the full dose?

In the OASIS 4 trial, people on the 25mg tablet lost about 13.6% of their body weight on average over 64 weeks, compared with about 2.2% on a dummy tablet [5]. For someone starting at 100kg (about 15 stone 10lb), 13.6% is roughly 13.6kg, close to 2 stone 2lb. Results in everyday use are often more modest than in a closely supported trial, and this is an average with real people landing above and below it.

Do you need to take Wegovy tablets differently at higher doses?

No. The taking routine is identical at every strength: one tablet each morning on an empty stomach, a small sip of water, then a 30-minute wait [1]. Only the dose changes as you climb.

If you are considering treatment, you can book a consultation with a prescriber to talk through whether an oral GLP-1 medicine is a sensible option for you.

This article is general information, not medical advice, and is not a substitute for a consultation with a qualified prescriber.

References

1. Novo Nordisk. (2026). Wegovy 25 mg tablets: Summary of Product Characteristics. electronic medicines compendium (emc). Retrieved 19 July 2026, from https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/102347/smpc

2. Robinson, J. (2026, June 11). MHRA approves semaglutide oral tablets for weight loss. The Pharmaceutical Journal. Retrieved 19 July 2026, from https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/mhra-approves-semaglutide-oral-tablets-for-weight-loss

3. Novo Nordisk. (2026). Wegovy FlexTouch solution for injection: Summary of Product Characteristics. electronic medicines compendium (emc). Retrieved 19 July 2026, from https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/13799/smpc

4. Novo Nordisk. (2026). Wegovy 9 mg tablets: Patient Information Leaflet. electronic medicines compendium (emc). Retrieved 19 July 2026, from https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/102346/pil

5. Alkhezi, O., et al. (2026). A review of the Oral Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity (OASIS) trials. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.107970 (Primary source: OASIS 4, N Engl J Med, 2025.)

6. Novo Nordisk. (2026). Wegovy 1.5 mg tablets: Summary of Product Characteristics. electronic medicines compendium (emc). Retrieved 19 July 2026, from https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/102344/smpc

7. Gabery, S., et al. (2021). Weight loss and maintenance related to the mechanism of action of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists. Advances in Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12325-021-01710-0