Mazdutide is approved in China and is not FDA- or EMA-approved. The amounts below are the doses studied in published phase 3 trials, reported as evidence, not as a schedule for anyone to follow. Dosing decisions belong with a prescriber working from the approved labeling in their own jurisdiction.
Overview
Mazdutide is dosed as a once-weekly subcutaneous injection, built up gradually from a low starting amount to a target dose over several weeks. That is the entire shape of the schedule; everything else is detail that varies by trial, by indication, and by the labeling of the one country that has approved it.
Two things make this compound's dosing question unusual. It has real phase 3 dose data, unlike most peptides discussed in the same breath — and it also has a regulatory approval, but only in China, which means the phrase "the approved dose" has no universal answer.
Pharmacology behind the schedule
Mazdutide is an oxyntomodulin analogue engineered for extended duration of action, which is what allows weekly rather than daily administration. It agonises both the GLP-1 receptor and the glucagon receptor, and the ratio of those two activities at a given exposure is the central design question — GLP-1 lowers glucose, glucagon raises it, and only the balance is therapeutic.
Because of that, exposure is not a single dial that can be turned freely. The dose that maximises weight loss is not automatically the dose with the best metabolic profile, which is why separate trials were run at separate doses rather than one trial finding a maximum.
The doses the trials used
Three weekly doses have been tested in published phase 3 obesity trials:
- 4 mg and 6 mg weekly over 48 weeks in GLORY-1 (n=610), producing mean weight change of −11.00% and −14.01% versus +0.30% on placebo (NEJM 2025; PMID 40421736).
- 9 mg weekly over 60 weeks in GLORY-2 (n=461), producing −16.65% versus −1.50% on placebo (JAMA 2026; PMID 42251595).
Each of those trials reached its target dose through a stepwise escalation phase rather than starting there. The higher dose bought more weight loss and cost a higher rate of vomiting and nausea — the numbers are on the side effects page. A dose is never a benefit figure on its own.
Why the dose is stepped up
Gradual escalation exists because gastrointestinal adverse events with incretin-based agents cluster during the period when exposure is rising. Going slowly gives the gut time to adapt before the target dose arrives, and it lowers the chance that someone abandons treatment in the first month.
Mazdutide's glucagon activity adds a second reason. Ramping exposure lets glycemic and cardiovascular parameters be observed at each step rather than jumped past — which is a study design decision, not something that can be approximated by feel.
How it is administered
Trial and licensed material is supplied as a manufactured, pre-measured injectable given subcutaneously once weekly. Peptides of this kind are not taken orally in this formulation, since they are digested before absorption.
Research-grade powder is a different situation entirely. The delivered amount then depends on how much diluent was added during reconstitution and on reading syringe units as a volume — two independent sources of error, compounding on top of a product whose identity and concentration are unverified. A milligram figure from a published trial says nothing about what is in an unlabeled vial.
Why oversight matters
A dual GLP-1/glucagon agonist acts on glucose through two opposing pathways at once, so its effects are not intuitive from either mechanism alone. In the jurisdiction where it is approved, a prescriber screens for suitability, manages the escalation, and monitors glycemic and cardiovascular response against approved labeling. Everywhere else, no such labeling exists — which means the published dose figures are evidence about a studied population, and nothing more.