What else these drugs are approved to do

A telehealth service selling a monthly subscription has one thing to sell you, so it describes one thing these drugs do. The labels describe more, and the extra indications are not footnotes — they change which dose is right, which evidence applies, and in at least one case whether insurance will pay. This page is what the current labelling says, indication by indication.

The cardiovascular indication is the strongest argument for semaglutide

Wegovy carries an indication to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in adults with established cardiovascular disease and either obesity or overweight. That is an outcome indication — it is about heart attacks and strokes, not about a number on a scale — and it is the one substantive reason to choose semaglutide over a molecule with a larger average weight effect. The trade-off is set out in Semaglutide vs tirzepatide.

Two details are worth carrying. The maintenance dose for this indication is 2.4 mg (recommended) or 1.7 mg — the higher 7.2 mg option approved for weight reduction is not offered for cardiovascular risk reduction. And the label is candid that nobody has established why it works: “The exact mechanism of semaglutide in CV risk reduction in adults has not been established.”

Sleep apnoea has its own dose floor

Zepbound is indicated to treat moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnoea in adults with obesity. The practical consequence is in the dosing: for OSA the recommended maintenance dose is 10 mg or 15 mg, where for weight reduction it is 5 mg, 10 mg or 15 mg. The 5 mg maintenance dose that a cost-conscious plan might settle on is not an approved maintenance dose for sleep apnoea.

This is also the indication most likely to unlock coverage, because it is a diagnosis with a sleep study behind it rather than a BMI threshold. If you have diagnosed OSA, that belongs in any conversation about insurance — see Insurance, HSA and FSA for GLP-1s.

The liver indication comes with an explicit condition

Wegovy is now indicated for noncirrhotic MASH — metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, formerly NASH — with moderate to advanced liver fibrosis, stages F2 to F3. The label states the terms plainly: “This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on improvement of MASH and fibrosis. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon the verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial.”

Accelerated approval means the evidence is a surrogate marker rather than a hard outcome, and that the approval can be withdrawn if the confirmatory trial does not deliver. That is not a reason to dismiss it. It is a reason to describe it accurately, which is more than most pages selling this drug will do.

Why the indication changes the price conversation

Coverage in this market attaches to indications, not to molecules. A plan that excludes weight-loss drugs outright may still cover the same molecule for cardiovascular risk reduction or for type 2 diabetes, and a sleep-apnoea diagnosis is a different claim from a BMI one. That is why the first question about paying for these drugs is which indication you actually meet — not which website is cheapest. Start at Insurance, HSA and FSA for GLP-1s, then What GLP-1s actually cost in 2026; if you are on Medicare, The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, and the four tests you have to pass is the specific route.