Asia Tech Wire (June 25) -- Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk has received approval for its weight-loss drug in China.

Novo Nordisk disclosed on Monday that China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) recently approved the marketing application for its semaglutide injection for long-term weight management in China.

The drug, also known as Wegovy, is already available in Denmark, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Japan.

This time, the Chinese drug regulator approved Wegovy for the treatment of obesity in overweight and obese patients.

Semaglutide is the world's first and currently only weekly formulation of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) for long-term weight management, which is capable of achieving an average weight loss of 17% (16.8kg).