Medications
Wegovy Click Counting: Smart Hack or Dangerous Shortcut?
Can you use a higher-dose Wegovy pen to create smaller doses by manually counting clicks?
Well Revolution
August 1, 2025
Can you use a higher-dose Wegovy pen to create smaller doses by manually counting clicks? Some are trying it. But is it safe, effective, or something your doctor can support? Here’s what you need to know, with clear math, detailed risks, and current guidance.
Why People Are Trying “Click Counting”
Wegovy is expensive. In New Zealand, Wegovy is priced the same regardless of dose (around $460 per pen). Whether you receive 0.25 mg or 2.4 mg, the cost is identical.
This flat pricing is unique to the New Zealand market and has led many people to explore ways of stretching their medication further.
One method gaining attention is click counting. It’s a tempting idea. If the 2.4 mg pen contains nearly 10x more medication than a 0.25 mg pen, why not buy the bigger pen and manually deliver smaller doses by "counting the clicks" from the dosage dial?
The potential for cost savings is significant. But is it safe?
How Wegovy Pens Are Designed to Be Used
Wegovy pens are pre-measured, non-adjustable injection pens made for simplicity and safety. Novo Nordisk manufactures pens at five different dose strengths:
- 0.25 mg (1 mg in 1.5 mL)
- 0.5 mg (2 mg in 1.5 mL)
- 1.0 mg (4 mg in 3 mL)
- 1.7 mg (6.8 mg in 3 mL)
- 2.4 mg (9.6 mg in 3 mL)
Each pen delivers four precise doses for a full month of treatment, and the total amount of semaglutide in each pen reflects this:
- 0.25 mg pen = 1.0 mg total (4 weeks × 0.25 mg)
- 0.5 mg pen = 2.0 mg total (4 weeks × 0.5 mg)
- 1.0 mg pen = 4.0 mg total (4 weeks × 1.0 mg)
- 2.4 mg pen = 9.6 mg total (4 weeks × 2.4 mg)
You set your dose by turning the dial to a marked number (e.g. “0.5”), then inject. The pen produces audible clicks as the dosage is injected. These clicks are not calibrated to indicate precise dose volumes and are meant solely as feedback.
Novo Nordisk, Medsafe, and the European Medicines Agency explicitly warn against using clicks to estimate doses. The system is built to ensure consistent, safe delivery, not flexible micro-dosing.
Each pen is meant to be used over four weeks (one dose per week) and discarded within 6 weeks (42 days) of first use.
What Is Click Counting and How Does It Work?
Click counting is a manual workaround where users try to extract smaller doses by listening for a specific number of audible clicks during the dosing process. The intent is to use those clicks to estimate the amount of medication being dispensed, rather than selecting a labelled dose.
This technique is most commonly attempted with the 2.4 mg Wegovy pen, which contains a total of 9.6 mg of semaglutide in 3 mL of solution. Each pen delivers four fixed 2.4 mg doses (one per week) using four disposable needles that are supplied with the pen. In New Zealand, Wegovy is supplied as one multi-dose pen per box, not four pens as in some other markets. This means each box contains just one 9.6 mg pen, intended to last four weeks.
By manually counting clicks, users attempt to self-titrate according to the recommended starting schedule (0.25 mg, then 0.5 mg, and so on), but from a pen intended for full-strength 2.4 mg doses. The goal is to make the medication last longer and reduce cost by delivering lower doses from the higher-capacity pen.
This approach mimics how people previously adjusted Saxenda, a daily injection pen that did allow for incremental dose control. But Wegovy, being weekly and fixed-dose, does not have that built-in flexibility.
The Math Behind the “Clicks”
- Each click = 0.01 mL
- 1 mL of Wegovy contains 3.2 mg of semaglutide
- Therefore: 0.01 mL = 0.032 mg of semaglutide
Using this, people estimate doses like:
- 0.25 mg = ~8 clicks
- 0.5 mg = ~16 clicks
- 1.0 mg = ~31 clicks
- 1.7 mg = ~53 clicks
- 2.4 mg = ~75 clicks (full dose)
They then manually inject these partial doses from a higher-dose pen.
Financial Breakdown: How Much Could You Save?
Let’s compare cost efficiency when using click counting with a 2.4 mg pen:
* These calculations assume a pen price of NZ$460.
Clearly, stretching the 2.4 mg pen through click counting appears cost-effective, especially in early dose titration stages where 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg doses are prescribed.
What Could You Actually Get From One 2.4 mg Pen?
If you were to use one 2.4 mg pen across the full 12-week titration schedule (0.25 for 4 weeks, increasing to 0.5 for 4 weeks, then 1.0 mg for 4 weeks) and ignore the medication expiry window, here’s how it would break down:
- Weeks 1–4 (0.25 mg): 1.0 mg used (8.6 mg remains)
- Weeks 5–8 (0.5 mg): 2.0 mg used (6.6 mg remains)
- Weeks 9–12 (1.0 mg): 4.0 mg used (2.6 mg remains)
That leftover 2.6 mg could then provide:
- One 1.7 mg dose (leaves 0.9 mg), or
- One 2.4 mg dose (leaves 0.2 mg)
Total duration from one pen: up to 13 weeks (if ignoring expiry guidance).
The Risks: Why Click Counting Is Dangerous and Off-Label
Despite the math and financial incentives, click counting is not approved by Novo Nordisk, Medsafe, or any regulatory body. That makes it an off-label use, and legally and medically unsupported.
The Four Major Risks:
1. Dosing Inaccuracy
- The pens are not calibrated for micro-dosing. Clicks vary slightly by pressure, hand strength, and mechanical tolerance.
- Miscounting even a few clicks can cause overdosing (leading to nausea, vomiting, or pancreatitis) or underdosing (leading to treatment failure).
2. Drug Stability & Degradation
- Wegovy must be discarded 6 weeks after first use.
- Prolonging use beyond that may expose you to inactive, degraded, or contaminated medication, risking infections or loss of efficacy.
3. Sterility & Infection Risk
- Repeatedly using the same pen over 12+ weeks increases contamination risk, even with fresh needles. This can result in injection site infections or abscesses.
4. Lack of Medical Supervision
- Wegovy dosing involves a regulated titration protocol.
- Click counting removes a provider’s ability to accurately track your dose progression or intervene if side effects occur.
Real-World Cost Comparison: With and Without Click Counting
Even if you follow the expiry guidelines, you may only save ~NZ$460 across 5 months.
Is It Worth the Risk?
Click counting creates real savings, but also real dangers.
Over a 5-month period, the potential savings from click counting, if done under ideal conditions and strictly within the 6-week expiry window, could amount to around NZ$460, or about $92 per month. That’s not insignificant, but it’s far from life-changing.
And to achieve that, you’d need to:
- Measure each dose by manually counting clicks with surgical precision
- Track dose progression without medical oversight
- Rely on medication that may degrade past 6 weeks
- Risk complications such as nausea, vomiting, pancreatitis, or infections from incorrect dosing or poor sterility
All of this, to save what amounts to less than $100 per month, at the cost of taking on significant medical risks.
That’s a lot to manage, and a lot to gamble with, especially for a dosing method that is explicitly unsupported by regulators or the manufacturer.
Why Your Doctor Won’t Prescribe a 2.4 mg Pen for Titration
Even if patients are willing to try click counting to save money, prescribers face an entirely different set of concerns.
When a doctor prescribes a medication, they take on full clinical and legal responsibility for how it’s used. If they knowingly prescribe a 2.4 mg pen with the expectation that the patient will self-adjust doses via click counting (through a method that is explicitly off-label) the doctor is in a precarious legal position.
If anything goes wrong (such as an overdose, adverse reaction, or treatment failure), the prescriber could be held legally liable for recommending or enabling a method not backed by clinical guidance or safety protocols.
Issuing the 2.4 mg pen for titration bypasses critical safety measures, removes structured oversight, and places undue risk on both the patient’s health and the prescriber’s professional standing. That’s why, despite patient demand, most responsible doctors will only prescribe the correct pen for each step of the approved titration protocol.
In short: even if a patient is willing to take the risk, their doctor likely won’t. Because it’s not just the patient’s health on the line, it’s the doctor’s license too.
What We're Doing at Well Revolution
We completely understand the cost concern. It’s a common topic our care team hears about.
Right now, we’re monitoring the situation closely. If reliable, verified guidance becomes available, we’ll review our position. But until then, we’ll continue prescribing Wegovy based on current safety and prescribing standards, starting at the approved 0.25 mg dose and stepping up from there.
Our priority is safe, supported care, and making sure our doctors and patients have confidence in every step.
We encourage open discussions about cost concerns to find safe and approved solutions.
Start Wegovy With a Supported, Safe Plan
At Well Revolution, we offer a free initial consultation to determine if Wegovy is safe and appropriate for you.
If prescribed, your $80 treatment plan includes:
- A custom titration schedule (starting at 0.25 mg)
- Three months of expert medical care and follow-up
- Access to your dedicated doctor and care team any time
If Wegovy is not suitable for you, your care team will support you with alternatives to help you reach your weight and health goals.
Let’s work together safely, affordably, and with the guidance you need.
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