Awiqli Dosage Guide: Weekly Dose Chart and Dose Conversion

Medically reviewed: 6 September 2026  ·  Last updated: 6 September 2026

Seventy units a week if you are new to insulin. Your daily dose multiplied by seven if you are switching. The rest is detail, and the detail is what keeps you safe.

Awiqli dosage works differently from daily insulin because one injection has to cover seven full days. That changes how the dose is calculated, why the very first dose is often larger, and what you should do when a week goes wrong. This guide walks through each situation with the actual numbers, so you can check your prescription and understand the reason behind it.

How One Injection Lasts a Week

Awiqli contains insulin icodec, which binds tightly to albumin, a protein in your blood. That bond works like a slow release store, letting a little insulin unhook every hour until the next injection tops it up. This is why the dose is written in weekly units, seven times the daily number you may be used to.

In India it is approved for adults with type 2 and type 1 diabetes, while the United States has cleared it for type 2 only. It replaces basal insulins such as glargine or degludec, not mealtime insulin. If you are still deciding between the two styles, our Awiqli vs daily insulin comparison covers who benefits from switching and who should stay put.

Starting Dose If You Are New to Insulin

The label sets the starting point at 70 units once a week for an adult with type 2 diabetes who has never used insulin. That equals a modest 10 units a day, spread across the week. Your doctor then adjusts the dose in steps, usually weekly, guided by your morning readings, until the numbers settle where they should.

Switching From Daily Insulin: The Conversion

The base rule is simple multiplication. Take your total daily basal dose and multiply it by seven. Someone on 20 units of glargine a day moves to 140 units of Awiqli a week. For the first injection only, doctors often add half as much again, a one time loading dose that fills the albumin store quickly instead of waiting weeks for it to build.

Worked examples using the label formula: daily dose times seven, with a one time 50 percent addition in week one, rounded to the nearest 10 units. Your prescription may differ, and that is normal.

The week one bar is taller on purpose. It is a single event, not the ongoing dose.

The American label recommends the higher first dose when switching. The European label treats it as optional in type 2 diabetes and required in type 1. Your doctor follows the instructions approved for the product supplied in your country.

The First Month: Why Patience Wins

With the one time higher first dose, icodec reaches its steady working level in about two to three weeks. Without it, allow three to four. Judging the dose after one injection is like judging a kettle before it boils. Readings can wobble while the level builds, so keep checking on the plan your doctor set, and report low sugar straight away instead of waiting for things to settle.

The level climbs with each injection and settles in about two to four weeks, sooner with the higher first dose. Dose reviews usually wait for this.

From there, adjustments come weekly at most, guided by fasting readings and, over the longer term, by your HbA1c level. Small steps beat big corrections every time.

When the Dose May Need Changing

A weekly insulin does not mean a fixed insulin. These are the common situations where doctors review the number.

The combination that deserves the most respect is Awiqli with a sulfonylurea tablet such as glimepiride, because both push sugar down and the tablet dose often needs lowering when the insulin starts.

If You Miss a Dose

The window is four days. Remember within that time, inject as soon as you can, and that day becomes your new weekly injection day. Past four days, skip the missed one and take the next dose on your usual day. Check your sugar more often either way, and never take two doses close together to make up for one.

The Pen, the Units and the Storage

Awiqli is far more concentrated than daily insulin, at 700 units per millilitre. The pen does the conversion for you, so you simply dial the units your doctor prescribed. What you must never do is draw it out with a syringe, because a syringe marked for standard 100 unit insulin would deliver seven times the intended amount.

Inject under the skin of the abdomen, thigh or upper arm, rotating the exact spot each week. Unopened pens live in the fridge at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius. Once a pen is in use, it can stay at room temperature below 30 degrees and remains good for 12 weeks. Never freeze it, and never use a pen that has been frozen.

What a Weekly Dose Costs in India

Every pen works out to Rs 3.73 per unit, so your cost simply follows your dose. Pen prices, pack sizes and pharmacy discounts are covered in our Awiqli price in India guide. And Awiqli is no longer the only weekly option on the horizon, a second once weekly insulin called efsitora alfa has finished its major trials.

The Mistakes People Actually Make

• Judging the dose in week one. The level has not built yet. Give it three to four weeks unless readings are dangerously off.
• Doubling up after a missed week. The four day rule exists so you never stack two doses.
• Comparing weekly units with daily units. A neighbour on 20 daily units and you on 140 weekly units are on the same amount of insulin.
• Ignoring mild lows in the first weeks. Shakiness, sweating or sudden hunger are worth reporting early, not after they get worse. Our guide to Awiqli side effects explains what low sugar feels like and who runs the highest risk.

When to Call Your Doctor

Call if fasting readings stay above target after three to four weeks, if low sugar keeps returning, or if illness stops you eating normally. Do not change the weekly dose on your own between visits.

The Bottom Line

Two numbers carry this whole guide. Seventy units to start fresh, and daily dose times seven to switch. Everything else, the loading dose, the four day window, the three week wait, exists to make those two numbers work safely. Keep your injection day, keep your readings, and let your doctor drive the changes.