Am I Eligible for Mounjaro? What the Criteria Actually Mean

The myth that BMI 30 is a hard pass-or-fail line

A very common assumption is that eligibility for Mounjaro is a single number: hit BMI 30, get the prescription. The reality is more nuanced, and actually more inclusive than that framing suggests.

The licensed threshold for tirzepatide in the UK covers adults with a BMI of 30 or above and adults with a BMI of 27–29.9 who have at least one weight-related condition alongside it. So someone with a BMI of 28 and diagnosed hypertension may well be eligible, while someone with a BMI of 30 and a significant contraindication may not be. The BMI requirement for Mounjaro is a starting point, not the whole answer.

Qualifying conditions alongside BMI 27+ include type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, high blood pressure, raised cholesterol or triglycerides, obstructive sleep apnoea and osteoarthritis, among others. If you're unsure where you sit, the NHS BMI calculator is a useful starting point before your consultation.

For people from South Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean backgrounds, UK clinical guidance applies those thresholds 2.5 kg/m² lower, so the equivalent private threshold can be BMI 27 (or 24.5 with a qualifying condition). Your prescriber applies the right threshold for your background.

Who Mounjaro is licensed for, and who it is not

Tirzepatide holds a UK licence for weight management in adults. That means under-18s are not covered, and it should not be taken during pregnancy, while breastfeeding, or when actively trying to conceive. Those situations require different clinical conversations.

There are also medical reasons a prescriber may decide Mounjaro is not appropriate for a particular patient: a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or a condition called MEN2, a history of pancreatitis, or certain gastrointestinal disorders all require careful prescriber judgement. Some medicines interact with tirzepatide in ways that need to be weighed up too. This is precisely why clinical review exists, to catch the cases where the BMI criteria are met but prescribing would not be safe.

If you've been told you're not currently eligible, the reasons vary more than people expect. A dedicated page on why Mounjaro eligibility is sometimes declined covers the most common explanations and what can change them.

Mounjaro carries a Black Triangle (▼) designation from the MHRA, meaning it is subject to additional safety monitoring while its longer-term profile is built up in real-world use. That is standard for newer medicines, not a reason for alarm, but it does underline why a genuine clinical review matters.

NHS eligibility versus private eligibility, they are not the same thing

Plenty of people arrive at this question because they have been told they do not qualify for Mounjaro on the NHS, and want to understand what their options are. NHS access to tirzepatide follows NICE's technology appraisal (TA1026), which set out a phased rollout with stricter criteria than the private licence.

The NHS is currently prescribing to adults with a BMI of 40 or above plus four or more specific conditions from a set list (cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea, dyslipidaemia, high blood pressure), through specialist weight management services. The criteria widen in stages through 2026 and 2027. Most people who meet the private eligibility threshold do not yet meet these NHS thresholds, they simply reflect different commissioning priorities, not a clinical judgement about whether tirzepatide would help you.

For a full side-by-side of the Mounjaro eligibility criteria across NHS and private routes, that page sets out both in plain terms. The private route through a regulated online pharmacy means no referral and no waiting list, subject, always, to a prescriber deciding it is clinically appropriate for you specifically.

What happens during the eligibility assessment at nume

Eligibility isn't something you self-certify. At nume, your free consultation is followed by same-day review by a real prescriber (not software) who reads your answers, checks your medical history, and confirms or declines the prescription based on the full picture. You'll also verify your identity with photo ID and confirm your weight on a short video call. That step exists because prescribing based on unverified self-reported weight would be clinically irresponsible, and because the MHRA has flagged significant risks from fake weight-loss pens sold online without any clinical assessment whatsoever.

If you are a transfer patient already established on tirzepatide elsewhere, you'll be asked for evidence of your current treatment and dose. Dose increases beyond the starter level require clinical review too, this is how Mounjaro treatment works at a safe, regulated service.

Cost is sometimes part of the decision-making process, and it is worth looking at the Mounjaro pricing page before your consultation so there are no surprises. And if you're planning to travel while on treatment, it's worth knowing ahead of time how to manage Mounjaro on holiday, storage and customs rules catch people out more than the medicine itself does.

One practical note: if you're timing your first order around payday or the start of the month, placing it on a weekday before 12pm means your prescription can be reviewed and dispatched the same day, with next-working-day delivery by DPD. The process is the same any Monday to Friday, there's no benefit to waiting for a particular date.

If you'd like to explore whether you meet the criteria, our prescribers are the right people to ask. Speak to our prescribers through a free consultation and get a clinical answer rather than a best guess.