Can I go on Wegovy? What the evidence and UK licensing actually say

What the STEP 1 trial told us, and why it shaped the licence

The place to start is the evidence. The STEP 1 trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, followed adults with obesity or overweight plus a weight-related condition for 68 weeks. Participants using semaglutide 2.4mg weekly lost an average of around 15% of their body weight. That figure (replicated across the STEP programme) is what convinced the MHRA to grant a UK weight management licence and what the eligibility criteria are built on.

The trial enrolled adults, not under-18s, and excluded people who were pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive. Those exclusions carried straight into the licensed product. If any of those apply to you, Wegovy is not recommended at this stage, that's a clinical line, not a commercial one.

For everyone else, the starting point is BMI. A BMI of 30 or above qualifies on its own. A BMI between 27 and 29.9 qualifies if you have at least one weight-related comorbidity: type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, obstructive sleep apnoea and osteoarthritis all count. For some ethnic backgrounds, including South Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Black African and African-Caribbean backgrounds, UK guidance reduces those thresholds by 2.5 kg/m², so 27.5 rather than 30, for instance.

You can read the full NHS overview of semaglutide on the NHS medicines pages, which sets out the conditions and cautions in plain language.

The situations where going on Wegovy gets more complicated

BMI is the starting filter, not the finish line. A prescriber also reviews your medical history, your current medicines, and any contraindications listed in the product information.

A personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma, or a condition called MEN2 (Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 2), rules Wegovy out. A history of pancreatitis requires careful discussion, the MHRA has highlighted acute pancreatitis as a known, infrequent but serious risk with GLP-1 medicines, and your prescriber will want to know. Severe gastrointestinal conditions may also affect suitability.

Interactions with other medicines matter too. If you take oral contraceptives, there is guidance from NHS England to add a non-hormonal method for the first four weeks of treatment and for four weeks after each dose increase, because the stomach-slowing effect of semaglutide can reduce how much of the pill is absorbed. If you're thinking about whether Wegovy fits around your current health picture, the question of whether Wegovy is right for you personally goes deeper than this page can on its own.

If you are ever unsure about a medicine you keep in the fridge, it's worth checking the expiry date and storage conditions printed on the box, a one-minute habit that catches more problems than most people expect. For context on storage more broadly, the guide to whether Wegovy goes off covers what to look for.

NHS eligibility versus a private prescription, they aren't the same thing

This is where a lot of people get confused, and it's worth being direct about it.

NICE recommended semaglutide (Wegovy) for NHS use in TA875, but with conditions that go beyond the licence itself: treatment is for a maximum of two years, delivered within a specialist weight management service with multidisciplinary support, and requires a BMI of 35 or above (or 30 to 34.9 meeting referral criteria) with at least one weight-related comorbidity. Those specialist services have waiting lists that commonly stretch months or longer.

A private prescription through a regulated online pharmacy follows the medicine's licensed criteria (BMI 30 or above, or 27 or above with a qualifying condition) rather than NICE's NHS commissioning rules. That is a legitimate route under UK law, provided a qualified prescriber assesses you and issues the prescription. If you want to understand the full range of options, our weight management treatments page explains what is available privately through nume. For a broader sense of how treatment fits into a weight management plan, the overview of weight loss approaches is a useful starting point.

The two-year maximum that NICE sets for NHS Wegovy use does not apply to private prescribing, but your prescriber will still review progress at every repeat, because continuing treatment should always reflect clinical benefit.

One other thing worth knowing about Wegovy in 2026

The Wegovy landscape shifted this year. In January 2026 the MHRA approved a higher 7.2mg maintenance dose, and in April 2026 a dedicated single-dose 7.2mg pen received approval for adults with a BMI of 30 or above. Trial data at this dose reported average weight loss of around 20.7% over 72 weeks, narrowing the gap with tirzepatide results from the SURMOUNT programme. Questions about dosing safety are common at this stage, and if you're wondering whether it's possible to overdose on Wegovy, that's a question worth reading up on before you begin. The titration schedule still starts at 0.25mg and steps up gradually under prescriber guidance.

If you've been reading about oral semaglutide, the Wegovy 25mg tablet was approved by the MHRA on 11 June 2026 as the first oral GLP-1 medicine licensed for weight management in the UK. Lifestyle questions come up regularly too, and if you're wondering whether fasting is safe or sensible while taking Wegovy, that's worth looking into before adjusting your eating pattern. Whether you'd be a candidate for the tablet, the injection, or something else entirely is the kind of question a prescriber is best placed to answer once they've seen your full picture. For a broader look at semaglutide's place in weight management, the semaglutide overview covers mechanism, evidence and options in one place.

If you're ready to find out whether you'd qualify, starting a free consultation with one of our GPhC-registered prescribers is the next step. A real clinician reads your answers the same day, no algorithm, no automated decision.