How Much Do You Have to Weigh to Get Wegovy in the UK?

What the licensed BMI thresholds are — and why they're a floor, not a rubber stamp

NICE's appraisal of semaglutide (TA875) drew on the STEP 1 trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which enrolled adults with a BMI of 30 or above (or 27 with a weight-related condition) and found an average weight reduction of around 15% over 68 weeks at the 2.4mg maintenance dose. Those trial criteria shaped the licensed eligibility criteria that UK prescribers follow.

In private practice the thresholds mirror the licence: BMI 30 or above, or BMI 27 to 29.9 with at least one qualifying condition. Conditions that commonly count include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obstructive sleep apnoea, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis. Lower BMI thresholds apply for some ethnic backgrounds under UK guidance, typically 2.5 kg/m² below the standard figures. Worth knowing: the NHS BMI calculator at nhs.uk takes under a minute to run and gives you a figure to bring to any consultation.

Meeting a BMI cut-off does not automatically mean a prescription will be issued. A prescriber considers your full medical history, current medicines, and any contraindications before approving treatment. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, and active plans to conceive all mean Wegovy is not recommended; nor is it licensed for people under 18. The weight number matters, but it is one input among several.

NHS versus private access, what the gap in criteria means for you

The NHS route to Wegovy sits inside specialist weight management services under TA875. The criteria are tighter than the licence alone: a BMI of 35 or above with at least one weight-related comorbidity, used within a multidisciplinary service, and for a maximum of two years. Waiting lists in many areas are long. For people who do not meet those NHS thresholds, or who would prefer not to wait, a regulated private pharmacy offers a legal, prescriber-led alternative.

Private eligibility follows the SmPC directly, which is broader than the NHS criteria. That means someone with a BMI of 28 and diagnosed sleep apnoea could be clinically suitable for a private prescription, where the same person would fall outside the NHS criteria. If you want to understand the detail of exactly where the weight thresholds sit, the breakdown is worth reading before you book a consultation.

The private route does not involve a GP referral or a waiting list. At nume, a GPhC-registered Independent Prescriber personally reviews every consultation the same day. Order by midday Monday to Friday and, once approved, your treatment is dispatched the same day and arrives free by DPD the next working day.

How private Wegovy pricing works, and what headline figures often leave out

UK private weight-loss treatment is priced per pen or per month, and the figure varies by dose and provider. Following Eli Lilly's UK list price increase for tirzepatide in September 2025, comparable GLP-1 medicines have seen upward pressure across the market; as widely reported, typical private Wegovy prices sit roughly in the £150–£350 range per month depending on dose and clinic, though these figures shift and are always hedged. Any legitimate price should cover the clinical assessment, the prescription, and the medicine itself.

Many advertised prices do not. Consultation fees charged separately, prescription fees, delivery charges, aftercare costs, and dose-review support are all things that can be absent from a headline number. Our Wegovy price guide walks through what those gaps tend to look like in practice. If you want a fuller picture of how the overall cost of Wegovy treatment breaks down over time, that page covers month-by-month context too.

At nume, one transparent price includes consultation, prescription, delivery and ongoing aftercare support. We are not the cheapest option and have no plans to be, we do not compete on price because the service that keeps treatment safe costs what it costs. There are no subscriptions and no auto-renewals; every repeat is clinically re-reviewed.

Why the cheapest listing is the wrong place to start for a prescription medicine

The MHRA has issued public warnings about counterfeit weight-loss pens sold online and via social media, some containing dangerous substances including insulin. Sellers offering Wegovy or other GLP-1 medicines without requiring a prescription, at prices far below the market, or through social-media direct messages are the profile the MHRA is warning about. You can report suspect sellers at the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. You can verify any UK online pharmacy on the GPhC register at pharmacyregulation.org, nume's registration number is 9012878.

For a prescription medicine, price is simply the wrong test. The questions that protect you are whether the pharmacy is GPhC-registered, whether a real prescriber reviews your consultation, whether the supply chain is licensed, and whether there is genuine aftercare if something goes wrong. If you are curious about how much weight you might lose on Wegovy, that is a reasonable starting point for setting realistic expectations before committing to treatment. Saving a small amount per pen means nothing if the pen itself is not what it says it is.

If you want to understand what drives Wegovy costs and what to watch for, that page is a straightforward read. When you are ready to see whether you are clinically suitable, the place to start is your free consultation, no referral needed, results the same day. You can also read about how much weight people have lost on Wegovy in real-world use, which puts the clinical trial figures into broader context.