Wegovy vidal information — what it means for UK patients

Step 1: find the right reference, the UK equivalent of Vidal

The Vidal database is a French pharmacopoeia that compiles official prescribing information for medicines available in France. The UK has its own equivalent infrastructure. For any medicine licensed here, the definitive prescribing document is the SmPC, hosted on the Electronic Medicines Compendium (eMC). For patient-facing information (side effects, how to inject, what to do if you miss a dose) the NHS publishes a dedicated semaglutide medicines page at nhs.uk/medicines/semaglutide. Both sources are updated when the licence changes, so they reflect the most current approved information.

The practical check takes under a minute: go to the eMC, search "Wegovy", and confirm the version date in the top-right corner of the SmPC. That date tells you whether the document covers the latest pen formats and dose strengths. For the 7.2mg approval specifically, the relevant SmPC version will post-date April 2026.

One thing Vidal and the eMC share: neither gives you a prescription. Official drug information describes what a medicine is and how it works; the decision about whether it is right for a specific person rests with a qualified prescriber who knows that person's medical history. That distinction matters throughout this page.

Step 2: what the official Wegovy information actually covers

The Wegovy SmPC sets out the licensed indication, contraindications, dosing schedule, storage, and known side effects, all the facts a prescriber uses when deciding and monitoring treatment. Here is a factual summary drawn from that document and NHS guidance.

Wegovy is licensed for adults with a BMI of 30 or above, or 27 to 29.9 alongside at least one weight-related health condition such as high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, or type 2 diabetes. The injection schedule starts at 0.25mg weekly and is escalated by the prescriber approximately every four weeks through 0.5mg, 1mg, 1.7mg, and up to 2.4mg as the standard maintenance dose. The MHRA's approval of the 7.2mg single-dose pen in April 2026 extended the maximum licensed maintenance dose further; the titration pathway to 7.2mg is prescribed individually.

The most commonly reported side effects are gastrointestinal: nausea, diarrhoea, constipation, vomiting, and indigestion feature prominently in trial data and the prescribing information. These tend to be most noticeable when starting or after a dose step, and typically ease within a week or two. Wegovy is not recommended during pregnancy, while breastfeeding, or for anyone planning to conceive. It is not licensed for use under the age of 18. Anyone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN2 should discuss this with a prescriber before starting.

For a complete list of contraindications and interactions, the semaglutide entry in the British National Formulary is the resource UK prescribers use day-to-day.

Step 3: understand how Wegovy compares to Mounjaro, and what the trial data shows

The STEP 1 trial (68 weeks, adults with obesity and no diabetes) recorded approximately 15% average body-weight reduction at the 2.4mg weekly dose. The 7.2mg dose programme has since reported around 20.7% average loss over 72 weeks, narrowing the gap with tirzepatide (Mounjaro). For context, the SURMOUNT-5 head-to-head trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2025 found that tirzepatide produced greater average weight reduction than semaglutide 2.4mg. Which of these two medicines is more appropriate for a given person is a clinical decision, both have different mechanisms, titration schedules, and side-effect profiles that matter as much as the headline figures. You can read a fuller overview of semaglutide as a weight-management treatment or explore how different weight-loss treatment options compare.

Cost is a reasonable part of the picture too. Since Eli Lilly raised Mounjaro's UK list price in September 2025, private prices across both medicines have shifted; a full breakdown of what private treatment actually costs, and what that price should include, is covered on our Wegovy in the UK page.

Step 4: getting Wegovy in the UK, the route and the regulation

Wegovy is a prescription-only medicine. There is no legal route to it in the UK without a clinical assessment by a prescriber. On the NHS, access is via specialist weight management services under NICE guidance (TA875), and waiting lists are commonly long. Private prescribing through a regulated online pharmacy is the alternative for people who don't meet NHS criteria or prefer not to wait.

When choosing a private route, the single most useful check is the GPhC register. Any online pharmacy operating legally in the UK must appear there. You can verify a pharmacy's registration in seconds at the GPhC register, look for an active registration and premises number. Pharmacies selling Wegovy without requiring a prescription, or at prices far below the licensed market rate, are red flags the MHRA has explicitly warned about.

At nume, every consultation is personally reviewed by a GPhC-registered Independent Prescriber on the day it is submitted. Our prescribers read your answers, a real clinician, not a decision tree. Treatment is dispatched the same day orders are clinically approved, arriving via free tracked DPD delivery the next working day, in plain packaging. If you'd like to understand whether Wegovy might be appropriate for you, our free consultation is the right place to start. You can also read more about Wegovy at nume, browse our wegovy videos covering common questions about treatment, or watch our Wegovy injection guide, including a dedicated wegovy use video that walks you through each step of the injection process, before you begin.