Wegovy is a weight loss medication. If you have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, then you might be prescribed Wegovy as an option for weight management.
- What is Wegovy used for?
- How does Wegovy work?
- How to take Wegovy
- Who can take Wegovy?
- Your Wegovy prescription
- Side effects of Wegovy
- Are there shortages of Wegovy in the UK?
- More information and support with Wegovy
What is Wegovy used for?
Wegovy, a brand name for semaglutide, belongs to a group of drugs called GLP-1 agonists - these can also be called GLP-1 analogues, GLP-1 RAs and incretin mimetics.
There are several different GLP-1 agonists available in the UK.
Wegovy is available on the NHS to support weight management. You can take it on its own or with other diabetes medications such as metformin, sulphonylureas or insulin.
How does Wegovy work?
Wegovy is designed to reduce appetite, so you eat less. It mimics the action of a gut hormone called GLP-1, which is released after eating, and it slows down how quickly food is digested. This means it can help you stay full for longer, which can lead to weight loss.
Wegovy and weight loss
The amount of weight you might lose on Wegovy will depend on your personal circumstances, as well as the support you receive from your healthcare team and how long you take this medication for.
In a major study, the STEP 1 clinical trial, people who took the maximum dose of the drug lost 12% more of their body weight compared to those who did not take it.
Crucially, both groups received advice and support from healthcare professionals to reduce their calorie intake and increase their physical activity levels, which shows the importance of making those changes to get the best out of any weight loss medications.
Like other weight loss medications, there is evidence of weight regain when people stop using Wegovy so it is important to continue to receive support and advice from your healthcare team about your diet and physical activity levels.
How to take Wegovy
Wegovy is an injection that you take once a week. Your healthcare team will give you more information about how to take it, and how to inject.
This drug should be taken alongside a healthy diet and regular physical activity with support from a weight management service - more on this below.
Always take this medication exactly as your healthcare team has told you. The Patient Information Leaflet inside the box will tell you how to take it but always check with your healthcare team if you are not sure.
Who can take Wegovy?
In September 2023, Wegovy was made available in the UK to people living with obesity, including some people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.
You might be eligible for this medication if you have a Body Mass Index, or BMI for short, of 30kg/m2 and over, and at least one weight-related health condition, such as prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.
This medication can only be prescribed by weight management services, so you will need to be referred to specialist NHS weight management services by your doctor, or privately through a registered healthcare professional.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE for short, recommends – due to their risk from obesity-related health problems at a lower BMI – that people from Black African, African-Caribbean, Asian, South Asian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern backgrounds receive Wegovy at a lower BMI.
What are weight management services?
Weight management services are specialised services within the NHS. If you are referred to start taking Wegovy, these services will provide support with diet and exercise.
Unfortunately, access to specialist weight management services is varied, and there are many areas across England, Wales and Scotland where these services are not set up.
There are no Tier 3 weight management services in Northern Ireland so Wegovy can’t be prescribed through the Northern Ireland health service. It is expected that a new Obesity Prevention Strategy, which is due to go out for consultation in Northern Ireland in 2024, will recommend the use of specialist weight management services in Northern Ireland.
How many people could access Wegovy?
In June 2023 the Department of Health announced a two-year pilot to tackle obesity, which will explore how Wegovy can be prescribed outside of weight management services.
The government says the NICE recommendations on Wegovy mean that around 35,000 people will have access to the drug, but to make it available to more people who could be eligible, the pilot will explore how doctors could safely offer this medication, and how the NHS can provide support in the community or digitally.
There are other weight loss medications
Alongside Wegovy, there are currently three other weight loss medications licensed and approved for weight loss on the NHS:
- Orlistat, which has the brand name Xenical. This is a tablet that you swallow.
- Liraglutide, which has the brand name Saxenda. This is an injection that you take every day.
- Tirzepatide, which has the brand name Mounjaro. This is anticipated to be approved by NICE for use on the NHS in January 2025. NHS England are planning to do a phased rollout for people who will be eligible.
Who can’t take Wegovy?
Some medications might not be suitable for some people, which might be because of medical conditions or other reasons:
- Your doctor will tell you to stop taking Wegovy if you develop diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA;
- If you have kidney disease or liver disease you might not be able to take Wegovy;
- You might need to temporarily stop Wegovy if you’re going to have an operation;
- You should not take Wegovy during pregnancy. It should not be used if you are breastfeeding. If you are planning a pregnancy, it’s very important to speak to a healthcare professional if you are using this medication.
When you start a new medication always check with your healthcare team that it’s a suitable medication for you to take.
Your Wegovy prescription
You should only be given a prescription for Wegovy following an assessment by your healthcare team to make sure that you meet the criteria and that you’ll benefit from its use.
This should be an individual assessment that includes how this medication will fit into your current treatment plan and considers any diet or activity programme that you are following, as well as the risk of side effects, the dose you’ll need, and your personal choices.
Your healthcare team should explain your prescription to you but it's important to make sure you ask if you don't feel you know enough.
And make sure you talk to your GP or your diabetes team if you struggle to take this medication. They might be able to help by giving you a different dose.
In England, if you need to take any medication to manage your diabetes, your prescriptions will be free. Ask your healthcare team about a prescription exemption certificate if you don't have one, to make sure you don't get charged for your medication. Prescriptions are already free for everybody in the rest of the UK, so you shouldn't pay for medication.
Side effects of Wegovy
Like all medications, Wegovy can cause side effects. But when side effects are listed as common in the Patient Information Leaflet, it doesn’t mean that everyone that takes the medication will get them.
The information about side effects is based on the likelihood of people having them. For example, if it is very common it can affect more than one in ten people and if very rare it affects fewer than one in 10,000 people.
Because medicines can affect people differently, your healthcare team will speak to you about what’s best for you and discuss any side effects.
Some of the most common side effects are:
- nausea
- constipation
- diarrhoea.
Risk of worsening retinopathy
If you have diabetic eye disease, known as diabetic retinopathy, and you are taking insulin, Wegovy might make your retinopathy worse, and it may require treatment.
Tell your doctor if you have diabetic eye disease or if you experience eye problems while taking Wegovy.
Risk of low blood sugar
When taken on its own, Wegovy does not often cause blood sugar levels to become too low - also known as hypoglycemia or hypos. However, hypos are more common when you take this drug with other diabetes medications such as insulin or a sulphonylurea.
Your healthcare team may advise reducing the dose of your sulphonylurea or insulin medicine when you start taking Wegovy to reduce the risk of hypos.
Risk of high blood sugar
If you take insulin and it is reduced too quickly it can cause high blood sugar levels, this is also called hyperglycaemia, and there is an increased risk of diabetic ketoacidosis. Your healthcare team should discuss with you the signs and symptoms of DKA.
These are not all the side effects, you will find a full list of known side effects in the Patient Information Leaflet. This comes in the medication box.
It’s also important that you take individual advice from your healthcare team before you start taking Wegovy and report any side effects to your healthcare professionals, if you experience any.
You can also report these side effects to the Yellow Card Scheme, which is the government system used for recording side effects with medicines in the UK.
Are there shortages of Wegovy in the UK?
There are no supply issues for Wegovy.
Stock shortages are expected until at least the end of December 2024 for most affected GLP-1's.. You can read our response to these supply issues here.
More information and support with Wegovy
Still have more questions? Or is there anything you're not sure about after reading this page? Contact our helpline on 0345 123 2399.
You can visit the NHS website for more information on Wegovy.
