If you're weighing up GLP-1 weight loss treatment in the UK, or already using an injection and wondering whether to switch, you've probably heard about the new Wegovy tablet.
The Wegovy tablet is a licensed weight loss medicine, approved by the MHRA in June 2026. This guide covers how it works, who it's for and how it compares with the injection. Private pricing and NHS availability can change, so check the current position before you decide. For coverage written at the time of launch, see our news analysis: The UK's first weight loss pill has arrived: what it means for patients.
Compare weight loss pill prices
Prices for the tablet can vary by provider. Ready to compare? See current Wegovy tablet prices from regulated UK pharmacies.
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What is the Wegovy pill
The Wegovy pill contains semaglutide, the same active ingredient as the Wegovy injection. This oral semaglutide formulation is a GLP-1 receptor agonist, a type of medicine that reduces appetite and slows down digestion.
The difference is the format. Instead of injecting once a week, you take a tablet once a day.
Wegovy pill vs Wegovy injection: how they differ
The active medicine is the same. What changes is how you take it and the routine around it.
- Frequency: once a day, rather than once a week.
- Dosing schedule: the approved schedule starts at 1.5mg a day and steps up through 4mg and 9mg to a 25mg maintenance dose, with at least a month at each step. Your prescriber sets your dose and decides when to move it up, so treat these numbers as background rather than a plan to follow yourself.
- How it's taken: the pill only works if taken in a very specific way: whole, on an empty stomach after at least 8 hours without food (taking it first thing in the morning is the easiest way), before any food or drink, with a small sip of plain water (no more than about 120ml). You then wait at least 30 minutes before eating, drinking anything else, or taking other medicines. Your patient information leaflet and prescriber will give you the exact steps for your situation.
- Storage: the tablet is stored at room temperature, whereas the injection pen typically needs fridge storage.
- Effectiveness: in its main trial (OASIS 4), people taking the 25mg pill lost an average of 13.6% of body weight over roughly 15 months, or 16.6% among those who took it exactly as prescribed. The tablet has a smaller and newer evidence base than the injection, so direct comparisons should be treated with caution.
The empty-stomach routine matters more with this tablet than with most daily medicines. Taking it with food or drink, or too close to other medication, can reduce how much of the dose the body absorbs. This is background information, not instructions for your own use, so always follow your prescriber's and patient information leaflet's guidance.
Is the Wegovy pill available in the UK
The tablet has been approved by the MHRA (the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), which means it's now a licensed medicine in the UK.
Approval isn't the same as availability. A few things follow on from approval, and each one takes time:
- It's prescription-only. You can't buy it without a prescription from a registered prescriber.
- Private access still depends on an individual clinical assessment, clinic or pharmacy stock, and the cost of a consultation, so it isn't automatic even through the private route.
- NHS access depends on a separate review by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), called a technology appraisal, which looks at cost-effectiveness. As things stand, there's no active NICE appraisal of the tablet for weight management, so there's no confirmed date for an NHS decision.
- Scotland and Northern Ireland make their own decisions on NHS funding, through separate bodies (the Scottish Medicines Consortium in Scotland), so timings and access may differ from England even once a decision is made.
- Manufacturer stock and rollout timing also affect when pharmacies and clinics can actually dispense it, separate from the licensing itself.
In short: it's a licensed medicine, but at the moment private prescription is the only access route. There's no current NHS route or confirmed timeline for one.
Wegovy pill eligibility: who can be prescribed it
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The tablet is licensed for adults who have:
- a BMI of 30 or above, or
- a BMI between 27 and 30, along with a weight-related health condition, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or sleep apnoea.
These are the licensing thresholds for private prescribing. If the tablet is ever funded on the NHS, NHS eligibility criteria could turn out to be narrower than this, in the same way NHS access to the Wegovy injection is more restricted than its private licence.
A prescriber will also look at overall health and medical history as part of deciding whether the medicine is appropriate. If you're currently on the Wegovy injection, moving to the tablet is a decision your prescriber makes with you, based on your individual circumstances, not something to arrange yourself.
How much does the Wegovy pill cost
The manufacturer hasn't yet confirmed a UK list price for the tablet, so any figures you see online right now are estimates rather than confirmed pricing.
As a general guide, oral GLP-1 medicines have tended to be priced in a similar range to injectable ones, but this isn't guaranteed to hold once the tablet launches properly. We cover current injection pricing in more detail in our GLP-1 medication costs in the UK guide, and we'll update this page once tablet pricing is confirmed.
Side effects and safety
The tablet uses the same active ingredient as the injection, so the known side effects are similar. The most common ones affect the digestive system, especially while your dose is being increased:
- nausea
- vomiting
- diarrhoea or constipation
- stomach discomfort
For many people these ease over time as the body adjusts, but this varies, and for some people they don't settle. As with any prescription medicine, there are rarer but more serious risks, which is why it's only available with medical supervision.
Your patient information leaflet explains what to do if you experience new or worsening symptoms, and who to contact. You can also report suspected side effects yourself through the MHRA's Yellow Card scheme.
Wegovy pill counterfeit risk: what to watch for
A tablet can be simpler to fake convincingly than a branded injection pen, so as this medicine becomes more sought-after, it's worth being extra careful about where you buy it, particularly online.
Only get the Wegovy pill through a pharmacy registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) in England, Scotland and Wales, or the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) if you're in Northern Ireland, and from a prescriber who reviews your details properly. A website offering it without a prescription, or at an unusually low price, is not operating within UK regulations.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
This guide summarises publicly available information from UK regulatory sources. Sources referenced include: