Oral Wegovy goes on sale in the UK through private clinics
A pill form of semaglutide — the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss injection Wegovy — has gone on sale in the UK , offering a daily tablet as an alternative to the weekly self-injection. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved the oral formulation on June 11 , making the UK the first country in Europe to clear it.
For now access is private, through pharmacies and regulated online clinics; the pill is not available on the NHS while the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence assesses whether it is cost-effective. The tablet is taken once daily on an empty stomach, starting at 1.5 mg and titrating up to 25 mg over several months.
The practical significance is delivery, not a new mechanism: an oral option lowers a barrier for patients reluctant to inject and is simpler to scale in supply terms. The limiting factors will be price and NHS access — an injectable-versus-pill choice does little to change who can afford sustained treatment until NICE rules on reimbursement.