Getting Wegovy requires a prescription from a licensed doctor, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner, either through an in-person visit or a telehealth appointment. You’ll need to meet specific weight criteria, go through a medical evaluation, and then fill the prescription at a pharmacy. Here’s how each step works.
Who Qualifies for Wegovy
The FDA approved Wegovy for two groups of people. Adults with a BMI of 30 or higher qualify based on weight alone. Adults with a BMI of 27 to 29.9 also qualify, but only if they have at least one weight-related health condition such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or type 2 diabetes.
For younger patients, the rules are slightly different. Pediatric patients aged 12 and older can be prescribed Wegovy if they have obesity, defined as a BMI at or above the 95th percentile for their age and sex. There is no “overweight with comorbidities” pathway for this age group.
Certain medical histories will disqualify you entirely. You cannot take Wegovy if you or a close family member has had medullary thyroid carcinoma, or if you have a condition called Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2. A prior serious allergic reaction to semaglutide (Wegovy’s active ingredient) is also a hard stop.
Getting the Prescription: In Person or Online
The most straightforward route is scheduling an appointment with your primary care doctor. During the visit, expect a review of your medical history, a physical exam, and a conversation about your current diet, exercise habits, and weight management goals. Some providers will order blood work before or after this visit, typically a metabolic panel to check your blood sugar, kidney function, and other baseline markers.
If you prefer a virtual visit, several telehealth platforms can prescribe Wegovy and ship it to you or send the prescription to a local pharmacy. Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Wegovy, recognizes a number of independent telehealth providers for legitimate sourcing, including Ro, Sesame, LifeMD, FormHealth, WeightWatchers, and others. Each platform works slightly differently. Some, like LifeMD, require a metabolic blood test before your appointment. Others, like Sesame, let you book a virtual consultation directly with a prescriber who will evaluate whether Wegovy is appropriate for you.
Regardless of the route, your prescriber will assess contraindications, confirm your BMI, and discuss potential side effects before writing a prescription.
What the Dosing Schedule Looks Like
Wegovy isn’t prescribed at full strength from day one. You’ll follow a gradual dose increase over about four months to reduce nausea and other digestive side effects. The schedule looks like this:
- Weeks 1 through 4: 0.25 mg once weekly
- Weeks 5 through 8: 0.5 mg once weekly
- Weeks 9 through 12: 1 mg once weekly
- Weeks 13 through 16: 1.7 mg once weekly
- Week 17 onward: 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg once weekly (maintenance dose)
The recommended maintenance dose for adults is 2.4 mg, though some people stay at 1.7 mg if they respond well or don’t tolerate the higher dose. Each dose comes as a prefilled pen that you inject under the skin once a week, in the stomach, thigh, or upper arm.
Cost and the $25 Savings Program
Wegovy’s list price is high, but Novo Nordisk offers a savings card that can bring the cost down to $25 per month for a 28-day supply. To qualify for this program, you need three things: a valid prescription, commercial insurance that covers the medication, and no enrollment in government healthcare programs like Medicare or Medicaid. If you meet those criteria, the savings card covers most of the remaining copay.
If your insurance doesn’t cover Wegovy, or you’re on Medicare or Medicaid, the out-of-pocket cost is significantly higher. In that case, it’s worth asking your prescriber about prior authorization, which is a request your doctor files with your insurer to justify the medical necessity of the drug. Some plans that initially deny coverage will approve it after this step.
Supply Is No Longer an Issue
Wegovy experienced a prolonged nationwide shortage that started in March 2022 and made it difficult to fill prescriptions, particularly at higher doses. The FDA has since determined that the shortage of semaglutide injection products is resolved. All five pen strengths (0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, 1.7 mg, and 2.4 mg) are available again. If your pharmacy doesn’t have it in stock, they should be able to order it without significant delays.
Why Compounded Versions Are Risky
During the shortage, compounding pharmacies began producing their own versions of semaglutide. Now that supply has normalized, these alternatives carry real risks worth understanding. Compounded drugs are not FDA-approved, meaning no one reviews them for safety, effectiveness, or quality before they reach patients.
The FDA has flagged several specific problems. Some compounded injectable semaglutide has arrived warm or without adequate cold packs, which can degrade the drug. Multiple reports of hospitalizations have been linked to dosing errors, where patients or even healthcare professionals miscalculated the dose from multi-use vials. Some compounding pharmacies have used semaglutide salt forms (like semaglutide sodium or semaglutide acetate) that are chemically different from the ingredient in Wegovy, and the FDA says it has no information on whether these salts behave the same way in the body.
Perhaps most concerning, the FDA has identified fraudulent products with fake pharmacy names on the label, products that were never actually made by a licensed compounder. If you’re considering a compounded version, the risks of incorrect dosing, unknown ingredients, and improper storage are real and documented.