FOI 2025/1445

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information regarding the prescribing of weight loss medicines within your ICB area:
1. The total number of prescriptions for the following medicines where the drug was prescribed for weight loss or weight management:
o Saxenda (liraglutide)
o Wegovy (semaglutide)
o Mounjaro (tirzepatide)
a. Please provide totals for each individual medicine, as well as an overall total for all medicines combined.
b. Please provide this information for each year available, up to and including the most recent 12-month period.
c. Please break down the data by setting, indicating whether prescriptions were issued by hospital-based specialist weight management services, GPs or community pharmacies.
2. In addition, please provide the total number of prescriptions for Ozempic (semaglutide) in your ICB area, where weight loss was the intended use, broken down by year and setting (as outlined above).

1. Saxenda, Wegovy and Mounjaro

We are able to provide data for the most recent 12-month period for which validated prescribing information is available: September 2024 to August 2025. These figures represent NHS prescriptions dispensed in Primary Care, extracted from the NHS Business Services Authority’s ePACT system.

Limits of the data

You requested data specifically for prescriptions issued for weight loss/weight management.
We are not able to provide this level of detail, because:

• Indication is not recorded in ePACT data.
• Prescribing by Specialist Weight Management Services (SWMS) cannot be identified within ePACT; therefore, data for this setting cannot be provided.
• As a result, we cannot distinguish prescriptions issued for weight loss/weight management from those issued for other clinical indications.

Medicine-specific caveats

Saxenda (liraglutide)

• Figures include items prescribed by brand (Saxenda) only.
• Items where liraglutide was prescribed generically are not included, as the dispensed brand cannot be determined.
• Therefore, Saxenda figures are likely to under-represent total liraglutide use.

Semaglutide – Wegovy and Ozempic (overlapping strengths)

• Prescriptions for semaglutide 0.5 mg/0.37 ml prescribed generically have been excluded, because this formulation exists in both the Wegovy and Ozempic brands and cannot be attributed to one or the other.

NHS GM are also aware that Oviva, operating under Right to Choose have treated a number of patients with Semaglutide – Wegovy.  NHS GM do hold the data of how many prescriptions have been issued. The requestor would need to contact the provider direct for this information.

Mounjaro (tirzepatide)

• Figures include both generic and brand prescribing, as only one product is currently available.
• All items therefore relate.

2. Ozempic (semaglutide) – prescriptions where weight loss was the intended use

You asked for the number of Ozempic prescriptions where weight loss was the intended use, broken down by year and setting.

As above, indication is not recorded and therefore we cannot determine whether prescriptions were issued for weight loss/weight management or another condition (e.g., type 2 diabetes).

These figures represent all Ozempic prescription dispensed in NHS GM during the period and cannot be restricted to use for weight loss. We are also unable to provide a reliable breakdown by prescribing setting for the reasons described above.