Semaglutide (Wegovy) for weight loss
Funding status of semaglutide and other weight-loss treatments.
Semaglutide is not funded
Semaglutide is not funded by Pharmac for either type 2 diabetes (Ozempic) or weight loss (Wegovy).
How much will semaglutide cost me?
If a health care professional prescribes Wegovy for you, you will need to pay for it. Pharmac does not control this price. You would need to discuss with your pharmacy how much that might be.
Will Pharmac look at funding it?
Pharmac has received three applications to fund semaglutide for the following conditions:
- weight management for people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or more with at least one weight-related health condition
- insufficiently controlled type 2 diabetes
- cardiovascular disease with a body mass index (BMI) of 27 kg/m2 or more.
Semaglutide applications in the Application Tracker(external link)
All applications need to go through our standard process. Applications for weight-loss treatments need to be prioritised against all other applications to fund medicines.
Specialist advisory group formed
We established the Obesity Treatments Advisory Group in 2025 to give Pharmac objective advice on:
- new obesity treatments
- future category management
- procurement activities in this area.
The group met in December 2025 and reviewed the semaglutide funding application for weight loss. The membership and meeting records are available on the Advisory Group page.
When will it be funded?
We cannot say when or if any medicine will be funded. Once clinical advice is finalised, Pharmac will compare the benefit of funding semaglutide against all the other medicines we have been asked to fund.
About the prioritisation process
Even then, Pharmac has a limited budget, which means we need to make difficult decisions about what medicines to fund.
Medicines funded to treat type 2 diabetes
Both dulaglutide (Trulicity) and liraglutide (Victoza) are funded for people with type 2 diabetes, who meet the funding criteria. These medicines are also GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide.
Funding had been restricted to help manage a supply issue, but supply has returned to normal so people can be started on these medicines to treat their diabetes.
If you have type 2 diabetes, talk to a health care professional whether one of these medicines might be right for you.
Semaglutide (Wegovy/Ozempic) approved for use
In June 2025, Medsafe approved semaglutide (Wegovy) for use in New Zealand for weight loss. Semaglutide has been approved to treat type 2 diabetes, under the name Ozempic, since 2023.
Datasheet for Wegovy | Medsafe [PDF](external link)
Consumer information sheet for Wegovy | Medsafe [PDF](external link)
Who to contact
Your health care team are in the best place to discuss whether any of these medicines are right for you.