HCG Injections for Weight Loss: UK Pharmacy Facts (October 2026)

01 · The decision

What to do if you are considering hCG for weight loss

The most useful step is to speak to a prescriber about licensed options rather than buy an injection from an unregulated seller. The licensed injectable we do prescribe for weight management is Mounjaro (tirzepatide).¹ If you want to see how it compares with other approaches, our weight loss injections guide and our page on all weight loss treatments set the options out side by side.

Your decision comes down to two questions. First, do you meet the licensed criteria? Mounjaro is licensed for adults with a BMI of 30 or above, or a BMI between 27 and 30 with at least one weight-related condition. It must be used alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity.¹ Second, can you commit to a gradual, months-long process? Trials measured results at 72 weeks, so think in months, not days.²

02 · Costs

What Mounjaro costs over a first year

The standard price of one 4-week Mounjaro pen is £169.99 at 2.5mg, £218.99 at 5mg, £279.99 at 7.5mg, £290.99 at 10mg, £319.99 at 12.5mg and £329.99 at 15mg. Those are the amounts every repeat order starts from. A new customer saves £40 on their first order at any dose with code FIRST40, and every later order is £25 off the standard price (code DOSE25). Everyone starts on 2.5mg, so your first pen is the starter.

These totals are at standard prices, before discounts; your first order is £40 less and every later order £25 less. For other maintenance doses, plan on the monthly price: £279.99 at 7.5mg, £290.99 at 10mg and £319.99 at 12.5mg. Many people settle at 5mg, 10mg or 15mg, and higher is not automatically better.¹ Your first 2.5mg pen costs £129.99 with code FIRST40 (standard price £169.99). The consultation is free and the price shown is the price paid, with no hidden fees. You can pay by Visa, Mastercard or Klarna, with pay-monthly options and no subscription.

03 · Ordering

How ordering works

Payment is taken when you place the order; if the prescriber decides the treatment is not suitable, the order is refunded automatically in full.

• Free online consultation. A short health questionnaire, with no charge and no obligation. You can start your free consultation online.
• Prescriber review. A GPhC-registered prescriber reviews your answers; it is not a scoring script. Unsuitable orders are refunded automatically.
• Dispensing and delivery. Our registered pharmacy dispenses your pen, with same-day dispatch when ordered by 3pm. Delivery is free, next-day, tracked and in temperature-controlled packaging. Saturday delivery is £14.99.

Official LillyDirect supply means your pens come direct from Eli Lilly's UK distribution. All six doses are in stock. Needles, a sharps bin and injection guidance come with every order, and monthly reviews are included. Repeat orders re-check suitability, and nothing ships automatically.

04 · What hCG can be said

How to check any weight-loss injection, including hCG

The first thing to check with any weight-loss injection is its legal status. Prescription-only injections should be supplied only after a consultation and prescription. A seller offering to supply one without either is a red flag, whatever the product is. The MHRA publishes counterfeit medicine alerts and runs the Yellow Card scheme for reporting side effects and suspect products.⁷¹⁹ If you have already used something and feel unwell, speak to your GP or pharmacist and consider reporting it through Yellow Card.

The second thing to check is the evidence. Be wary of pages promising dramatic weight-loss claims in a short time, of before-and-after stories offered as proof, and of any product described as a metabolism reset. Real treatments publish their trial averages with the trial name, the number of participants and the duration, and they say that individual results vary.

The third thing to check is who supplies it. A UK online pharmacy should be on the GPhC register, and you can check ours (registration 9012878) on the GPhC register. A real pharmacy will tell you who the prescriber is, how the consultation works and what to do if something goes wrong. It will not hand out a prescription medicine on a payment alone.

05 · What Mounjaro is

What Mounjaro is and how it works

Mounjaro is the brand name for tirzepatide, a once-weekly injectable prescription medicine made by Eli Lilly. In the UK it is licensed for weight management in adults and for type 2 diabetes. It comes as a pre-filled, multi-dose pen (KwikPen) in six strengths: 2.5mg, 5mg, 7.5mg, 10mg, 12.5mg and 15mg.¹ Each pen contains four weekly doses.

Tirzepatide is the first treatment of its kind to activate two natural gut-hormone receptors at once: GIP and GLP-1. Together these help regulate appetite, slow how quickly the stomach empties and improve the way the body responds to insulin.¹ In practice, most people feel fuller sooner and less hungry between meals, which supports a reduced-calorie diet. That is the key difference from the idea behind a hormone-injection diet: the medicine works with your eating, and it is used alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity, not instead of them.

This dual action is what distinguishes Mounjaro from single-action GLP-1 medicines such as semaglutide (Wegovy and Ozempic). It is a licensed, regulated medicine with a published trial programme behind it.

Tirzepatide has a half-life of about five days, so after a final dose it takes roughly 4–5 weeks to clear the system. There is no way to speed this up, and nothing needs doing while it clears.¹

Mounjaro is prescription-only. It is supplied only after an online consultation reviewed by a GPhC-registered prescriber, who assesses your BMI, medical history and current medicines before deciding whether it is suitable for you.¹ Individual results vary.

If you want a deeper look at the practical side, our guide to benefits claimed for hormone injections explains how to weigh claims against evidence, and our hub on weight loss injections compares the licensed options. When you are ready to see current Mounjaro availability and pricing, the Mounjaro product page shows every dose live.

One more practical point: because Mounjaro is a once-weekly pen, there is nothing to mix, measure or draw up. You dial the dose in the pen's window and inject.

06 · Who is eligible

Who can be prescribed Mounjaro for weight loss

Mounjaro is licensed for weight management in adults with a BMI of 30 or above, or a BMI between 27 and 30 with at least one weight-related condition. Examples include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obstructive sleep apnoea, cardiovascular disease, prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.¹ It must be used alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity.

That licence is the main difference between a prescribed pathway and an unregulated injection. A prescriber assesses your BMI, your medical history and the medicines you already take before deciding whether it is suitable.¹ If you are not suitable, you are not supplied. Payment is taken when you place the order; if the prescriber decides the treatment is not suitable, the order is refunded automatically in full.

Eligibility is not a one-off box to tick. Treatment response is reviewed by your prescriber. If you have lost less than 5% of your starting weight after 6 months on the highest dose you can tolerate, your prescriber will discuss whether continuing or stopping is right for you.¹ Our aftercare includes ongoing monthly reviews, dose-titration and follow-up assessments by the prescribing team, plus side-effect support.

What if you do not meet the criteria? Then Mounjaro is not the licensed route for you, and the right next step is a conversation with your GP or pharmacist about what is appropriate. We would rather you hear that from a prescriber than buy something unsuitable online.

Medicines you already take matter, too. Two points are worth knowing in advance. Mounjaro can reduce absorption of oral contraceptives, because stomach emptying slows, so ask your prescriber about contraception.⁷ The SmPC advises switching to a non-oral method, or adding a barrier method (such as condoms), for 4 weeks after starting Mounjaro and for 4 weeks after each dose increase.¹ And if you use insulin or sulfonylureas, doses may need adjusting because of the risk of low blood sugar; your prescriber will advise.¹

The consultation itself is a short health questionnaire. It is free and carries no obligation, so you can see whether you are suitable before you commit to anything. If you are curious about how clinics approach this, our page on the clinic route for weight loss injections explains what a proper clinical assessment should include, and you can begin the free consultation at any time.

07 · Trial results

What the SURMOUNT-1 trial found

In SURMOUNT-1, a trial of 2,539 adults, people taking tirzepatide alongside diet and exercise lost on average 15% of their body weight on 5mg, 19.5% on 10mg and 20.9% on 15mg over 72 weeks. The comparison group, on lifestyle changes alone, lost 3.1%.² These are trial averages. Individual results vary, and treatment works alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity, not instead of them.

The spread of results matters as much as the average. At 72 weeks, 85% of participants on 5mg, 89% on 10mg and 91% on 15mg had lost at least 5% of their body weight. Half of participants on 10mg and 57% on 15mg lost at least 20% of their body weight.²

To make the percentages concrete, here is a worked example. For someone starting at 100 kg, 20.9% is about 21 kg, and 15% is about 15 kg. That is simple arithmetic on the trial averages, not a prediction for you. Trial averages do not predict your own result, and a different starting weight changes the kilograms.

Notice what this shows about how evidence should look. A trial name, a participant count, a duration, a comparison group and a statement that results vary are the markers of a claim you can check. If a page about any weight-loss injection offers none of these, treat its claims with caution. The same applies to anything headlined with a promise of fast results in a few weeks.

Trials measured results at 72 weeks, which is the honest timescale. Weight loss on Mounjaro is gradual by design. The first weeks on 2.5mg are an adjustment phase and losses are usually modest. Most measurable progress builds from 5mg onward, month by month.¹ Judge progress by trend, not by individual weigh-ins.

Early weeks differ widely. Some people notice appetite change and early loss in week one; others feel little until a higher dose. Both are normal. Early loss includes water weight, so the trend over weeks matters more than any single weigh-in. Mild nausea, altered appetite and tiredness in the first days after each injection are the commonest early effects and usually settle.¹

If you want to compare how different injectables are described, our hub on weight loss injection options keeps the trial figures with their trial names, so you never see numbers from different studies mashed together.

08 · Dose ladder

How the Mounjaro dose ladder works

Everyone starts Mounjaro on 2.5mg once a week. This starting dose is about letting your body adjust, not about weight loss itself. After at least 4 weeks the dose increases to 5mg, and it can then step up by 2.5mg at a minimum of 4-week intervals (7.5mg, 10mg, 12.5mg) up to a maximum of 15mg weekly, depending on how you respond and tolerate it.¹

Many people settle at a maintenance dose of 5mg, 10mg or 15mg. Higher is not automatically better, and your prescriber guides the pace.

The licensed ladder already starts low for tolerability. Altering doses outside the licence means unknown dosing accuracy and no safety data.¹

The pen itself is straightforward. You set the dose by turning the dose knob until the indicator shows the correct dose in the window.

Across the first year, the money works out as follows. If you step up after 4 weeks on each dose, your first four pens (2.5mg to 10mg) cost £959.96 at standard prices. After that you pay the monthly price for whichever dose you are on. Your prescriber reviews the plan monthly, so the dose you end up on reflects your response, not a fixed schedule.

If you want practical walk-throughs, our pages on how injection routines are explained and how to give a weekly injection cover the general routine. For Mounjaro, follow the pen's own instructions and the leaflet in the box.

09 · Injecting and missed doses

How to inject, and what to do if you miss a dose

Mounjaro is injected under the skin (subcutaneously) once a week, on the same day each week, at any time of day, with or without food.¹ Licensed injection sites are the stomach area (at least 5cm from the belly button), the front of the thigh, or the back of the upper arm if someone else gives the injection. Rotate the site with each dose.

There is no best time of day. Mounjaro works the same morning or evening, with or without food. What matters is the same day each week. Pick a day and time you will remember. Many people choose a weekend morning so early side effects fall on days off, then stick to it. Follow the pen's instructions for how to perform the injection, and use the sharps bin we include with every order.

If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you can within 4 days (96 hours) of the scheduled time, then carry on with your usual day. If more than 4 days have passed, skip the missed dose entirely and take the next one on your normal day. Never take two doses within 3 days of each other.¹

You can also change your weekly injection day if needed, as long as at least 3 days (72 hours) have passed since your last dose.¹ That is useful if your routine shifts because of work or travel. Do not use a change of day as a way to double up.

Side effects and questions are part of treatment. Mild nausea, altered appetite and tiredness in the first days after an injection are the commonest early effects and usually settle.¹ If you notice anything new or worrying, discuss it with your prescriber and report it via the Yellow Card scheme.¹⁹ Our support team is available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, by email at support@everydaymeds.co.uk, through the account portal chat or by phone on 0333 207 0413.

A free companion app, GLPTrackr, is available on iOS and Android to help you track your journey, including injection days and notes for your monthly review.

10 · Storage and travel

Storing and travelling with your pen

Keep Mounjaro pens in a fridge at 2–8°C and never freeze them. Once in use, a pen can be kept out of the fridge not above 30°C for up to 30 days, which is useful for short trips, after which it should be discarded. Keep the pen cap on to protect it from light, and never use a pen that has been frozen.¹

Unopened pens should be kept in the fridge and keep until the expiry date printed on the box. If an unopened pen has been out of the fridge, check with the pharmacy before using it rather than relying on a remembered day limit. Figures circulating online often come from other countries' labels, and the UK leaflet is the document to follow.¹³

You can fly with Mounjaro. Carry pens in hand luggage, because hold luggage can fall below freezing, ideally in a cool bag with the prescription label or a copy of your prescription. Because in-use pens tolerate up to 30 days not above 30°C, most holidays need no special arrangements. For hot climates, use an insulated pouch. Check destination rules for travelling with prescription injectables before you fly.¹

Storage matters more than it might seem, and it is one more reason to buy from a regulated supplier. Your pens travel to you in temperature-controlled packaging by tracked next-day delivery, so the cold chain is protected on the way. Put them in the fridge when they arrive, unless you are starting the pen that day.

If a pen looks wrong, has been frozen, or has been left somewhere warm for an unknown time, do not use it. Contact the pharmacy. Dispensed prescription medicines cannot be returned except where an item is faulty, damaged or wrong, and you should contact us within 3 days in that case. Refunds take 5–10 working days.

The same caution applies to anything bought from sellers who cannot tell you how a product was stored or where it came from. Storage conditions are invisible to the buyer, which is one of the main reasons cold-chain medicines should come from a registered pharmacy with a traceable supply route. Our pens come through official LillyDirect supply, direct from Eli Lilly's UK distribution, as genuine KwikPens.

If you want to compare how we handle supply and dispatch against other routes, our page on the risks of buying injections online sets out what to look for.

11 · Serious side effects

Serious side effects: when to get help straight away

Serious side effects are uncommon but need urgent attention. Seek immediate medical help for: severe, persistent stomach pain that may spread to your back, with or without vomiting (possible pancreatitis); pain in the upper right abdomen, fever or yellowing of skin/eyes (possible gallbladder problems); or signs of a severe allergic reaction such as swelling of the face or throat and difficulty breathing. If you take insulin or a sulfonylurea alongside Mounjaro, watch for low blood sugar (shakiness, sweating, confusion) — your prescriber may need to adjust those medicines.¹

12 · NHS and private

NHS access versus private treatment

Mounjaro is available on the NHS, but access is being phased in over several years. NICE recommends it for adults with a BMI of at least 35 plus at least one weight-related condition. The NHS primary-care rollout began in June 2025 with the highest-need groups first, initially BMI 40+ with four or more qualifying conditions.⁴⁶ Full rollout is expected to take years, which is why many people who meet the licensed criteria choose regulated private treatment rather than waiting.

If you think you may qualify on the NHS, ask your GP and read the NHS guidance on tirzepatide.⁵ Private treatment is the alternative for people whose BMI or conditions fall outside the current NHS phase, or who prefer not to wait.

What about hCG on the NHS? Your GP is the right person to ask what is and is not prescribed for weight management on the NHS.

When you choose private treatment, choose a registered pharmacy. Check the GPhC register, make sure the service uses a prescriber who reviews your answers, and be careful of anyone offering to supply prescription injections without a consultation or prescription. The MHRA publishes counterfeit medicine alerts and runs the Yellow Card scheme.⁷ Counterfeit and unlicensed injectables are a real risk in unregulated markets, and a low price on its own is not a reason to trust a seller.

What you get from us is a free consultation reviewed by a GPhC-registered prescriber, official LillyDirect supply, free next-day tracked delivery in cold-chain packaging, same-day dispatch when ordered by 3pm, and monthly clinical reviews. Across the UK pharmacies we track, Mounjaro prices for the same dose differ by between £27 and £41, so it pays to compare (index checked 10 October 2026).

You can see all of the options in our overview of weight loss treatments, then decide whether the NHS route, a private prescriber or no medication at all is right for you.