Weight Loss Injections: How to Check a Pharmacy Is Genuine

Why it matters

Mounjaro, Wegovy and the other GLP-1 injections are prescription-only medicines. In the UK a legal supply always involves a pharmacy registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) in Great Britain, or the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, and a prescriber who has assessed you. Anything else is either unlicensed, counterfeit or both. The MHRA has warned repeatedly about fake pens sold through social media and websites that copy the look of real pharmacies, and fake products have been found containing insulin or nothing at all. The checks below take five minutes and cost nothing.

Five checks you can do yourself

1. Find the GPhC premises number and check it on the register. Every registered pharmacy must display its premises registration number and the name of the responsible superintendent pharmacist, usually in the footer or an "about" page. Search the number on the GPhC register. The registered name, address and website should match the site you are on. A logo on its own proves nothing; anyone can copy an image.
2. Expect a real consultation. Since February 2025 the GPhC requires online pharmacies to independently verify your weight, height and BMI for weight-management medicines, to have two-way communication with you, and to contact your GP with your consent. A site that lets you add a pen to a basket with no questionnaire, no photos and no prescriber contact is not operating legally.
3. Check who prescribes. The site should say whether prescribing is in-house or by a named partner service, and prescribers should be doctors, pharmacist independent prescribers or nurse independent prescribers. You can check a doctor on the GMC register and a pharmacist prescriber on the GPhC register.
4. Look at the price against the market. Every UK pharmacy buys Mounjaro from the same manufacturer at broadly the same cost. A price far below every regulated pharmacy is a warning sign, not a bargain. Our price list shows the realistic floor at each dose.
5. Check the basics. A UK company name and registered address, a working phone number or support system, a padlock in the address bar, and a privacy policy that names the company. Payment by card only; a pharmacy asking for bank transfer or cryptocurrency is not a pharmacy.

Warning signs

• No GPhC number, or a number that returns a different name or address on the register.
• Selling through Instagram, TikTok, Facebook Marketplace, WhatsApp or Telegram. Regulated pharmacies do not.
• Advertising a prescription-only medicine to the public by name with prices and promotional claims is itself a breach of UK advertising rules, and a pharmacy that ignores that rule tends to ignore others. Our POM advertising guide explains it.
• Offering to supply without a consultation, or "guaranteed approval".
• Pens offered loose, without the manufacturer's box and leaflet, or in strengths and pack sizes not sold in the UK.
• A price that is a fraction of the regulated market.
• Reviews that all appeared in the same week, or a Trustpilot page that does not match the company name.

Our guide to spotting a fake pharmacy goes through real examples.

What Monj checks before listing a pharmacy

Every pharmacy on our price lists passes the same checks, and we repeat them: GPhC premises and superintendent registration confirmed on the register with no restrictions; prescribing route identified and prescribers registered; a genuine consultation and GP-notification process; UK company and ownership confirmed at Companies House; delivery method and cold-chain packaging confirmed; and a manual review of the website, terms and pricing. We keep records and screenshots for each provider and reassess every three to six months, or sooner if a reader reports a problem. Pharmacies that fall short are removed. The full method, including how we handle corrections and complaints, is in our editorial and review policy, and our GPhC verification page explains the register in more detail.

Verification tells you a pharmacy is real and lawful. It does not tell you how well it performed at inspection. For that, our Pharmacy Score shows each listed pharmacy's published GPhC inspection outcome against the five inspection principles.

If you find a fake

Report the website or seller to the MHRA through the Yellow Card scheme, which now covers suspected fake or substandard medicines as well as side effects. If you have already used a product you suspect is fake and feel unwell, contact NHS 111 or your GP. You can also tell Monj; we pass reports on and use them to keep our listings clean.