New Zealand: Medsafe Approval and Pharmac Funding Decisions for GLP-1 Drugs
Medsafe has approved Wegovy and Mounjaro for weight management in New Zealand, but approval and public funding are separate decisions, and Pharmac has not funded either for weight loss.
By the GLP Semaglutide editorial team · Last updated October 9, 2026
New Zealand splits medicine access between two government bodies. Medsafe decides whether a medicine meets standards of quality, safety, and effectiveness and can be supplied, while Pharmac separately decides whether the public health system will pay for it. For GLP-1 drugs, those two decisions currently point in different directions.
What Medsafe has approved
According to Pharmac, Medsafe has approved Wegovy (semaglutide) and Mounjaro (tirzepatide) as treatments for weight management in New Zealand. Medsafe's product database lists the Wegovy FlexTouch pens as prescription medicines sponsored by Novo Nordisk, with a regulatory status of 'consent given.' Approval means a clinician can prescribe the product; it says nothing about who pays for it.
What Pharmac funds, and what it doesn't
Pharmac states that neither Wegovy nor Mounjaro is publicly funded in New Zealand, and that a patient prescribed either would need to pay the pharmacy price, which Pharmac does not control. For type 2 diabetes, Pharmac says two older GLP-1 agonists, dulaglutide (Trulicity) and liraglutide (Victoza), are funded for people who meet its funding criteria.
Pharmac has said it is assessing an application to fund tirzepatide for insufficiently controlled type 2 diabetes, and that it has not received an application to fund tirzepatide for weight loss.
Where the Wegovy application stands
Pharmac's Obesity Treatments Advisory Group reviewed a Wegovy funding application in December 2025 and recommended funding for chronic weight management with a high priority, subject to Special Authority criteria. The meeting record describes proposed criteria based on a BMI of 50 or above, or a BMI of 35 or above with weight-related comorbidities, with continued funding tied to at least a 10% weight reduction from baseline.
Pharmac has since placed Wegovy on its Options for Investment list. The agency describes this as a ranking step, not a funding decision, and says it cannot say when, or if, the medicine will be funded.
What this means in practice
For now, anyone in New Zealand prescribed Wegovy or Mounjaro for weight management should expect to pay privately, and the advisory group's criteria are a proposal rather than current rules. Pharmac's news page and Application Tracker are the authoritative places to check for changes, and a prescriber or pharmacist can confirm current eligibility for the funded diabetes options.
Primary sources