GPhC, CQC and MHRA: Who Regulates Online Weight Loss Services?

Online weight loss services in the UK are regulated by several bodies, each covering a different part of the service. The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) regulates pharmacies and pharmacists in Great Britain, including online pharmacies. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) registers and inspects clinical services in England, including many online doctor services. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) licenses the medicines, monitors their safety and tackles illegal supply. Doctors and nurses are regulated by the GMC and NMC, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) enforces the ban on advertising prescription-only medicines to the public. This guide explains who does what, what changed in 2025, and how to check a service yourself. It is part of our provider guides within our wider GLP-1 guides.

Why regulation matters for weight loss services

GLP-1 medicines such as Mounjaro (tirzepatide) and Wegovy (semaglutide) are prescription-only medicines. They are effective, but they carry risks and are unsuitable for some people. Regulation exists to make sure that:

• The medicine is genuine, licensed and stored correctly
• The person prescribing is qualified and accountable
• The assessment is good enough to prescribe safely
• The pharmacy dispensing the medicine meets professional standards
• Patients are not misled or pressured by advertising

The rapid growth of online weight-loss services, and concerns about inappropriate prescribing and fake products, have led regulators to sharpen their focus on this area since 2024.

The regulators at a glance

The GPhC: regulating pharmacies

What it does

Every pharmacy in Great Britain, including those operating entirely online, must be registered with the GPhC. The GPhC:

• Maintains public registers of pharmacies, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
• Sets standards for registered pharmacies and for pharmacy professionals
• Inspects pharmacies and publishes inspection reports
• Investigates concerns and can take enforcement action
• Regulates pharmacist independent prescribers

Each registered pharmacy has a superintendent pharmacist (where it is owned by a company) who is responsible for how the pharmacy operates.

The 2025 guidance on services at a distance

In February 2025, the GPhC published updated guidance for registered pharmacies providing pharmacy services at a distance, including on the internet. For weight-loss medicines and other higher-risk medicines, it set out that:

• Prescribing decisions should not be based solely on information from an online questionnaire
• A person's weight, height and/or BMI should be independently verified, for example through timely two-way communication such as a video consultation, access to clinical records, or contact with the person's GP or regular prescriber
• Pharmacies should have robust identity-checking processes
• Pharmacy owners should carry out risk assessments and audits of their online services

The GPhC uses its guidance to judge whether pharmacies meet its standards. Our guides to the online weight loss consultation and why online pharmacies verify your ID and weight explain what this means for patients.

The voluntary GPhC logo

Some registered pharmacies display a voluntary GPhC logo on their website that links to their register entry. It can be a helpful signpost, but it is not proof by itself, as logos can be copied. Checking the register directly is more reliable.

The CQC and its equivalents: regulating clinical services

What it does

The CQC registers and inspects providers of health and social care in England that carry out regulated activities, which include treatment of disease, disorder or injury, and diagnostic services. Many online doctor services that assess patients and prescribe must register with the CQC.

The CQC:

• Registers providers and sets conditions of registration
• Inspects services and publishes reports and ratings
• Can take enforcement action, including restricting or cancelling registration

Online pharmacies whose prescribing is carried out within the pharmacy itself may be regulated mainly by the GPhC. Where a separate company provides the clinical service, that company may need CQC registration. The exact requirements depend on how a service is structured.

Devolved nations

• Wales: Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW)
• Scotland: Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), for independent healthcare services
• Northern Ireland: Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA)

The GMC and NMC: regulating prescribers

Whoever prescribes your medicine must be registered with their professional regulator:

• Doctors with the GMC, which sets standards in its guidance on good practice in prescribing, including remote prescribing
• Pharmacist independent prescribers with the GPhC
• Nurse independent prescribers with the NMC

These standards expect prescribers to have enough information to prescribe safely, to prescribe only within their competence, to consider whether remote prescribing is appropriate for the individual, and to share information with the patient's GP where appropriate. You can search each regulator's register by name.

The MHRA: regulating the medicines

Licensing

The MHRA decides whether medicines can be used in the UK and on what terms. At the time of writing, its decisions relevant to weight management include:

The official terms of each licence are set out in the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC), published on medicines.org.uk. Check the current SmPC for the latest position.

Safety monitoring

The MHRA monitors medicine safety through the Yellow Card scheme, where patients and health professionals can report suspected side effects and suspected fake medicines. It publishes safety advice in its Drug Safety Update. For example, in January 2025 it highlighted the potential risk of pulmonary aspiration during general anaesthesia or deep sedation in people taking GLP-1 medicines.

Supply chain and enforcement

The MHRA licenses manufacturers and wholesalers, and its Criminal Enforcement Unit investigates illegal supply. In October 2025, it announced it had dismantled what it described as the first illicit weight-loss medicine production facility found in the UK, in Northampton, seizing more than 2,000 unlicensed tirzepatide and retatrutide pens and tens of thousands of empty pens. It reported disrupting a second suspected manufacturing operation in February 2026. Our guide to fake and unlicensed weight loss jabs explains the risks.

The ASA: regulating advertising

Under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, advertising prescription-only medicines to the public is prohibited. The ASA enforces this through the UK advertising codes, alongside the MHRA.

In 2025, the ASA published rulings against several advertisers, including pharmacies registered with the GPhC, for promoting weight-loss prescription-only medicines to the public. Its guidance makes clear that the ban covers not just brand names, but also indirect references, such as phrases and imagery that promote weight-loss injections. Services may describe their consultation and prescribing service, but must not promote the medicines themselves.

For patients, this is a useful signal. A service that heavily promotes specific weight-loss medicines with discounts, urgency or before-and-after images may not be following the rules.

NICE and the NHS

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is not a regulator of private services, but it decides whether medicines should be offered on the NHS. NICE TA875 recommends semaglutide within specialist weight management services, and NICE TA1026 recommends tirzepatide, which is being rolled out in phases through NHS primary care in England. See our guide to private vs NHS weight loss treatment.

Following one prescription through the system

It can help to see how these regulators fit together by following a single prescription for a weight-loss injection from start to finish.

At every stage, a named, registered person or organisation is accountable. With illegal sellers, none of these protections apply.

What regulators can and can't do

Regulators play an important role, but it helps to be realistic about their limits.

What they can do

• Set standards that registered pharmacies, clinical services and professionals must meet
• Inspect services and publish reports
• Investigate concerns and take enforcement action, from conditions on registration to removal from the register
• Take criminal action against illegal supply of medicines (the MHRA)
• Require adverts to be withdrawn or amended (the ASA)

What they can't do

• Check every prescription. Regulators rely on standards, inspections and concerns being raised.
• Set prices for private treatment
• Resolve individual refund or contract disputes, which are generally a matter for the service's complaints process and consumer law
• Act against overseas websites in the same way as UK-based services, although the MHRA works with international partners and online platforms

This is why your own checks matter. Registration tells you a service is within the system and accountable; it does not by itself tell you that every aspect of its care is good. Reading inspection reports and paying attention to how a service assesses and supports you fills in the rest of the picture.

Northern Ireland: what is different

Northern Ireland has its own regulators for pharmacy and for health and social care services:

• The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) registers pharmacies and pharmacists, in place of the GPhC.
• The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) registers and inspects health and social care services, in place of the CQC.

The GMC and NMC regulate doctors and nurses across the whole UK, and the MHRA licenses medicines UK-wide. If you live in Northern Ireland and use a service based in Great Britain, the pharmacy will be GPhC-registered; check where it is based and which regulator applies.

Common misconceptions

"If it's on a big website or social media platform, it must be legal"

Online platforms carry adverts and posts from many sources, including illegal sellers. Appearing on a large platform says nothing about whether a seller is registered.

"A logo proves registration"

Logos can be copied. Always check the register directly.

"Online prescribing is unregulated"

Online prescribing is regulated through the same professional regulators as face-to-face prescribing, together with the GPhC's specific guidance on services at a distance and the care regulators' registration requirements.

"If a prescriber approved me, the medicine must be right for me"

A prescriber's decision depends on the information they have. Honest answers, and allowing information to be shared with your GP, make that decision safer. Our guide to who should not take GLP-1 medicines explains why each question matters.

How to check a service: step by step

1. Find the details. On the service's website, look for the pharmacy name, address and GPhC registration number, the superintendent pharmacist's name, and the name and registration of any separate clinical service.
2. Check the pharmacy. Go directly to the GPhC website (pharmacyregulation.org) and search the register of pharmacies. In Northern Ireland, use the PSNI register. Confirm the details match and the registration is current.
3. Check the clinical service. In England, search the CQC website for the provider and read any inspection report. Use HIW, HIS or RQIA in the devolved nations.
4. Check prescribers. Search the GMC, GPhC or NMC registers for any named prescribers.
5. Look at the process. Does the service verify identity and weight, ask detailed medical questions, and offer access to a clinician?
6. Look at the marketing. Be wary of urgency, heavy discounts and promotional claims about medicines.

Our guide to how to choose an online pharmacy for weight loss treatment gives a full checklist. Our providers page explains how we compare regulated services on safety and process rather than promotional claims.

Where to raise concerns

Regulation and cost

Regulation does not set prices for private treatment. Costs vary between services and can change, as Lilly's increase to the UK list price of Mounjaro from September 2025 showed. Regulated pharmacies source medicines through the licensed supply chain, which is one reason very low prices from unregulated sellers should raise questions. We don't quote prices in our guides; see our prices page for what affects cost.

When to speak to a professional

If you are unsure whether a service is legitimate, ask a community pharmacist, who can help you check registration, or speak to your GP. Speak to your GP before starting a GLP-1 medicine if you have other medical conditions, take regular medicines, or are planning a pregnancy. Prescribing decisions belong to a qualified prescriber.

If you are taking a GLP-1 medicine:

• Call 999 or go to A&E if you have severe, persistent abdominal pain (with or without vomiting, sometimes spreading to your back), signs of a severe allergic reaction such as swelling of the face, lips or throat or difficulty breathing, or you collapse.
• Contact NHS 111 or your GP urgently if you have persistent vomiting or diarrhoea with signs of dehydration, or pain under the right ribs with fever or yellowing of the skin or eyes.
• Stop and report if you suspect a product is fake: keep it, seek advice and report it through the MHRA Yellow Card scheme.