Asda Pharmacy Provides Support for Weight Loss Treatments

Asda Pharmacy has introduced two in-store weight management services, offering personalised weight management consultations at 19 pharmacy locations and a disposal scheme for consumers who have purchased unregulated weight management products.

The move comes in response to a surge in consumer demand for weight management services.

It also follows recent insights from UK General Practitioners, which point to a growing swathe of unregulated weight-loss products being sold to consumers in non-medical settings, including gyms, beauty salons and on social media.

According to the research, 86% of GPs have noticed an increase in patients being offered unregulated products, with another 25% encountering patients who required hospital care following complications caused by non-medically approved treatments.

Asda’s “safe disposal and support scheme” will enable anyone who may have purchased an unregulated product to safely dispose of it in one of its pharmacies and seek professional advice.

The GLP-1 revolution

According to a recent study by UCL researchers, 1.6 million people in the UK used weight loss drugs such as Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Novo Nordisk's Wegovy in the past year.

The research also found that an additional 3.3 million people are interested in using the treatments, suggesting the number of UK users is only set to rise.

The key component of these increasingly popular treatments is the GLP-1 molecule, which promotes weight loss by mimicking the natural GLP-1 hormone to reduce a user’s appetite, slow stomach emptying and enhance feelings of fullness, leading people to eat fewer calories.

An estimated nine out of ten users access the treatments through private routes rather than the NHS, including those sold by counterfeit online sellers posing as legitimate vendors.

In July 2026, a once-a-day pill went on sale at high street and online pharmacies in the UK, but was not available on an NHS prescription.

Providing a trusted space for GLP-1 users

With NHS capacity remaining limited, initiatives from companies such as Asda that reassure consumers about the origin and authenticity of their weight loss medications provide a welcome and timely boost to consumer confidence.

“We know lots of our customers are looking for help managing their weight, and it’s really important they feel confident they’re getting safe, trusted support,” says Faisal Tuddy, Head of Asda Pharmacy.

“At Asda Pharmacy, we’re here to make that journey simpler – offering friendly, professional advice and clinically appropriate options that are tailored to each individual, with support every step of the way.

“If anyone is unsure about something they’ve bought, we’d always encourage them to pop in and have a chat with a pharmacist. Our new service is all about giving customers peace of mind – helping them feel supported, informed and able to make safer choices, without any judgement.”

Face-to-face consultations

Asda Pharmacy’s advisory and disposal service will be supplemented by the offer of face-to-face waste management consultations with specially trained experts at 19 pharmacy locations.

The company’s online consultations have been hugely popular so far, with over 800,000 people completing more than three million consultations on its Online Doctor platform.

In February 2026, Asda launched a campaign to raise awareness of the NHS’ Pharmacy First service, which aims to free up GP appointments by enabling patients to receive prescription medication directly from a pharmacy, rather than having to visit a GP.