Glossary: UK weight loss price terms

Plain definitions for every term GLP Index uses on a price table, a chart or a codes page.

First order price: The total a new customer pays for a one month supply, delivery included, after any automatic first order discount. Most first order deals apply once.
Ongoing price: The total a returning customer pays for a one month supply, delivery included. Plan your budget around the ongoing price from month two.
Retail price: The pharmacy list price before any discount and before postage.
Retail delivered price: The retail price plus the pharmacy's standard postage. A blank postage value counts as free.
Delivery included: Every first order and ongoing price on GLP Index is the total you pay, with standard delivery added in.
Lowest price: The cheapest live first order price for one dose across every pharmacy GLP Index tracks.
Median price: The middle price once every pharmacy price for a dose is sorted from cheapest to dearest. Half the pharmacies charge less and half charge more.
Highest price: The most expensive live first order price for one dose.
Spread: The gap between the lowest and the highest first order price for one dose.
Step: A position on the dose scale of a treatment. Step 1 is the starting dose. Your prescriber decides your step and when you move up.
Rank: A pharmacy's position for one dose when first order prices are sorted from cheapest. Equal prices share a rank.
Price position: A score from 0 to 100 on the league table. 0 means a pharmacy is the cheapest at every dose priced. 100 means the dearest at every dose.
First three months: The cost of the Step 1 first order, then Step 2 and Step 3 at the ongoing price, all at one pharmacy.
Twelve month cost: The cost of a year at one pharmacy, moving up one step a month and then holding the top dose.
GLP Index figure: One number for the whole market. Each dose's median first order price is divided by the median on the base day. The figure is the average of those ratios, times 100.
Dataset ID: A label on every export, for example GLPX-20261007-1859. The label gives the date and time of the export, so any figure can be traced.
Export: One pull of every live price from the four source databases. GLP Index exports at 07:00 and 19:00 UK time.
Discount code: A word or string you paste at the pharmacy checkout to lower the price. Each code sits on a lettered card on the pharmacy codes page.
Link deal: A discount applied when you arrive through a set link. No code is needed.
Card: One code or link deal on a pharmacy codes page, with a letter, the saving, who can use the deal and the terms.
GPhC: The General Pharmaceutical Council, the regulator for pharmacies, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Great Britain.
GPhC registration number: The number the General Pharmaceutical Council gives a registered pharmacy. You can search any number on the public register.
Prescription only medicine: A medicine a pharmacy can supply only against a prescription. Every treatment on GLP Index is a prescription only medicine.
Prescriber: A registered doctor, pharmacist or nurse with the right to prescribe. A prescriber at the pharmacy reviews your answers before any order is approved.
Online pharmacy: A registered pharmacy which takes orders through a website and posts the medicine to you.
Pen: The injection device for a weekly treatment. One pen holds four weekly doses.
Postage: The delivery charge a pharmacy adds to an order. GLP Index adds standard postage into every delivered price.
BMI: Body mass index. Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. UK rules for weight loss medicine use BMI thresholds.
MHRA: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The UK regulator which licenses medicines and monitors their safety.
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. NICE decides which treatments the NHS in England should offer, and to whom.
Licence: Permission from the MHRA to sell a medicine in the UK for set uses. A prescriber normally prescribes within the licence.
Technology appraisal: A NICE decision on whether the NHS should pay for a medicine. TA1026 covers Mounjaro and TA875 covers Wegovy.
Integrated care board: The local NHS body in England which plans and funds services in an area.
Specialist weight management service: An NHS service with a team such as doctors, dietitians and psychologists. Wegovy is offered on the NHS through these services.
Wraparound care: Support given alongside a weight loss medicine on the NHS, such as dietary advice and behaviour change support.
Yellow Card: The MHRA scheme for reporting a suspected side effect or a fake medicine.
Independent verification: A check of your weight, height or BMI by a route other than your own answers, such as a video consultation or your clinical records. The GPhC requires one before an online supply.
Partner: A pharmacy which may pay GLP Index a commission when you order through a link. A partnership never changes a price order or a rank.