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GLP-1 receptor agonist prescribing in England, monthly

Semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide items and cost, nationally and by ICB.

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2,250rows

In the current release

January 2021 to June 2026

Coverage

June 2026

Latest data month

About this dataset

Monthly NHS primary-care prescription items and net ingredient cost in England for the GLP-1 receptor agonists semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide, nationally and by Integrated Care Board. These medicines are best known publicly as weight-loss drugs, but in this data they are overwhelmingly diabetes prescriptions — see the caveats. Derived from the NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis and updated monthly.

How it is derived

Items and net ingredient cost are summed across every presentation of the three chemical substances (BNF codes 0601023AW semaglutide, 0601023AZ tirzepatide, 0601023AB liraglutide), for each published month, nationally and by ICB. The combination product insulin degludec with liraglutide is excluded: it is an insulin, prescribed for a different reason.

What this data cannot tell you

  • 1 These drugs sit in BNF 6.1.2.3, antidiabetic drugs. In primary-care prescribing data they are very largely type 2 diabetes prescriptions, not weight-management ones.
  • 2 Weight-management prescribing of these medicines is mostly done through specialist services and, for some products, privately. Neither route appears in this dataset, so it cannot be used to measure weight-loss drug use in England.
  • 3 Supply of these medicines has been disrupted repeatedly since 2022. Sharp falls in the series often reflect shortages and national prescribing guidance rather than changes in demand.
  • 4 Net ingredient cost is a list price before discounts, and is a particularly poor guide to actual spend for this group.

GLP-1 receptor agonist prescribing in England, by month

Semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide items dispensed in primary care.

GLP-1 receptor agonist prescribing in England, by month0125k250k375k500kFeb 2023Dec 2023May 2024Oct 2024Mar 2025Aug 2025Jan 2026Jun 2026TirzepatideSemaglutideLiraglutide342.4k

Source: NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset OGL v3.0

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The first 20 rows of 2,250.

First rows of GLP-1 receptor agonist prescribing in England, monthly
month area_type area_code area_name bnf_chemical_substance_code bnf_chemical_substance items net_ingredient_cost_gbp
2021-01 England England 0601023AB Liraglutide 35559 3984508.08
2021-01 England England 0601023AW Semaglutide 37103 3451593.56
2021-02 England England 0601023AB Liraglutide 33245 3726701.28
2021-02 England England 0601023AW Semaglutide 36860 3393979.26
2021-03 England England 0601023AW Semaglutide 44715 4109099.25
2021-03 England England 0601023AB Liraglutide 36355 4083275.16
2021-04 England England 0601023AB Liraglutide 35096 3942992.16
2021-04 England England 0601023AW Semaglutide 46390 4239721.37
2021-05 England England 0601023AB Liraglutide 32845 3693465
2021-05 England England 0601023AW Semaglutide 47174 4314097.97
2021-06 England England 0601023AW Semaglutide 53012 4854833.28
2021-06 England England 0601023AB Liraglutide 35014 3950290.8
2021-07 England England 0601023AB Liraglutide 34311 3845480.76
2021-07 England England 0601023AW Semaglutide 56304 5137527.32
2021-08 England England 0601023AB Liraglutide 31782 3584024.64
2021-08 England England 0601023AW Semaglutide 55952 5090348.34
2021-09 England England 0601023AW Semaglutide 60499 5485928.59
2021-09 England England 0601023AB Liraglutide 32558 3694132.08
2021-10 England England 0601023AB Liraglutide 30935 3497775.12
2021-10 England England 0601023AW Semaglutide 60583 5522579.07

Licence and attribution

The underlying figures are NHS open data published by the NHS Business Services Authority under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

The derived dataset on this page — the aggregation, the columns and the rates — is free to reuse, including commercially. We ask that you credit PharmaInsight with a link when you do, which is what lets other people find their way back to the method and the caveats.

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Citing a figure in something durable? Use the pinned 2026-06 snapshot rather than the latest file — it will not change when next month's data lands.

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At a glance

  • Source NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis
  • Coverage January 2021 to June 2026
  • Latest data June 2026
  • Updates Monthly
  • Format CSV, UTF-8
  • Licence OGL v3.0
  • Geography England

Columns

  • month
  • area_type
  • area_code
  • area_name
  • bnf_chemical_substance_code
  • bnf_chemical_substance
  • items
  • net_ingredient_cost_gbp

Where we use this data

Refresh

Monthly, within a few days of the NHSBSA publication. Last published 25 August 2026.

More open data

Browse the full dataset catalogue, the sources we import from, and our methodology.