BC PharmaCare decided on 18 December 2025 not to cover Wegovy (semaglutide), so people in British Columbia pay the pharmacy's price or use a private plan. We haven't checked BC pharmacy prices yet, so this page explains the decision and what shapes the price.
BC PharmaCare
Not coveredNon-benefit: PharmaCare decided not to cover Wegovy after national price negotiations ended without agreement.Canada Life employer plans
Partial coveragePrior authorization form; Wegovy not covered under all benefit plans; asks for 3-6 months of unsuccessful diet/exercise and a BMI threshold.We earn a commission when you sign up with some providers through our links. It never changes our prices or how we rank providers. How we rank
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BC PharmaCare is the province’s public drug plan. Its decision page for Wegovy is unusually specific. The Ministry of Health reviewed Wegovy as a resubmission for adults with a BMI of 27 or higher and established cardiovascular disease (a prior heart attack, stroke or peripheral artery disease). The national reviewer, now called Canada’s Drug Agency, had recommended reimbursement with conditions, and only if the price came down. The Drug Benefit Council, BC’s advisory group, met on 11 August 2025.
On 18 December 2025 the Ministry’s decision was “non-benefit”. The page records that the manufacturer told the national negotiating alliance on 1 December 2025 that it would no longer seek public coverage in Canada, and the talks ended without agreement.
Special Authority is BC’s special authorization process where a prescriber asks PharmaCare to cover a drug that has conditions attached. It works for drugs PharmaCare has decided to list. Because Wegovy was decided as a non-benefit, we found no Special Authority form or criteria for it, and we don’t expect a request to succeed. Ask your prescriber to check the current PharmaCare drug list before applying.
Fair PharmaCare is the income-based plan that covers part of your eligible drug costs once you pass a deductible (the amount you pay first). The plan’s page defines eligible costs as the costs of drugs and supplies PharmaCare covers. Wegovy is not covered, so we expect money spent on it won’t count toward the deductible or family maximum. We haven’t confirmed that with PharmaCare.
PharmaCare covers a set amount of the dispensing fee on claims it pays, and its page tells people to compare pharmacy services and fees. For a non-benefit like Wegovy, no PharmaCare payment is involved, so we expect the pharmacy’s markup and dispensing fee to be its own. Ask each pharmacy, because a quote from one location isn’t a provincial price.
Wegovy’s dose rises every 4 weeks from 0.25 mg to 2.4 mg in the monograph schedule, and each step is a different pen. Ask each pharmacy for the total on the pen you need now. What makes up the Wegovy price has the full breakdown.
From 1 June 2023, BC pharmacists can prescribe contraceptives and medications for 21 minor ailments, such as allergies, shingles and cold sores. The provincial announcement doesn’t mention GLP-1 medications. Separately, the College of Pharmacists of BC’s Practice Policy 58 lets pharmacists adapt an existing prescription: change its dose, formulation or regimen, renew it for continuity of care, or make a therapeutic substitution. Adapting is at each pharmacist’s discretion.
We haven’t confirmed whether a pharmacist can start Wegovy for weight management, so expect a new prescription to come from a physician or nurse practitioner. Once you have one, ask your pharmacist whether adapting or renewing applies. We haven’t confirmed how pharmacists apply this to Wegovy.
With PharmaCare out, extended health benefits from an employer are the main insurance route. Many plans use special authorization, where your prescriber sends the insurer a form first, and plans differ on whether weight-management drugs are included at all. Check your booklet or call the insurer. For the public plan position across provinces, see coverage.
The manufacturer’s Savings Card is separate from insurance. Its site says the estimate varies by pharmacy markup and doesn’t include dispensing fees.
Telehealth providers that serve British Columbia charge for the assessment, not the medication. Compare them on the providers page. We’ll add dated BC pharmacy prices here once we’ve checked them.
No. PharmaCare's drug coverage decision, dated 18 December 2025, classifies Wegovy as a non-benefit. The decision page also notes that the manufacturer declined to negotiate with the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance.
We found no Special Authority criteria published for Wegovy. A Special Authority request is a prescriber's application for a drug that has coverage conditions, and Wegovy is listed as a non-benefit, so there is no published route we can point to.
Almost certainly not. Fair PharmaCare counts eligible costs, which its page defines as the costs of drugs PharmaCare covers, and Wegovy is not covered.
The decision cites the national review's conditional recommendation, which was limited to adults with a BMI of 27 or higher and established cardiovascular disease and required a price reduction. It also says the manufacturer told the national negotiating alliance it would no longer seek public coverage.
BC says the Ministry of Health will review manufacturer submissions for generic semaglutide for all approved indications once they are on the market. None is listed yet in our generics data.