Is Wegovy on the PBS? Who the proposed listing covers, and why it still isn’t listed

Is Wegovy on the PBS right now?

No. On 1 October 2026 the PBS status page for Wegovy said the medicine’s listing “has not yet occurred”.¹

The PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) is the government subsidy for medicines. Getting onto it takes several steps. An expert committee, the PBAC, recommends a medicine first. Then the maker and the government agree a price and the paperwork.³

Wegovy passed the first step. The PBAC recommended it at its 5 November 2025 meeting.¹ Novo Nordisk, the maker, lodged its documents on 27 February 2026. The department marked them “Not Accepted”, and the next steps had “not yet commenced”.¹

A second entry now exists. Novo Nordisk has a “revised proposal” for the same group listed for the November 2026 PBAC meeting.⁴ Until a listing happens, every Wegovy script in Australia is private, at full price.

Who would the recommended listing cover?

Adults with obesity who have already had a heart attack, a stroke or symptomatic peripheral arterial disease, and who meet a BMI cut-off.²

The PBAC’s words were that patients “must have already experienced a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack, stroke, or have symptomatic peripheral arterial disease”.² Peripheral arterial disease means narrowed arteries, usually in the legs, that cause pain when walking.

Two things are not enough on their own. A high BMI without a past heart or artery event is not covered. A past heart attack with a BMI under the cut-off is not covered either.²

This group matches the SELECT trial. It followed 17,604 adults aged 45 or over with heart or artery disease, a BMI of 27 or more and no diabetes, for about 40 months on average.⁵ On semaglutide 2.4 mg, 6.5 in 100 had a heart attack, stroke or heart death, against 8.0 in 100 on a dummy injection. Side effects made 16.6 in 100 stop the medicine, against 8.2 in 100 on the dummy injection.⁵ Novo Nordisk, Wegovy’s maker, paid for the trial.⁵

The revised November 2026 proposal describes the same group. It names a past heart attack or stroke, or symptomatic peripheral arterial disease, with a BMI of 35 or more.⁴ Its summary on the PBS site does not mention the 32.5 cut-off. We don’t know yet whether the final rules will keep it.

Why BMI 35, and why 32.5 for some people?

The PBAC chose BMI 35 to reach people at highest risk at a high cost, and 32.5 for Asian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.²

BMI (body mass index) is weight in kilograms divided by height in metres, squared. The PBAC said it limited access “to best reach patients at high risk and considering the high cost of treatment”.²

The lower 32.5 cut-off follows Australian obesity guidance. The national obesity algorithm says South Asian, South-East Asian, East Asian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people carry more body fat at the same BMI.⁸ For them, its obesity classes start 2.5 points lower: class II at 32.5 instead of 35.⁸

A worked example: for someone 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) tall, BMI 35 is about 101 kg (223 lb) and BMI 32.5 is about 94 kg (207 lb). Our weight and health guide explains what BMI misses. A BMI figure alone never decides a subsidy.

The label is wider than the proposed subsidy. The Australian Wegovy label covers a BMI of 30 or more, or 27 or more with a weight-related condition.⁹ The PBS criteria would be much narrower.

Why isn’t Wegovy listed yet?

The PBS status page shows Novo Nordisk’s February 2026 documents were not accepted, and a revised proposal is now before the PBAC.^1,4

The PBAC’s November 2025 recommendation was “contingent upon a price reduction and risk sharing arrangement”.³

The PBAC had turned Wegovy down twice before for obesity. It questioned which patients should get it and whether it was cost-effective “at the requested price”.³

In January 2026 the Health Minister said the government would work with the company. The aim was to “agree a price that works for them but also works for taxpayers”.¹⁰ The public pages don’t say why the documents were not accepted. We found no official explanation.

Could more people get a subsidy later?

The PBAC named five priority groups for subsidised GLP-1 obesity treatment, but each needs its own company submission first.³

In its wider November 2025 advice, the PBAC listed these groups:³

• people with established cardiovascular disease
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with obesity-related conditions
• people with syndromic obesity (obesity caused by a genetic syndrome)
• people whose obesity is caused by a medicine
• people who need to lose weight to qualify for surgery.

The PBAC asked for “a slow and managed roll-out”. It said a broad subsidy for prevention “would need to be established as a program outside of the PBS”.³ It also warned that treating a large population could bring more “rare, serious adverse events”.²

Wegovy is not the only medicine involved. Mounjaro’s maker has not applied for an obesity listing; read why Mounjaro isn’t on the PBS.³ For the heart trial behind this listing, see Wegovy and heart disease.

Questions people ask

How we researched this

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