How to dispose of an unopened Wegovy box safely in the UK

[QuaintCoralBiscuit]

So I tried wegovy, didn't like it and cancelled, but unfortunately got a second lot charged through as they had a 30-day cancellation policy. So I've got an unopened box sitting in my fridge - how would I go about disposing it? It's a lot of money to be binning but I really won't use it again.

Because it's unopened, is the regular bin okay? I've never disposed of an unopened needle before.

What’s being disposed off? The pen? Unused needles?

Needles go in a sharps bin.

Unused medication should be taken to a pharmacy to be disposed of

Take it to a pharmacy.

Can I have it?! 😃

Any medication no longer required or expired can be taken to a local pharmacy and they will safety dispose of for you.

You do realise that it’s illegal to sell/give prescription medication in the UK?

Medication bought privately can’t be disposed of at your local pharmacy (which would cost the NHS to dispose of it). Have you contacted the pharmacy you bought it from?

Can I ask why it would cost the NHS, if it's a private pharmacy disposing of it?

It’s also probably the sole purpose of this thread. I wonder how many PMs OP got?

Disposal of medications through pharmacies is about safe public disposal of all patients medications (prescription and non-prescription) regardless of their source.

If I privately buy paracetamol in Tesco and it goes out of date community pharmacies will dispose of it for me.

If the pharmacy itself has obsolete stock of medications it sells privately, it can be disposed of through the NHS waste collection route.

Why would WLIs be any different?

They would need to be mad or very reckless to accept a pen from an unknown source / unknown storage conditions.

That’s exactly the first thought I had!

People are all over internet doing just that.

I was JOKING...

Agree, as I say, mad or reckless.

One of dh's friends started Wegovy at the weekend. He must be BMI 50+ and has many health issues, has been prescribed on NHS Orlistat etc before.

He isn't eligible for NHS prescribing, so he is getting it from a friends wife who (allegedly 🙄) is prescribed it by the NHS but "doesn't want to use it herself" so selling it to him cheap. 🤬 Madness and dh has passed on to him that he is taking a huge risk, people end up seriously ill in hospital for this kind of recklessness, no one has checked if any of his many meds or health conditions are contradicted, and it is more than likely illegally sourced medication than not.

The daft thing is he has been putting off doing injections for a long time because he is terrified of needles, but now he is getting his wife to inject god knows what into him 🙈. I'd report his supplier in a heartbeat if I knew who she was, but I can't get any clues from dh!

This is what I wasn't sure about - because it's not hospital/doctor issued, I wouldnt have thought i could return to my local pharmacy.