If you want a weight-loss drug or a weight-loss injection such as semaglutide, get a prescription at a hospital and follow the doctor's schedule for dose increases and follow-up checks; don't buy from online shops that ship without a prescription, and don't get injections at a beauty salon

Cost

One registration, plus a trip there and back. A few dozen CNY and half a day. If you get weight-loss injections, you also have to go back for follow-up checks at the times the doctor sets. The cost of the drug is extra, and after you stop the injections your weight will mostly come back, so count this money as long-term medication.

What you get

The Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Quality of Drug Distribution and Use (《药品经营和使用质量监督管理办法》) provide that retail drug businesses must follow the system of separate management for prescription and over-the-counter drugs. This system divides drugs into two classes, one that must be bought with a doctor's prescription and one you can buy yourself. A pharmacy must sell prescription drugs only against a prescription, as required, and keep the prescription for no less than five years. When the pharmacist or other pharmacy technical staff are not on duty, a sign must say so, and prescription drugs may not be sold without their review. Prescription drugs may not be displayed on open shelves where customers take them themselves. Article 9 of the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Drug Sales (《药品网络销售监督管理办法》) provides that when prescription drugs are sold to individuals online, the source of the prescription must be genuine and reliable and real-name registration must be used. Article 10 requires risk warnings to be prominently displayed on every drug display page. Before the prescription passes review, the package insert may not be shown and no purchase service may be provided; if the prescription hasn't passed, the page should not even offer a buy button. Article 8 provides that drugs under special state control may not be sold online. These include vaccines, blood products, narcotic drugs, psychotropic drugs, toxic drugs for medical use, radioactive drugs and drug precursor chemicals. The National Health Commission's Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Obesity (2024 edition) (《肥胖症诊疗指南（2024 年版）》) states that five drugs in China are approved by the National Medical Products Administration (国家药监局) for weight loss in adults with primary obesity: orlistat, liraglutide, beinaglutide, semaglutide and tirzepatide. The same guideline counts a BMI of 24 up to but not including 28 as overweight, and 28 or above as obese. Drugs are considered only for people who are overweight and also have related conditions such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure, abnormal blood lipids or fatty liver, or who are already obese. The precondition is that changing lifestyle has not brought weight down; the drug is added on top of that. The guideline requires a full assessment of the condition and contraindications before using a drug, and regular follow-up under a specialist doctor's guidance during use. Semaglutide starts at 0.25 mg a week, with a maintenance dose of 2.4 mg or 1.7 mg. Tirzepatide starts at 2.5 mg a week, up to a maximum of 15 mg. If weight falls by less than 5%, the guideline recommends stopping the drug. For what happens after stopping, look at three trials. The STEP 1 extension study followed 327 people who had taken semaglutide for 68 weeks and lost an average of 17.3%. A year after stopping, 11.6 percentage points came back, leaving a net loss of only 5.6%. The authors concluded that two thirds of the weight previously lost was regained, and most cardiometabolic measures returned to near their starting point. STEP 4 randomly assigned 803 people who had been on the drug for 20 weeks and lost an average of 10.6%. Those who kept taking it lost a further 7.9% over the next 48 weeks, while those switched to placebo regained 6.9%. In SURMOUNT-4, 670 people first took tirzepatide for 36 weeks and lost an average of 20.9%. Those who then continued lost a further 5.5%, while those switched to placebo regained 14.0%. In July 2026, the Yinchuan market regulation bureau (银川市市场监管局) issued a risk warning. It said the trendy “weight-loss shots” and “slimming pens” on the market are mostly repackaged drugs of unknown origin, smuggled drugs or counterfeits. Buying them online or through a purchasing agent and injecting yourself can easily cause severe allergy, acute pancreatitis, organ damage and wound infection. Injection procedures of this kind in cosmetic medicine may be done only at facilities with medical cosmetology qualifications; house calls and private injections at beauty salons are not compliant, see §28.2 (check two things before an injection, thread lift or surgery).

Notes

The legal provisions can be checked word for word, and the figures for regaining weight after stopping also come from randomized trials. But no one has done a quantitative study of how many fewer problems there are when you take a drug by prescription than when you buy it yourself, so it is rated B as “hard to quantify.” The STEP 1 extension study stopped not only the drug but also the diet and exercise guidance, and followed only part of the people in the original trial. The steroids and sex hormones discussed in §28.5, §28.7 follow the same rules. When it has truly reached the point of using drugs to lose weight, the doctor first looks at body mass index, whether you have other illnesses and whether there are conditions that rule out drug use, and then decides whether to prescribe and which one. That judgment cannot be bought.

Evidence grade

B : Supported by research but without a precise number, or based on small or single studies.

Sources

1. State Administration for Market Regulation (2023). Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Drug Distribution and Use Quality (State Administration for Market Regulation Order No. 84) [in Chinese]. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2023/issue_10846/202311/content_6917322.html
2. State Administration for Market Regulation (2022). Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Drug Sales (State Administration for Market Regulation Order No. 58, Articles 8 to 10) [in Chinese]. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2022/content_5717002.htm
3. General Office of the National Health Commission (2024). Notice on issuing the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Obesity (2024 edition) (Annex, Part 3, "10. Drug treatment") [in Chinese]. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202410/content_6981734.htm
4. Wilding JPH et al. (2022). Weight regain and cardiometabolic effects after withdrawal of semaglutide: The STEP 1 trial extension. Diabetes Obes Metab. https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.14725
5. Rubino D et al. (2021). Effect of Continued Weekly Subcutaneous Semaglutide vs Placebo on Weight Loss Maintenance in Adults With Overweight or Obesity: The STEP 4 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.3224
6. Aronne LJ et al. (2024). Continued Treatment With Tirzepatide for Maintenance of Weight Reduction in Adults With Obesity: The SURMOUNT-4 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.24945
7. Yinchuan Municipal Market Regulation Bureau (2026). Risk warning from market regulators on cosmetic medical consumption and "miracle weight-loss drugs" [in Chinese]. https://scjg.yinchuan.gov.cn/zxdt/tzgg/202607/t20260703_5281032.html

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 28, tip 6. This section is about health and medicines. It is general information, not a substitute for a doctor’s diagnosis or prescription. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer