Retiree with diabetes was without essential Ozempic medication due to shortages caused by people trying to lose weight
A 79-year-old man has been forced to go without his diabetes medication after supplies were depleted by people desperate to lose weight.
John Noble, who lives in Livingston, was prescribed semaglutide, branded as Ozempic, two years ago to control his type 2 diabetes.
But his GP has now told him he won’t receive his prescription until 2024 due to a spike in demand for the weekly injection.
Ozempic helps control blood sugar levels in diabetic patients. But it’s also been hailed as a “wonder drug” for weight loss by celebrities like Elon Musk and Jeremy Clarkson, prompting calls to get their hands on it.
As a result, global stocks of semaglutide have been depleted, prompting health chiefs to warn that the lives of diabetic patients are in danger.
Mr Noble has said he will now struggle to manage his diabetes without it and will have to pay a fee of £75 a week if he goes private.
John Noble was on a drug called Ozempic through the NHS to control his type 2 diabetes but has been told he may have to go without until next year due to rising demand
Demand for Ozempic, which contains the same active ingredient, semaglutide, as the weight-loss jab Wegovy has skyrocketed, creating a global shortage
Ozempic is available on the NHS as a treatment for controlling blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes.
In May, semaglutide was also approved for weight loss under the brand name Wegovy.
However, it was not until this week that the NHS and private clinics received a limited number of doses of Wegovy.
The delay has led to an increase in ‘off-label’ prescription of Ozempic – where drugs are dispensed for something other than their intended use – exacerbating global shortages of both drugs.
Mr Noble was told by his GP that the recent popularity of semaglutide means he won’t be able to get it until next year at the earliest.
He said: ‘I’m really worried.
‘It worked fine.
‘You wouldn’t think I have diabetes, I had no complaints at all.’
Mr Noble said he is not sure how to manage his diabetes now.
“I have to look at my diet now, but when I took Ozempic I was able to live my life just as normally,” he said.
‘Obviously there were some things I couldn’t eat as a diabetic, but overall it worked really well. I got along great with it.
“I feel like diabetics are being sidelined so other people can use the drug, even though we are who it was made for.”
Mr Noble acknowledged he could get a supply from a private clinic, but at £75 per dose he refused the cost.
“I’m just annoyed, this has worked so well for me and the bottom line is that if you want to lose weight and can pay for it, you can get it and now there’s a shortage,” he said.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: ‘We know how painful it can be for someone if there is a shortage of a medicine they are taking.
It was announced on Monday that Britons can now access Wegovy through specialist weight management services from the Health Service as part of a ‘controlled and limited launch’
Wegovy and Ozempic, both of which contain semaglutide, work by prompting the body to produce a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1, which is released naturally from the gut after meals.
A British study found that people taking Wegovy experienced rapid weight loss, losing 18 percent of their weight over 68 weeks. They regained two-thirds of that weight, or 12 percent of their original body weight, in the year after they stopped the weekly injections
Experts have warned that Wegovy is not a “magic pill.” Research has shown that users can quickly gain weight back when they stop taking it, and that this can cause side effects, including nausea, constipation, and diarrhea.
‘Health care professionals have been made aware of this supply problem and guidelines have been issued across the UK advising health care professionals on how to treat patients who need these medicines to ensure they continue to have access to their treatment.”
Supply issues with Semaglutide in Britain came to the fore this week when Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical giant behind semaglutide, confirmed that a limited supply of Wegovy had arrived in Britain.
It is unclear how much Wegovy has been supplied to Britain in total, nor what the breakdown of that supply is between the NHS and private clinics.
Under NHS rules, only Brits with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above – or a BMI over 27 and at least one weight-related illness – are eligible.
The drug, which has been shown to help users lose 15 per cent of their body weight in 68 weeks, will be distributed through specialist NHS weight management services as part of a ‘controlled and limited launch’.
While NHS patients get the jab for free, those who want to go private will have to pay between £199 and £299, depending on the strength of the dose.
Ultimately, health bosses hope Wegovy will be distributed to 50,000 NHS patients each year to help them lose weight and tackle the country’s rising obesity bill, which costs the NHS around £6.5 billion a year.
However, doctors have attacked Novo Nordisk for giving Wegovy doses to the private sector, arguing that this restricts access to patients with the most clinical symptoms.
Semaglutide, which is given by injection, works by mimicking the action of the natural hormone GLP-1, which is released in the gut after eating.
GLP-1 not only tells the pancreas to produce more insulin, but also tells the brain that users feel full.
But like all medicines, semaglutide causes side effects. Users have often complained of nausea, constipation and diarrhea.
Wegovy was specifically approved for weight loss in the US in 2021 and it is hoped that the same move in Britain could be a game changer for tackling the British bump.
A lack of exercise, combined with an unhealthy diet, has been blamed for Britain’s growing obesity epidemic.
The latest NHS data shows that 26 per cent of adults in England are obese and a further 38 per cent are overweight but not obese.
However, pharmacists have warned people to avoid selling Wegovy online, fearing they could cause serious harm and “damage important organs.”
Such ads selling “slimming pens” and “skinny jabs” have flooded social media in response to huge demand from Brits.
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