Britain’s biggest pharmacies have introduced strict new online security protocols in a bid to stop Brits lying about their weight to get their hands on slimming pills.
Doctors have long told how they are treating increasing numbers of slim women who are ending up in hospital after wrongly telling online pharmacies they are too heavy to pass fitness checks.
Senior medics have even warned that emergency units were treating victims of the appetite suppressant drugs on a daily basis.
But now pharmacies including Boots, Superdrug and Rowlands have introduced new personalized measures to prevent healthy weight patients from accessing Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy.
Such initiatives include full-body photos from the front and side – with the date visible – half-hour video team calls and mandatory photographic evidence of advances in anti-obesity medicine.
It comes as Britain’s drug regulator also revealed last week that it had removed 150 social media posts selling fake weight loss injections last year alone.
According to NHS guidelines, only patients with a body mass index (BMI) over 35, or a BMI of 30 and at least one weight-related health problem, such as high blood pressure, should be prescribed Wegovy.
British law prohibits the sale of such drugs without a prescription from a medical professional.
Pharmacies including Boots have introduced new personalized measures to prevent healthy weight patients from accessing Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy
A spokesperson for Superdrug told MailOnline that Brits must now ‘provide date-verified photos to prove their BMI’
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In June, however, a reporter for The Times told how she obtained Wegovy from Superdrug and Boots after entering false information online, increasing her actual weight by three stone.
Although the purchases required collection of the injections from the store, neither pharmacies carried out personal checks before handing over the medicine, charging almost £200 for a month’s supply.
In response, Boots announced that the online doctor slimming service would require patients to submit additional dated photos of themselves – full-body photos from the front and side – wearing ‘appropriate clothing’ before approving prescriptions.
Now patients must also provide a photo of themselves and proof of identity for verification and complete an online consultation form, assessed by a Boots Online Doctor doctor.
This consists of a series of tick-box questions about their health, including whether they have ever suffered from any of a list of conditions such as pancreatitis – which Susan McGowan, a 58-year-old nurse from Airdrie in Scotland, developed before she died. last September after taking just two low doses of Mounjaro.
Other questions include if there is a family history of thyroid cancer; semaglutide, the active ingredient in the drugs, is also known to increase the risk of thyroid tumors.
Potential patients are also asked whether they have done so laxative medications used to lose weight – a nod to the significant threat this poses to people with eating disorders.
Patients will only receive a prescription if they provide their GP’s details, according to a Boots spokesperson. The company will then contact the GP.
Superdrug, meanwhile, claimed in June that its protection protocols were ‘more comprehensive than those typically found in online medical services’.
Patients registered with the country’s largest digital pharmacy, Pharmacy2U, must upload two separate images to verify their identity and current weight
The injections, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, are designed to help type 2 diabetes patients control their blood sugar levels or to help obese people lose weight for health purposes.
The company also said it relied on “the integrity and honesty of our patients when they provide personal health information.”
A spokesperson for Superdrug told MailOnline that Britons should now do this too provide ‘date-verified photos to prove their BMI’.
They added: ‘It is also mandatory for patients to provide their GP’s details, which we use to notify their GP of prescribed medicines, so that their GP can inform us of any discrepancies or concerns they have have with the recipe.’
Doctors then contact patients during treatment through a “secure, private platform,” they said.
By comparison, patients registered with the country’s largest digital pharmacy, Pharmacy2U, must upload two separate images to verify their identity and current weight.
The company then instructs further images to be uploaded at every third consultation ‘to monitor progress’.
And Rowlands Pharmacy, which has more than 300 branches in England, Scotland and Wales, now requires all patients to attend a 30-minute video consultation on Teams so a pharmacist can visually assess them.
Follow-up phone calls may also be made to monitor patients’ progress and address any side effects they experience.
An Asda spokesperson said: ‘We still require a medical questionnaire – including photographic submissions – to be completed before an assessment by one of our qualified doctors.’
Health officials have seized more than 600 possibly counterfeit Ozempic pens in Britain since early 2023
‘Around 10 per cent of patients assessed are not supplied with the medicine due to contraindications or unsuitability,’ Stephen Thomas, chief pharmacist at Rowlands Pharmacy, told MailOnline.
However, Asda Pharmacy has not changed its requirements in recent months.
A spokesperson said: ‘We still require a medical questionnaire – including photographic submissions – to be completed before an assessment by one of our qualified doctors can take place.
‘They will decide whether the medication is suitable and draw up a weight loss plan.
‘Our doctors will then conduct a telephone check five to seven days after starting the medication to ensure the patient’s well-being. Patients can contact one of our doctors at any time, free of charge, if they would like to discuss any concerns they may have. aspect of their medication.’
Around 500,000 people in Britain have been prescribed weight-loss jabs, data shows, but only 5 per cent are estimated to be receiving them from the NHS.
The two available on the NHS are known as Wegovy and Saxenda. Ozempic, which contains the same ingredient as Wegovy, is used by the NHS to treat type 2 diabetes.
According to the Obesity Health Alliance, some patients are asked to wait up to five years for specialist weight management support.
Susan McGowan, 58, from Lanarkshire, died of multiple organ failure, septic shock and pancreatitis after taking two low-dose injections of tirzepatide
In parts of the country, some overburdened services have closed their waiting lists completely.
In December, The country’s best doctor warned that the wait will be long NHS Weight loss services are causing patients to buy potentially dangerous fake shots online.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, president of the Royal College of GPs, said she had “serious concerns” about medicines sold by unregulated retailers.
Last year, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced it was removing up to 100 social media posts a day promoting prescription medicines – many from sources that are not legitimate pharmacies.
Earlier this month, Britain’s drug watchdog, the Medicines Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), told the trade publication Chemist + Druggist in 2024, 150 social media posts were removed ‘actively’ selling counterfeit weight loss drugs.
Last month, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) issued a warning to advertisers, companies and influencers to remove online and social media advertisements for prescription-only medicines aimed at the public.
It followed a MailOnline investigation which found that social media influencers were encouraged to illegally promote prescription slimming pills to their thousands of people. followers.