Top doctor warns against using anti-obesity drugs to get ‘beach body ready’

People should not take anti-obesity drugs to lose unwanted weight and get ‘beach body ready’ for the summer, the NHS’s top doctor has said.

Professor Steve Powis, the national medical director of NHS England, spoke out as evidence emerged that more and more people who are medically ineligible to receive the drugs are obtaining them through online pharmacies.

Those who use weight loss drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic for ‘quick-fix’ aesthetic reasons are at risk of ‘complications and dangerous consequences’, the medical director of NHS England has said. They should only be prescribed and used by people with severe obesity or type 2 diabetes.

Recent reports say that people – especially young women – who used them without any medical reason became seriously ill in hospital, including in intensive care.

The website Chemist and Druggist reported that a patient described by an A&E doctor as a ‘young girl’ was treated as an emergency after showing life-threatening symptoms after taking Wegovy, which she received from the Boots Online Doctor service.

The patient arrived at the emergency room feeling “unwell, like she was going to pass out and not be able to get up… she was really having trouble eating,” said the doctor, who was not named.

The patient, who the doctor said was “not at all” overweight, had obtained Wegovy after she “went online, filled in the form and then got a monthly value… she spent £150 or something like that”.

Highlighting the risks of such behavior, Powis said: “We know these new drugs will be a powerful part of our arsenal in the fight against obesity – but they should not be abused. Buying medications online without a doctor’s supervision can lead to complications and dangerous consequences.

“Drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, should only be used by people who have been prescribed them for obesity or diabetes. I’m concerned about reports of people abusing them. They are not intended as a quick fix for people wanting to become ‘beach body ready’.”

The A&E doctor was “absolutely stunned” when he heard the female patient had accessed the drugs through Boots Online Doctor. She presented with “hunger ketoacidosis, so she just needed urgent treatment.” She also received “very strong guidance about the possible side effects, including death.”

The doctor said that, over the past few months, “every time I worked a shift, I pretty much had a patient who, to a greater or lesser degree, was experiencing a complication from being given these weight-loss medications. ”, often from online pharmacies or private beauty clinics.

“Without a doubt, none of them would quite meet the criteria (to obtain the drugs legitimately).” Another patient ended up in intensive care as a result of taking weight-loss medications.

The Society for Acute Medicine, which represents many hospital doctors, said “urgent regulation” is needed to ensure proper access to weight-loss drugs.

Dr. Vicky Price, a consultant in acute medicine and the association’s president-elect, said: “I and many other colleagues in acute medicine in the UK are very concerned about the increasing number of patients we are seeing with complications from new medicines for weight loss. they bought online.

“Unfortunately, we are seeing serious, life-threatening complications, including inflammation of the pancreas and changes in blood salt levels, in these patients who were unaware of the risks they were taking.”

The association has expressed its concerns to the municipality Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, that monitors the side effects of medications.

A spokesperson for Boots told Pharmacy and Druggist that he was “concerned about this matter (of the woman in A&E) and would like to investigate it fully,” and asked the patient or doctor to get in touch. “Patient safety is our number one priority,” they said.

Boots had “safeguards in place to ensure that the Boots Online Doctor prescribes weight loss medicines where clinically appropriate and in accordance with the product licence”, she added.

These included demanding a photo of the patient and details of the GP, who was then informed.