{"id":21472,"date":"2025-02-03T23:38:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T00:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=21472"},"modified":"2025-02-04T01:28:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T01:28:39","slug":"weight-loss-jab-checks-to-be-tightened-by-pharmacies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=21472","title":{"rendered":"Weight-loss jab checks to be tightened by pharmacies"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n

Online pharmacies will now have to employ stricter checks to stop people who are already a healthy weight or have a history of eating disorders buying weight-loss jabs.<\/b><\/p>\n

They will no longer be able to dispense the medication, sold under brand names such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, to patients who have just completed online questionnaires or sent photos.<\/p>\n

In-person or video consultations will be required, to verify patient body mass index (BMI), along with information from GP or medical records.<\/p>\n

And pharmacists failing to follow this new guidance could face enforcement action, including fitness-to-practise investigations or inspections, and conditions such as improvement plans, the General Pharmaceutical Council says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The GPhC is worried about about both unsafe prescribing and potential supply issues, with some online pharmacies reportedly setting targets to process a certain number of prescriptions per hour.<\/p>\n

And prescribers will be told to “actively” share with a patient’s GP information about what they are dispensing.<\/p>\n

GPhC chief executive Duncan Rudkin said: “We know online pharmacy services can provide a very valuable service – but through our inspections and investigations, we’ve seen too many cases of medicines being supplied inappropriately online and putting people at risk.”<\/p>\n

Weight-loss drugs are now classed as “high risk” medicines, requiring extra safeguards, and are offered on the NHS with very strict criteria<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Semaglutide and tirzepatide were first used to help type 2 diabetes patients regulate their blood-sugar levels.<\/p>\n

But in the past three to four years, they started being prescribed as a weight-loss aide, leading to global shortages and counterfeit products<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both are given as weekly injections via pre-filled pens self-administered into the upper arm, thigh or stomach.<\/p>\n

And patients generally start on a low dose, which is gradually increased.<\/p>\n

The drugs mimic the intestinal hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which is released after eating and typically makes people feel fuller.<\/p>\n

Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) also affects the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) hormone, which controls metabolism and helps regulate energy balance.<\/p>\n

The first study into weight-loss drugs<\/a> has found they can significantly improve heart health, with lower levels of heart attacks, stroke, heart failure and high blood pressure. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Online pharmacies will now have to employ stricter checks to stop people who are already a healthy weight or have a history of eating disorders buying weight-loss jabs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21474,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21472"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21475,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21472\/revisions\/21475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}