Weight management
The CCA’s CEO Malcom Harrison sat down with C+D and shared his thoughts on everything from funding to weight loss drugs. Here’s what he had to say...
The medicines regulator has chided Lloyds Pharmacy Online Doctor for its advertising around weight loss medicines, while another online pharmacy has landed in hot water for using “content creators” to promote the drugs.
The pharmacy regulator has revealed that it is “not appropriate to solely use a photograph or pre-recorded video” to verify patient information when supplying weight loss drugs – contrary to claims by Chemist4U.
The online pharmacy has warned that new General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) guidance may hinder patient access to “one of the most important medications released in our lifetime”.
GPs have been urged to “not ignore” requests from online pharmacies to disclose patient information when weight loss drugs are being prescribed to avoid becoming “vulnerable to criticism and medico-legal process”, the Medical Defence Union (MDU) has said.
Online pharmacies “cannot” prescribe based on online questionnaires alone and must “independently verify” patients’ weight and height before prescribing weight loss drugs, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has announced.
Independent pharmacy leaders have warned that draft GPhC guidance allows patients to “inappropriately access weight loss injections”, while representatives for the largest pharmacies have said that no additional regulations are needed.
The use of weight loss drugs has been associated with a “reduced risk of substance use” and “neurocognitive disorders” including Alzheimer’s and dementia – along with a handful of other illnesses – a new study has revealed.
Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW) has urged pharmacies to “review” weight loss and diabetes prescriptions, after a patient was caught selling extra tirzepatide “mistakenly prescribed” by their GP.
Social media has become the new “front line” for the sale of counterfeit weight loss drugs with 150 online posts “actively” selling them targeted by the MHRA last year, C+D has learned.