People should not use anti-obesity drugs to lose unwanted weight and get “beach body ready” for the summer, the NHS’s top doctor has said. Prof Steve Powis, the national medical director of NHS England, spoke out as evidence emerged that growing numbers of people who do not qualify medically to receive the drugs are obtaining them through online pharmacies. Those using weight-loss medications, such as Wegovy and Ozempic, for “quick-fix” aesthetic reasons run the risk of “complications and dangerous consequences”, NHS England’s medical director said.
They should only be prescribed for and taken by people with severe obesity or type 2 diabetes. Recent reports have said people – especially young women – who used them without any medical reason were ending up seriously ill in hospital, including in intensive care. The website Chemist and Druggist reported that a patient described as a “young girl” by an A&E doctor was treated as an emergency after presenting with life-threatening symptoms after taking Wegovy she got from the Boots Online Doctor service.
The patient arrived at A&E “feeling unwell, like she was going to pass out and couldn’t stand up ...
she was really struggling to eat”, said the doctor, who was not named. The patient, who the doctor said was “not at all” overweight, had obtained Wegovy after she had “gone online, filled in the form and then got a month’s worth ..
. she’d spent £150 or something”. Highlighting the risks of.