A PANACEA FOR OUR OBESITY EPIDEMIC?
With over two-thirds of the UK and Ireland’s population being overweight or obese, a looming public health crisis is being largely ignored by national health services. By Terry Maguire.
W
egovy (semaglutide), a highly anticipated medication, is being promoted as a game changer in the
war against obesity. Wegovy is the most famous medication that is not yet available here.
It has already been licensed in the UK, demonstrating it is accepted as safe and effective. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has approved its prescription for patients in Tier 3 and Tier 4 weight management services, benefiting approximately 35,000 individuals. However, Northern Ireland lacks these services, necessitating a "managed entry" process upon the medicine's arrival in late 2023. In June, the UK government recently announced a pilot program to treat an additional 40,000 patients with Wegovy through GPs, focusing solely on England due to healthcare devolution. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak eagerly awaits the drug's real-world impact.
Do not prescribe The SPPG has written to all healthcare professionals stating that Wegovy will not be available on prescription at present. It has requested that private medical providers comply with this Health Service restriction. This is a really interesting request given that private supply of another GLP-1 –Saxenda- is already prevalent in nail-bars, hair salons and pharmacies and is expected to increase massively when UK supplies of Wegovy become available.
In May medicines inspectors raided a number of retail premises and seized numerous “skinny-jab pens”. Some of the accused are claiming ignorance of the Medicines Act 1968 and its relevant amendments but this defence is unlikely to hold up. Pharmacies, both on-line and physical, serve as the primary source for the legal private supply of Saxenda and are keenly awaiting Wegovy, as a once weekly injection is generally more preferable than a daily injection.
The new wonder drug Wegovy is certainly effective. It gives the user a constant feeling of satiety therefore calorie intake is massively reduced and weight is lost. The STEP (Semaglutide Treatment Effect in People with Obesity) trails, a series of Phase 3 Clinical trials in different settings, have produced impressive results. The STEP-1 trail, published in
44
scottishpharmacist.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
