Could you be eligible for weight-loss drugs?

SINCE October 2020, some overweight NHS patients with prediabetes have had a daily injection of a drug that curbs appetite.

The medicine, liraglutide, slows the emptying of the stomach, keeping them full for longer, while also increasing insulin production to help clear sugar from the blood.

Patients inject themselves in the stomach, thigh or upper arm at the same time every day.

Studies have shown that it can help overweight people lose up to ten per cent of their body mass in six months.

But patients must meet strict criteria to qualify for the drug. Only those with other conditions that compromise heart health, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol, can get access to it, and their body mass index must be in the obese category of 35 or over. Also, only diabetes specialists can prescribe it, so most patients will have had to have exhausted lifestyle-based interventions first.

If patients haven’t lost at least five per cent of their body weight after three months, they must stop taking the drug, according to guidelines from health watchdog NICE.

Ewan Pearson, professor of diabetic medicine at the University of Dundee, says ‘there is a place for drugs’ in helping people lose weight.

He adds: ‘We shouldn’t dismiss drug treatment. It becomes a very expensive option, but the drug treatment for weight loss now is pretty impressive. Mostly in the context of diabetes, but even just purely in the context of obesity and weight reduction.

‘There are some amazingly effective drugs now causing weight loss. So it may be that drug treatment is right for some people, particularly if they don’t respond to diets, because the point is to just get the weight off in the best way for them.

‘There are some amazing results in people with diabetes using drugs which cause weight loss and switch off appetite. These might be people who’ve struggled with their weight for years. They don’t work for everybody, but we’ve been looking at why in our latest research.’