A health minister has acknowledged that restricted access to weight loss drugs on the NHS may be driving individuals to seek unregulated alternatives, as officials face urgent calls to investigate deaths linked to black market obesity jabs.
Health officials were directly challenged by MPs on the Health and Social Committee regarding measures to curb illicit sales of anti-obesity treatments.
A stark warning was issued to NHS and Department of Health officials: "People have already died as a result of this, and there is a chance that this could get worse."
Conservative MP Gregory Stafford questioned whether current NHS access constraints were creating a patient safety risk, citing evidence that barriers were pushing patients to "unregulated and potentially unsafe sources."
Public health minister Sharon Hodgson conceded: "I recognise that it will be a driver to people seeking those drugs elsewhere, and obviously the strong advice would be that they use registered pharmacies – whether community pharmacy or online. But obviously the wider point you’re making is not lost on us, and again it comes down to the cost pressures."
Professor Aidan Fowler, national director of patient safety for NHS England, informed MPs that discussions with the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) frequently address risks around medicine safety, including black market issues, drawing parallels with cosmetic surgery.
However, committee chairwoman Layla Moran delivered a harrowing account, stating: "I’ve met with families whose loved ones have tragically passed away because they did access on the black market, they then got sepsis and died, and the coroner report is still ongoing.
“But the concern is it was the injection itself and its administration that caused the death, they don’t feel that the MHRA are on top of it, and I’m not sure that they will have heard today’s evidence and felt that you guys are either, and I really hope, minister, that when you go away and look at this that you bear in mind the fact people have already died as a result of this, and there is a chance that this could get worse."
Ms Hodgson stressed the need for the nation to go "further and faster" in rolling out obesity drugs, acknowledging that current treatment numbers "doesn’t sound very good."
She affirmed: "We’ve got to do it at pace”, adding that a new single patient record would assist in identifying eligible individuals.
In a separate revelation, Ms Hodgson shared a personal experience, recounting how a GP once called her "fat" as a "shock tactic" during a blood pressure consultation.
She described leaving "crestfallen" after the encounter, highlighting the stigma faced by those who are overweight or obese.
