Pregnant women should not take weight loss drugs, the UK’s medicines regulator warned amid concerns that people are using the so-called “skinny jabs” in unsafe ways.
The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) also said women should not take weight loss drugs if they are breastfeeding or trying to get pregnant, because there isn’t enough safety data to know whether the medicine could affect their baby.
“Anyone who gets pregnant while using them should speak to their healthcare professional and stop the medicine as soon as possible,” the agency said.
Meanwhile, all women taking the jabs should ensure they are using a form of contraception that works, the MHRA said.
One of the drugs, Mounjaro, may make birth control pills less effective, so the agency says women taking the jab should also use a non-oral form of contraception, like an implant or intrauterine device (IUD).
“Obesity reduces fertility in women. So, women with obesity taking GLP-1 drugs are more likely to get pregnant than before they lost weight,” Dr Channa Jayasena, a reproductive endocrinology researcher at Imperial College London, said in a statement.
“Women are advised to do all they can to prevent pregnancy while taking [these] drugs,” Jayasena added.
Anti-obesity medicines as a ‘quick fix’ to lose weight
In the UK, women already receive these warnings when they get their prescriptions for the blockbuster jabs, which include Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda, and Victoza as well as Mounjaro.
The drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, work by mimicking hormones that help regulate appetites and make people feel full for longer. They have been approved to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.
But the MHRA issued the reminder Thursday due to concerns that the drugs’ growing popularity means women are buying them illegally online or at beauty salons, without seeing a doctor.
“Skinny jabs are medicines licensed to treat specific medical conditions and should not be used as aesthetic or cosmetic treatments,” Dr Alison Cave, MHRA’s chief safety officer, said in a statement.
“They are not a quick fix to lose weight and have not been assessed to be safe when used in this way,” she added.
