How easy is it to get weight loss drugs? And do they have a dark side?
“Have you ever thought about going on ‘the pen’?” My friend texts me.
I’m in bed, doomscrolling and my social media feed is full of hot takes about Ozempic. Insanely beautiful and glossy people are telling me why I should or shouldn’t take weight loss drugs.
Warning: This article contains details of body image and weight loss that some people might find distressing
Normally in January, everyone is talking about who’s going sober or trying (and failing) the latest viral health challenge.
But this year the hot topic is “who’s going on the pen?” – the weekly injection that is now widely used for weight loss.
There’s no denying that 2024 was a breakthrough year for weight loss drugs. Boris Johnson and Elon Musk are just a few of the celebrities who have announced they have taken it.
Elon Musk says he has taken weight loss drugs
Robbie Williams even made headlines joking he’d lost his “arse” due to Ozempic. “Now it just looks like the place where you put a credit card,” he quipped.
It’s not just celebrities and TikTok creators jumping on the weight loss drug hype. According to Simple Online Pharmacy, more than 500,000 people in the UK are now taking one of the few weight loss drugs, with experts predicting a nationwide fall in obesity rates as a result.
Even friends who didn’t seem like they would meet the medical criteria for the drugs were tempted. And I can’t lie, so was I. What happened to body positivity, I wondered, as I typed ‘How to buy weight loss drugs’ into my phone.
‘Ozempic changed my life’
Marketed as Ozempic, Wegovy or Saxenda, these drugs are administered via a weekly injection that mimics GLP-1 – a hormone that helps regulate hunger and slow digestion. It is only available with a prescription and online pharmacies have certain checks to ensure you meet the criteria.
Depending on your weight, some weight loss drugs can be approved for use alongside exercise and diet to manage weight loss – if your Body Mass Index is 30, or you have a BMI of 27 and above but have pre-existing medical conditions.
For people who medically qualify for this drug, it can be life-changing. Helping with weight loss and reducing the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure. The UK government is even proposing to use weight loss drugs to help tackle obesity and get people back to work.
Meranda said the medication changed her life
Meranda, a law firm administrator, lives in New York. After seeing celebrities using Ozempic, she went to her doctor and asked for the drug. Now, she has lost over eight stone and counting.
She was always an “active fat person”, she explained, but “never considered weight loss before”. “Ozempic totally changed my life,” she said, her smile radiating through the video chat.
But what happens when a drug that can be transformative for the people who need it, ends up in the hands of someone that doesn’t?
‘I started going in and out of fainting’
A simple internet search revealed a raft of online pharmacies advertising the drugs, including Superdrug and Simple Online Pharmacy.
I filled in some personal details and my health history. Then it asked for some pictures to verify my weight. I didn’t meet the BMI criteria, so I increased my weight on the form. Then I uploaded my pictures and pressed submit.
A couple of days later, I was approved by both online pharmacies.
I was genuinely surprised. It seemed pretty quick, considering I only submitted my application a couple of days ago.
If I could get my hands on it that easily, I wondered how many other people were taking it under the radar without the right supervision.
If you take the drug without being prescribed it, the side effects can be brutal.
Dr Vicky Price is seeing the effects of the drugs in A&E
Consultant Vicky Price has seen it first-hand.
A consultant in Liverpool A&E, she has dealt with patients who’ve got the drug from online pharmacies after “not being truthful about their weight because they’re so desperate”.
At first, Dr Price said these cases were rare but then as the year progressed, numbers started rising, until it felt like she was seeing someone in that position almost every shift.
The symptoms they exhibited ranged from vomiting and diarrhoea to feeling lethargic and being dehydrated. Some even appear to have gone into a “starvation process”.
Many were put on IV fluids for days.
What did all of them have in common? Dr Price said none of them were obese.
Laura* knows what it’s like to have an adverse reaction to weight loss drugs.
Getting weight loss drugs online is easier than it should be
After hearing about celebrities and friends using them with success, she decided to try it. At first, she experienced no side effects but then one night at work on a night shift, she started to feel “dizzy, clammy and shaky”.
After trying to eat something she started “vomiting and going in and out of fainting”. She ended up in A&E, on a drip and felt “terrified”.
Changing the rules
I spoke to Superdrug and Simple Online Pharmacy and asked them why I was able to lie about my weight and be approved for Wegovy.
Superdrug said: “The safety and well-being of patients remain our top priority… all medical consultations between a patient and healthcare professionals relies on the integrity and honesty of patients.”
Prescribing protocols are “regularly reviewed and new measures are implemented where required to continue to strengthen the integrity of these services”, the firm added.
Since my prescription was approved Superdrug has introduced “enhanced assessments” and will require new patients to submit three date-verified photographs.
Simple Online Pharmacy said: “We take clinical care very seriously and have numerous checks and protocols in place for prescribing.”
The pharmacy is carrying out a full review into my case and says it “constantly” seeks to enhance its ability to “identify falsified patient information”.
After taking these findings to the pharmacy regulator, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), it confirmed it is following up with the pharmacies involved.
The GPhC publishes guidance “specifically for the safe and effective provision of pharmacy services at a distance which we expect online pharmacies to follow”.
“We are issuing an updated version of our guidance shortly, which will set out additional safeguards around medicines used for weight management,” it added.
Novo Nordisk, the company behind Ozempic, Wegovy and Saxenda, made it clear it does not “promote, suggest or encourage the use of any of our medications outside of their approved labels”.
It can be so overwhelming, for anyone, but particularly young women, growing up in the age of Ozempic and TikTok. But there is so much more to life than what you weigh.
“The number on the scale is not going to change how you feel on the inside,” Meranda said as we wrapped up our chat.
Dr Price echoed her view and added that, if abused, weight-loss drugs can create more problems than they solve.
“There is a lot of social pressure to look a certain way but your health is worth so much more,” she said.
If you’re struggling, someone you love is struggling or just needs some support, the NHS recommends Beat, a charity focused on eating disorders. which has many resources that can help.
UK
Alexander Sloley: Police offer £10k reward for information about teen who disappeared 17 years ago
Police have issued a £10,000 reward for information about a teenager who disappeared from his home nearly 17 years ago.
Alexander Sloley, a 16-year-old accountancy student, had little money, no wallet and no passport when he went missing in Islington, north London, two days before his birthday in August, 2008.
He had been visiting a friend’s home in Edmonton, but had set off home at around midday.
His family and friends have not heard from him since, and, despite repeated appeals and enquiries, police have never been able to find him.
Mr Sloley had no belongings or spare clothes that would indicate he planned to run away, and his phone, bank account, and national insurance number have not been used since he went missing.
He has also never been spotted on CCTV. In 2009, his case was one of the first to be publicised on nearly 13.5 million milk cartons at supermarket chain Iceland.
What Alexander Sloley may look like now. Pic: PA
When he went missing, Mr Sloley was described as a light-skinned black male, 5ft 5ins tall and of medium build, with striking blue eyes.
According to the Camden New Journal, in 2012 a police officer said about Mr Sloley’s disappearance: “It’s like he disappeared off the face of the planet.”
In 2017, Mick Neville, a retired head of the Metropolitan Police’s Central Images Unit, said he believed there was a possible connection between Alex and missing 14-year-old Andrew Gosden.
A billboard of Alexander Sloley in London in 2022. Pic: PA
Mr Gosden was last seen in King’s Cross Station in London after taking a train from Doncaster, where he lived with his parents and sister.
There has been no trace of him since.
However, in 2019, detectives said there was no proof that Mr Sloley had been harmed and there was no evidence that it was linked to any other cases.
Speaking about the Metropolitan Police’s £10,000 reward, detective chief inspector Sarb Kaur, who is leading the investigation into his disappearance, said: “Alex was reported missing to police on 8 August, 2008.
“Since then, there have been extensive enquiries made by police, but sadly Alex has not yet been found.
“We are now offering a reward of up to £10,000 for anyone who has information relating to Alex’s whereabouts.
“This remains an active missing person investigation, subject to regular review by senior officers, with the aim of locating Alex and bringing some comfort to his family. We have recently met with Alex’s mother to outline how we intend to progress our investigation to find him.
“I would ask anyone with information who could help to please get in contact immediately, no matter how insignificant you think this could be.”
UK
Primark boss Paul Marchant resigns and admits ‘error of judgement’ after allegation over his behaviour towards woman
The boss of Primark has resigned after admitting an “error of judgement” in his behaviour towards a woman in a social environment.
Paul Marchant stepped down as chief executive of the high-street fashion brand with immediate effect following an investigation.
Primark‘s parent firm, Associated British Foods (ABF), said he had co-operated with the investigation, and “acknowledged his error of judgment and accepts that his actions fell below the standards expected by ABF”.
“He has made an apology to the individual concerned, the ABF board and also to his Primark colleagues and others connected to the business,” the firm added.
The group’s overall chief executive George Weston said he is “immensely disappointed”.
“At ABF, we believe that high standards of integrity are essential,” he said in a statement.
“Acting responsibly is the only way to build and manage a business over the long term.
“Colleagues and others must be treated with respect and dignity.
“Our culture has to be, and is, bigger than any one individual.”
ABF’s finance director Eoin Tonge will take over as chief executive on an “interim basis” – and his role will be taken up by Joana Edwards, the group’s financial controller.
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File pic: PA
The group’s statement added it “seeks to provide a safe, respectful, and inclusive work environment where all employees and third parties are treated with dignity and respect”.
“Primark is committed to doing business the right way at all levels of the company,” it said.
ABF promised to continue supporting the woman who made the complaint.
Primark results due soon
The group will still publish its interim results for the financial year as planned on 29 April, according to its statement.
In January, ABF reported an uncharacteristic decline in like-for-like sales at Primark across the UK and Ireland.
Sales at the store fell by 6% – with Primark saying it expects “low single-digit” sales growth for 2025 as a result – down from mid single-digit levels in November 2024.
Speaking at the time, Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “If Primark is struggling, you know the UK retail sector is in trouble.”
UK
British explorer Camilla Hempleman-Adams becomes first woman to complete solo traverse of Baffin Island
A British explorer has become the first woman to complete a solo traverse of Canada’s Baffin Island.
Camilla Hempleman-Adams, 32, pulled a sledge 150 miles in temperatures as low as -40C and winds as high as 47mph.
She finished the trek from Qikiqtarjuaq to Pangnirtung in 13 days – a day ahead of schedule.
The Briton completed the challenge a day faster than expected. Pic: PA
The largely uninhabited Arctic island is the fifth largest in the world and is in far northwest Canada – between the mainland and Greenland.
Speaking from the Inuit hamlet of Pangnirtung, Ms Hempleman-Adams said: “I’m feeling pretty exhausted, I have very sore feet, but it’s nice to be back in civilisation, just slowly settling back in.
“It’s been a really tough two weeks, but an incredible two weeks.”
“When you go in by yourself, you just have a mindset to keep going,” she said.
“You adapt, you have the mindset that you can’t give up. There is no giving up in those conditions.”
She admitted she had been looking forward to a hot shower.
Ms Hempleman-Adams was met at the finish line by her father. Pic: PA
Her father, adventurer Sir David Hempleman-Adams, flew out to meet her at the finish line.
He said he’d been “really, really worried” due to the strong winds – which increase the chance of frostbite.
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“Being solo, you’ve got to be really on top of your game the whole time. If you just lose concentration for five minutes, it’s a real problem,” he said.
Sir David added: “It’s a fantastic advertisement for females. I mean, we are big, ugly and strong, but she’s half my weight and did it twice as fast as I did.”
Ms Hempleman-Adams also became the youngest British female to ski to the North Pole when she was just 15.
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