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“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
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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
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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
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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
Image:
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.

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Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

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Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.

The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.

A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.

The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.

Pic: LNP
Image:
Pic: LNP

They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.

A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.

Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.

More on London Marathon 2025

There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.

More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.

Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.

Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.

Read more:
Sky’s Beth Rigby running marathon in honour of ‘dearest friend’
Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform

Pic: LNP
Image:
Pic: LNP

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.

“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”

The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.

The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.

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Kemi Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform after next week’s council elections

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Kemi Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform after next week's council elections

Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out forming coalitions at a local level with Reform after the council elections next week.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the Conservative leader did however categorically rule out a pact with Nigel Farage’s party on a national level.

“I am not going into any coalition with Nigel Farage… read my lips,” she said.

However, she did not deny that deals could be struck with Reform at a local level, arguing that some councils might be under no overall control and in that case, “you have to do what is right for your local area”.

“You look at the moment, we are in coalition with Liberal Democrats, with independents,” she said. “We’ve been in coalition with Labour before at local government level.

“They [councillors] have to look at who the people are that they’re going into coalition with and see how they can deliver for local people.”

She added: “What I don’t want to hear is talks of stitch-ups or people planning things before the results are out. They have to do what is right for their communities.”

More on Electoral Dysfunction

A total of 23 councils are up for grabs when voters go to the polls on Thursday 1 May – mostly in places that were once deemed Tory shires, until last year’s general election.

It includes 14 county councils, all but two of which have been Conservative-controlled, as well as eight unitary authorities, all but one of which are Tory.

Ms Badenoch has set expectations low for the Tories, suggesting they could lose all the councils they are contesting.

The last time this set of councils were up for election was in 2021, when the Conservative Party was led by Boris Johnson who was riding high from the COVID vaccine bounce.

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UK

Counter-terrorism police investigating after two women injured in Leeds

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Counter-terrorism police investigating after two women injured in Leeds

Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.

Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.

Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.

The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.

Officers guard one of the crime scenes in Leeds
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Officers guard one of the crime scenes

Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
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Officers inside the cordon in Leeds

Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.

“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.

“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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