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'Someone has to step in. People's health is at risk.' Doctors reveal the 'disastrous' hidden side-effect of the Ozempic boom after slimmers buying it privately cause severe shortages
For retired library assistant Pat Guntrip, the blockbuster weight-loss jab Ozempic has been truly life-changing. She'd tried multiple medications to control her type 2 diabetes, without success.
But she's now lost more than two stone (13kg), and her blood sugar levels are within the 'healthy' range — thanks to Ozempic.
'It really has been a wonder drug,' says Pat, 77, who lives in Scunthorpe, north Lincolnshire.
After being first prescribed the drug by her GP five years ago, she now eats 'half the amount I used to because I just don't feel as hungry'.
As a result, it's almost certain that Ozempic has significantly reduced the grandmother-of-four's risk of potentially life-threatening complications, such as a heart attack or stroke — excess weight and diabetes are two of the major risk factors.
For retired library assistant Pat Guntrip, 77, the blockbuster weight-loss jab Ozempic has been truly life-changing
But she fears the improvements to her health may soon be lost due to a shortage of the drug that's left many diabetes patients unable to get Ozempic on the NHS.
What's more, Pat has been warned it could be the end of 2024 before she can access it again.
Instead, her diabetes nurse has been busy trying to source supplies of a similar drug — made with the same active component (semaglutide) — to stop Pat's blood sugar levels from spiralling out of control.
It's something of a gamble: there's no way of knowing if she will respond to those drugs as well as she has to Ozempic — and to make sure she doesn't suffer intolerable side-effects, she has to be started on a low dose, that's then increased over weeks or even months to the full amount, potentially putting her at risk of high blood sugar readings in the meantime.
It's a story that's being repeated in GP surgeries and pharmacies up and down the country as diabetes patients are left struggling to get the medicines they need — a crisis in no small part due to the surge in demand from slimmers.
Ozempic (licensed for use in diabetes treatment) and its sister drug Wegovy (a higher dose, licensed specifically for weight loss) are so popular among those who don't have diabetes but are looking to lose a few pounds, that a surge in private online sales has left the NHS short of stock for patients whose health depends upon them.
Novo Nordisk, the Danish firm which makes Ozempic, told Good Health its factories are running '24 hours a day, seven days a week' to try to cope with the unprecedented demand worldwide. There's also a shortage of the pen-like devices used to inject the drug (patients administer a weekly injection themselves).
Although both are prescription-only medicines, it's thought many people are getting hold of them through online pharmacies — at a cost of around £175 for a month's supply — after completing a simple questionnaire, or even lying about their weight and health so they appear to fulfil the criteria.
Ozempic and its sister drug Wegovy are so popular among those who don't have diabetes but are looking to lose a few pounds, that a surge in private online sales has left the NHS short of stock for patients whose health depends upon them
Ozempic has been approved for use in the UK for diabetes since 2019, as it has been shown to reduce spikes in blood sugar levels in patients who have failed to respond to other drugs.
Wegovy, which was given the green light in 2023 specifically for weight loss, has a higher dose of the active ingredient, semaglutide, a drug that suppresses appetite by mimicking the effects of glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone released by the gut after we eat to tell the brain we are full.
NHS guidance states Wegovy is only meant to be given to obese patients with a body mass index of at least 30, however it's being dished out to people who don't fit the criteria but want to lose weight, on an 'off label' basis. This may lead to a greater risk of side-effects, as the drug has not been rigorously tested for this use.
Last month, one of the most senior doctors in the country reported that normal and even underweight people were arriving at A&E with serious side-effects after buying the drug online.
Although generally very safe, Ozempic can cause an inflamed pancreas, as well as kidney failure and gallbladder problems.
'We know these new drugs will be a powerful part of our arsenal dealing with obesity — but they should not be abused,' Professor Sir Stephen Powis, medical director at NHS England, told an NHS conference in Manchester, adding: 'They are not intended as a quick fix for people trying to get 'beach-body ready'.'
Problems with supply began to emerge around a year ago, alongside reports that the weight-loss jabs were proving hugely popular with celebrities such as TV host Oprah Winfrey.
The clamour meant stocks started to be diverted away from the NHS towards those — obese or not — who could afford to pay for it privately.
'The shortage is purely driven by soaring demand,' says Sid Dajani, a community pharmacist in Andover, Hampshire.
'I can't even go out for a drink or attend any social occasion without someone coming up to me and saying 'Can you get me some?' '
He says GPs and pharmacists are having to move Ozempic patients on to other drugs in the same class — such as Rybelsus (a tablet form of semaglutide, taken daily) or Mounjaro (another weekly jab).
But it's not always a straight swap — to ensure patients can tolerate the new medicine they may have to start on the lowest possible dose and build up.
Worryingly, a recent study in Australia found shortages can have a damaging effect on the health of diabetes patients.
The charity Diabetes UK has called for a ban on off-label prescribing of Ozempic and similar drugs while there is a shortage affecting diabetes patients
Researchers at the University of Melbourne looked at 821 type 2 diabetes patients who were all on Ozempic or similar drugs before and during the shortages. The results, published in June in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, found that their blood sugar levels rose 'significantly' when they were unable to get the jabs they needed — rising by an average 0.3 per cent.
That may seem small, but it's a potentially dangerous amount in those struggling with diabetes, says Dr Natalie Nanayakkara, an endocrinologist who led the study.
She told Good Health: 'The potential consequences of this are an increased risk of complications — including heart disease, kidney problems and even foot ulcers and amputations.'
Until a few months ago, getting hold of her monthly prescription could not have been simpler for Pat. Using the NHS smartphone app, she'd request another month's supply and her local branch of Boots would let her know when it was ready.
'Then one month, Boots said they couldn't supply me with any as there was a shortage,' says Pat. 'I called a few other local pharmacies and managed to get some.
'Boots then rang a couple of weeks later to say they had got a delivery and so I was able to build up a bit of a stockpile.
'But that was in March and my stockpile has now run out. A few weeks ago I phoned 12 pharmacies in a row and not one of them had any Ozempic.'
Pat was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2018 following a routine blood test. 'I was overweight — not hugely so, but probably a couple of stones bigger than I should be.'
She was initially prescribed metformin, the first-line drug treatment, and told to eat more healthily. But the drug caused agonising cramps. There followed a succession of other diabetes medications which either failed to work or left her with intolerable side-effects.
After being put on Ozempic in 2019, Pat lost almost 15 per cent of her body weight and her blood sugar levels are now a healthy 4.2mmol/litre, well within the recommended four to six range.
Pat says: 'It makes me really very cross that this shortage is down to the drug being used by slimmers. Only last week I heard of someone locally who was buying it privately just to lose weight, not for diabetes.'
Barbara Knight, 75, from Waltham Abbey in Essex, told Good Health it's not just Ozempic that's in short supply. For the past two years, she's been on another drug in the same class called Trulicity (it contains the drug dulaglutide) for her type 2 diabetes and had lost more than a stone. It too is in demand from slimmers when they can't get
Ozempic. 'Stocks ran out six months ago and I've not been able to get it anywhere,' she says.
Her GP has switched her to Rybelsus. 'But the tablets are huge. And you're only supposed to take them with a small drop of water. It was much easier with the weekly jab.'
Barbara Bailey, 75, a retired garage worker from Gosport in Hampshire, has been on Trulicity for several years after her blood sugar readings — which had been kept under control with drugs like metformin — suddenly started to climb.
'The weight just fell off me – from 15½st to 12½ in a couple of years — and my blood sugar levels came down as well,' she says.
'But now my local pharmacy has none available. Meanwhile, some other local chemists are advertising the jabs at £149 on a private basis for weight loss.
'It's the same drug. Someone has got to step in and stop this because people's health is at risk.'
The charity Diabetes UK has called for a ban on off-label prescribing of Ozempic and similar drugs while there is a shortage affecting diabetes patients.
Wasim Hanif, a professor of diabetology and endocrinology at University Hospital Birmingham, told Good Health: 'It's a complete disaster for diabetes patients. Many are going everywhere trying to get hold of Ozempic — meanwhile their blood sugar levels are all over the place.'
Diabetes UK urges patients affected by the crisis to contact their GP surgery to see if they can be switched to another drug. And it cautions against buying Ozempic or drugs like it online, warning 'there is a risk that the medicine may not be what it says it is'.
An angry Pat Guntrip sums up the way many diabetes patients now feel. 'I should be able to get the medication I need,' she says.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: 'Our guidance is clear — these drugs are solely licensed to treat type 2 diabetes and should only be used for that purpose, not routinely prescribed for weight loss. We are working with industry to tackle these global supply issues.'
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