NHS: Anti-obesity Medication
Debate between Lord Patel and Lord Cryer
Lord Cryer (Lab)
I recognise the noble Lord’s distinguished history, and again he touches on a range of issues. I will say just a couple of things. The idea that the drugs are licensed and prescribed in a trivial way is wide of the mark. The process that is overseen by NICE and the MHRA is very rigorous; it is one of the most rigorous processes in the world and it is internationally recognised as such. As for prescribing, of course that is up to the individual physician, GP or hospital service, and I do not believe that, in the vast majority of cases, GPs or other medics would prescribe drugs on the basis of a sort of trivial view of these things. As to the deaths, they are obviously deeply regrettable. I think the noble Lord is touching on a particular recent death that has been in the news, and we all regard that as deeply regrettable, but I do not feel, because it is very recent, that I can comment on it.
Lord Patel (CB)
My Lords, I am on the side of the Minister. All drugs have complications and, not surprisingly, these new drugs are also a source of complications. It is for that reason that a proper monitoring of longer-term prescribing of weight-loss drugs is carried out properly, as is the prescribing itself. When it comes to cost, £11.9 billion every year is the cost of dealing with overweight and obesity, and the current plans that are being consulted on, on the use of weight-reduction drugs, are, in my mind, appropriate and properly controlled. I hope the Minister will agree that properly controlled trials, which it is intended that NICE and NHS England will carry out, are appropriate, especially when monitored by general practitioners and secondary care doctors.
Lord Cryer (Lab)
I am grateful to the noble Lord, who makes a number of good points. He is mainly talking about the MHRA and NICE. The MHRA continuously works with national and international partners and agencies to monitor drugs and make sure that they are prescribed properly. He also touched on the problem of obesity, which I probably should have mentioned before. A majority of people in this country, certainly adults, are overweight, and 30% of adults live with obesity, leading to illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease and bladder problems—a whole range of problems that are perfectly preventable. But trying to persuade people to eat more healthily has not worked in the past, which is why we are going down the path that we are at the moment, with weight-management services and, in certain cases only, the prescription of drugs that are very closely monitored. The process that the drugs go through before they are available to the public is extremely rigorous.