Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward proposals to ban the off-label prescribing of Ozempic.

We have issued guidance to prescribers and pharmacists that medicines which are solely licensed to treat type 2 diabetes, such as Ozempic, should not be routinely prescribed for weight loss. The guidance is clear that these medicines should only be prescribed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, in order to protect supply for diabetes patients.

Decisions about what medicines to prescribe are made by the doctor or healthcare professional responsible for that part of the patient’s care and prescribers are accountable for their prescribing decisions, both professionally and to their service commissioners. All prescribers, whether employed privately or by the National Health Service, are also expected by their professional regulators and the Government to take account of appropriate national guidance. This includes Medicines Supply Notifications and National Patient Safety Alerts.