Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to improve access to information for (a) healthcare professionals and (b) patients on the risks and benefits of weight loss drugs.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) works hard to ensure that patients and healthcare professionals are provided with accurate and up to date information which allows them to make informed decisions about weight loss treatments.

Information about the benefits and efficacy of weight loss medicines such as GLP-1 receptor agonists are made available within the Public Assessment Reports (PARs) for each product on the Products section of the MHRA website. Information on how a medicine works, how to use it, as well as all known side effects, are made publicly available through the product information. These documents are issued at the time of licensing and are updated as any new side effects are identified. This includes the Summary of Product Characteristics, which is intended for healthcare professionals, and the Patient Information Leaflet, which is provided to patients with the medicine. These documents are also published on the Products section of the MHRA website, which is available at the following link: https://products.mhra.gov.uk/.

In addition, members of the public and healthcare professionals can access anonymised data on suspected side effects reported to the Yellow Card scheme via the interactive Drug Analysis Profiles (iDAP) platform. This ensures full transparency and enables anyone to view the types and numbers of suspected adverse reactions reported for a particular medicine.

In addition to this, if new information becomes available about a risk of treatment, we communicate this to healthcare professionals and patients using a Drug Safety Update (DSU), which can be found on GOV.UK and are also flagged to key stakeholders or patient groups. These communicate what the risk is, how it can be minimised, and what healthcare professionals and patients should do if a patient suffers the side- effect. DSUs and other safety communications are also published in a monthly newsletter, the MHRA Safety Roundup, to which readers can subscribe to receive e-mail alerts when a new MHRA Safety Roundup is published. Users can use the search function to find Safety Roundup’s relevant to weight loss medications, which is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/drug-device-alerts?alert_type%5B%5D=mhra-safety-round-up.

Due to the public interest and increasing use of GLP-1 receptor agonists in particular, in order to improve access to key information about these medicines, we have published public guidance online designed to raise awareness among patients about key safety considerations, including how to safely acquire and use GLP-1s, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and when to seek medical advice. This is a live document, which we update as necessary when there is safety information that we would like to highlight or if there is an area of public interest for which we can provide guidance.

The guidance is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/glp-1-medicines-for-weight-loss-and-diabetes-what-you-need-to-know/glp-1-medicines-for-weight-loss-and-diabetes-what-you-need-to-know.

Reach of our safety messages has been strengthened by MHRA’s Head of Enforcement, Andy Morning, who has spoken publicly about how to gain safe access to GLP-1s across a number of media platforms including radio interviews and television appearances, to raise awareness of the risks associated with unlawful supply of weight loss medicines.

The MHRA works closely with other organisations such as the General Pharmaceutical Council, who regulate pharmacies, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Great Britain, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), who produce guidance for the NHS and wider health and care system, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), who regulate advertising, to collaborate on communicating with the public and sharing links to guidance and information within those communications.