Warning as Wegovy pill goes on sale in Britain for the first time from today

Warning as Wegovy pill goes on sale in Britain for the first time from today The Wegovy tablet is the first weight loss injection available in UK in pill form - and its release today is expected to come with a significant spike in national demand Weight loss pills go on sale in Britain for the first time from today. The Wegovy daily tablet comes after millions started taking the powerful drugs as weekly injections and is expected to trigger a boom in sales. Pharmacists are warning against buying dangerous counterfeit versions of the appetite-suppressing pills from unlicensed firms online. Last month the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency licensed the Wegovy pill so it can be sold via private prescriptions from today. The NHS is still considering whether to offer it. Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association said: “This is a significant day and pharmacies are bracing themselves for a surge in demand for this new form of weight loss treatment. “This is particularly significant for patients who cannot or do not want to take an injectable medicine.” The lower dose starter pills are expected to cost around £80 to £100 a month with mid-doses costing £140-£190 and higher dose pills costing over £200. The pill form must be taken in the morning on an empty stomach with a small glass of water. Users must wait 30 minutes before eating, drinking or taking other medicines. Unlike the weekly injection, Wegovy tablets do not need to be kept in the fridge. However both the pills and injections come with side effects such as nausea and constipation. They must be prescribed alongside support to make dietary changes as well as increase exercise or users can lose dangerous amounts of muscle and bone density. A poll of pharmacists by the NHS showed 97% are concerned about potentially contaminated, unlicensed weight loss pills being sold on the black market. Mr Picard said: “Pharmacies are concerned about a dangerous and growing black market for weight loss medicines, with tablet form of medication likely to be easier for criminals to counterfeit. “Patients should be wary of sites offering medicines at a cost that is too good to be true or providers who are not offering consultations before prescribing. “If anyone is concerned by a medicine they have bought online, they should speak to their local pharmacist for advice.” Wegovy works by mimicking the actions of a natural hormone called GLP-1 that suppresses appetite and slows digestion to keep you feeling fuller and less hungry. Pills are eventually expected to bring the price of GLP-1 drugs down as they are cheaper to mass produce. This first one to hit the market has been developed by the Danish multinational pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk with more from other firms in the research pipeline. To stop the tablet from being destroyed by the stomach acid, the Wegovy pill uses a special protective coating called SNAC. Once swallowed, this coating shields the tablet from your stomach acid, allowing it to safely pass through the stomach wall and into the bloodstream, where it can begin its work. Trials of higher doses of the Wegovy pill showed obese users lost on average 16.6% of their body weight. Nine out of ten lost at least 5% of their body weight. One in three lost 20% or more. James O’Loan, CEO of online pharmacy Chemist4U said: “Today marks the next step in how we treat obesity in this country. We have seen record demand since the MHRA’s approval of weight loss pills... we have seen ten times more enquiries for consultations related to Wegovy pills than injections in this timeframe." He added: “Weight loss tablets could change far more than how GLP-1 treatments are taken. They could change who feels comfortable accessing them in the first place. For millions of people put off by injections, tablets may finally make clinically proven weight loss treatment feel like a realistic option. “This innovation is set to increase the scale at which we can treat obesity in this country.”