Prescriptions for obesity drugs pass a million
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor- Daily Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:55am GMT 04/02/2008
More than one million prescriptions are being written for obesity drugs costing £47m a year while others are denied medication for cancer, it has been revealed.
The NHS bill for obesity drugs could pay for a new children’s hospital every two years.
Meanwhile women with advanced breast cancer are being denied Avastin because it has not yet been evaluated for use on the NHS.
The drug has already been turned down for use in advanced colorectal cancer because it is not cost effective.
Data from the NHS Information Centre shows in 2006, 1.06m prescriptions were written for orlistat, which blocks the absorption of fat from food, and sibutramine which acts as an appetite surpressant.
Prescriptions of the drugs have increased eight fold since 1999.
The money spent on the obesity drugs would pay for more than 2,000 women - two thirds of all eligible women - to have Avastin which can delay breast cancer spreading by an average of five months.
Critics said using drugs to treat obesity is not particularly effective as most patients put the weight back on after they finish their course of medication and so the money would be better spent on prevention measures or other conditions.
Dr David Haslam, clinical director of the National Obesity Forum, said obesity drugs have their place because they can reduce the chances of an overweight person developing health complications like diabetes but he added that the money would be better spent on stomach stapling surgery and other operations which are highly effective.
Last week the Government launched a major new obesity strategy focussing on prevention of the condition by encouraging a healthy diet and more physical exercise, especially in children.
Betty McBride, Head of Policy and Communications at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: “Obesity drugs are clearly part of the solution for a minority of people, however we are in danger of medicalising what is fundamentally a social problem.
“Behaviour change by living a healthier lifestyle is the key to treating and preventing obesity.
