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Patients with eating disorders have had ready access to weight loss injections from online pharmacies, a TV investigation has warned. 

ITV News said 78 per cent of the 14 eating disorder clinics it spoke to have treated patients with anorexia and bulimia who accessed the weight loss drugs online, with one clinic in Oxfordshire saying 60 per cent of recent patients have used these products.  

One eating disorder therapist told the programme she had treated teenagers as young as 16 who had taken their parents’ medication out of the fridge.

And one young anorexia sufferer said that despite having an unhealthily low weight she was able to buy the medicines from a “well-known, respectable” online pharmacy for a year by entering false data into patient questionnaire forms, without her doctor’s details being checked.

General chief pharmacy officer Roz Gittins said: “We are very concerned to hear the report from ITV News that people with eating disorders have been able to obtain weight management medicines from online pharmacies.

“We’ve asked ITV News to share their findings with us, so we can look into these concerns and take any necessary action to protect patient safety.”

The GPhC has in the past year taken a number of steps to clamp down on pharmacies inappropriately selling weight loss products, including investigating pharmacies when suspicions are raised, banning the sale of these drugs based solely on online questionnaires and teaming up with the Advertising Standards Authority to tackle unethical advertising practices.  

Earlier this year, the regulator published updated guidance on the supply of weight management medicines that states that prescribers must provide a video consultation to “independently check” the information provided by a member of the public making a request for these products.

But the ITV News investigation suggests that some patients with eating disorders may have still been able to access these drugs online, with eating disorder clinic CEO Kerrie Jones telling the programme she had recently treated a “critically underweight” woman who was using a once-weekly weight loss injection at the highest dose.  

“We’re not doing enough and we’re not doing it quickly enough,” said Ms Jones, adding that she had been able to buy weight loss drugs herself after entering false information about her weight.  

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