2023-07-24 12:51:49
The General Pharmaceutical Council, together with other healthcare regulators, has issued a statement about prescribing medicines of which there is a national shortage https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/news/joint-statement-meeting-regulatory-standards-during-periods-global-or-national-shortage
The focus of the statement is the problems that people with Type 2 diabetes are experiencing in accessing GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs). The statement says that GLP-1RAs are being widely prescribed for weight loss purposes and in some cases are prescribed off-label. The statement refers to the need for prescribers “to assess the risks and benefits to the patient of taking or not taking a medicine or treatment, and to consider the wider perspective including the public health issues related to medicines and their use and promoting health.” The implication appears to be that prescribers should consider not prescribing medicines that are in short supply if the condition they are treating is of less clinical significance than other conditions those medicines would be used to treat.