Fat Brits will be told to download weight-loss apps so they can get ‘miracle’ slimming jabs like Wegovy quicker

• NICE estimate up to 48,000 people will be able to access the new virtual service
• READ MORE: Novo Nordisk rakes in record £4.5billion due to Ozempic success  

Overweight Britons will be urged to download weight-loss apps so that they can get slimming jabs quicker.

Drugs such as Wegovy, Ozempic and Saxenda are only available through specialist clinics. 

But health chiefs say doctors are ‘unable to keep up with demand’ and patients desperately need a solution, with the medication considered a key weapon in the war on obesity.

As a result, thousands being referred to specialist weight management services will now be given the option to skip lengthy waiting lists for in-person treatment. 

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has approved four apps that will be able to prescribe the jabs. 

Under the proposals published today by NHS watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), it estimates up to 48,000 will be able to access the services, saving 145,000 of clinician time. The four programmes — Liva, Oviva, Roczen and Second Nature — will be downloaded via an app or computer 

After clinical trials showed Wegovy, alongside a diet and exercise regimen, could help a person lose 15 percent of their weight over 68 weeks, it received approval in the US in 2021 specifically for weight loss. In March this year, NHS watchdog NICE also gave the green light to the weekly jab in the UK for weight loss purposes

Liva, Oviva, Roczen and Second Nature, which also encourage patients to eat better and exercise more, are downloaded via an app or computer. 

NICE, the NHS watchdog, estimates up to 48,000 people will be able to access the services, saving 145,000 hours of clinician time. 

Semaglutide and liraglutide — the powerful ingredients behind Wegovy, Ozempic and Saxenda — have ushered in a new era in the war on obesity. 

The treatments spur weight loss by mimicking the actions of a hormone released in the gut after eating, called GLP-1.

As well as telling the pancreas to make more insulin, the GLP-1 hormone feeds back to the brain and makes users feel full.  

Read more:  Pharmaceutical titan Novo Nordisk rakes in record £4.5BILLION due to success of its game-changing weight loss jabs Ozempic and Wegovy

But such drugs are not without side effects. 

Users commonly complain of nausea, constipation and diarrhoea after taking the medication. 

Wegovy was approved as a drug specifically for weight loss in the US in 2021.

It was given the green light in Britain this year for the same reason. 

But it has yet to officially launch in the UK because Novo Nordisk, which makes it, anticipates huge demand and wants to shore up stock before it is distributed. 

Ozempic, the other branded version of semaglutide, is available only to people with type 2 diabetes. 

Experts estimate that as many as seven in 10 people do not have access to a local specialist weight management service in their area because of uneven distribution across the country. 

Responding to today’s proposal, health secretary Steve Barclay said ‘technology is transforming healthcare’. 

He added: ‘The use of apps in weight management services will improve access to support that, alongside life-changing drugs, can help tackle obesity — which costs the NHS billions every year and is the second biggest cause of cancer.

‘The newest obesity medicines have the potential to help patients lose significant amounts of weight and reduce related conditions, but it’s vital they are used alongside diet, physical activity, and wider behavioural support to help stop people regaining weight.’

Mark Chapman, interim director of medical technology and digital evaluation at Nice, said: ‘Traditional face-to-face services treating people living with obesity are unable to keep up with demand.

‘Waiting lists are long, some areas don’t have a service, and patients need a solution.

A UK study found that people who used Wegovy experienced rapid weight loss, dropping 18% of their weight over 68 weeks. They regained two-thirds of that weight, or 12% of their original body weight in the year after dropping the weekly injections

Despite being hailed as one of the most powerful pharmaceutical tools to date, experts have warned it is not a ‘magic pill’ or miracle fix all. Trials have shown that users can rapidly pile pounds back on once they stop taking the drug and it can trigger a variety of nasty side effects. Users commonly complain of nausea, constipation and diarrhoea

‘These four platforms could provide an option to accessing weight management support to those people who live in an area with no specialist weight management services or for those who are on a waiting list and are happy to be treated safely outside a hospital setting.’

Lack of exercise, combined with unhealthy diets, have been blamed for the growing obesity epidemic in the UK. 

Latest NHS data shows 26 per cent of adults in England are obese and a further 38 per cent are overweight but not obese. 

A landmark study published in May also revealed UK’s bulging waistline is stripping billions of pounds from the cash-strapped NHS each year, with twice as much spent on obese patients, as on those of a healthy weight.

Costs per patient rise drastically the more people weigh, as they ‘collect obesity-related conditions’ such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease, according to research involving nearly 2.5million people. 

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