Women taking jabs for weight loss or type 2 diabetes have been urged to ensure they are using effective contraception. As the medications soar in popularity, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a reminder that they must not be taken during pregnancy, while trying to get pregnant or while breastfeeding.
Women are advised to keep taking contraception for up to two months between stopping the medication and trying to get pregnant. And anyone who falls pregnant while using the jabs should stop taking them immediately. The MHRA said these measures were necessary because there is not enough safety data to know whether taking the medicine could cause harm to a developing baby.
Dr Alison Cave, the agency’s chief safety officer said: “Skinny jabs are medicines licensed to treat specific medical conditions and should not be used as aesthetic or cosmetic treatments.
“They are not a quick fix to lose weight and have not been assessed to be safe when used in this way. Our guidance offers patients a ‘one stop shop’ for our up-to-date advice on how to use these powerful medicines safely.
“This guidance should not be used as a substitute to reading the patient information leaflet or having a conversation with a healthcare professional as part of the prescribing process.”
Effective forms of contraception include the pill, the implant, coil or condoms. However, Mounjaro may reduce the effectiveness of oral contraceptives in people who are overweight.
Those taking Mounjaro are therefore advices to use a non-oral form of contraception, particularly for the first four weeks and after any dose increase.
Patients were also reminded to look out for symptoms such as severe pain in the stomach that radiates to the back and doesn’t go away, which could indicate acute pancreatitis.
The MHRA warned that the drugs are not a “quick fix” to lose weight, and their safety and effectiveness in people who do not meet the criteria have not been assessed.
And it urged people not to buy them from unregulated sellers such as beauty salons or via social media.
Jasmine Shah, medication safety officer at the National Pharmacy Association said: “Community pharmacies have been experiencing unprecedented levels of interest for weight loss injections.
“It is therefore important that regulations and guidance keep pace with this demand and that patient safety is put at the heart of everything we do.
“We’re pleased that the GPhC has already taken on board concerns expressed by the NPA about a small number of patients who have been able to access weight loss injections without proper consultation or examination of historical medical records.
“Medicines are not like ordinary goods for sale; they must be handled with great care because they have the power to harm as well as to heal.
“We urge anyone who have concerns about this medication to speak to their pharmacist for advice.”
Professor Ying Cheong, a consultant in reproductive medicine at the University of Southampton, said women needed to be aware of the potential impact of the drugs’ side effects.
She added: “With the growing use of GLP-1 receptor agonists among women of reproductive age — often for non-medical, aesthetic weight loss — the MHRA’s reminder is both timely and necessary.
“Gastrointestinal side effects such as vomiting and diarrhoea can impair oral contraceptive absorption, increasing the risk of unintended pregnancy.
“Although direct evidence linking GLP-1 drugs to contraceptive failure is limited, the widespread uptake of these medications means even that small risks could translate into public health concerns, if confirmed in further studies.”
Proessor Rebecca Reynolds, an expert in metabolic medicine at the University of Edinburgh, said it was “very important to raise awareness about this MHRA advice among women and clinicians around potential issues with GLP-1 drugs affecting the effectiveness of oral contraceptives in those who are overweight”.
She added: “Many people are buying weight loss drugs online and so may not receive this important advice about contraception.
“There is hardly any available data from human studies to be able to advise if these weight loss drugs are safe in pregnancy.
“The data from animal studies suggests the potential for harm with low birthweight and skeletal abnormalities, though more evidence is needed to assess if there are risks of taking these drugs in humans.”