Calls to make weight loss products easier to acess

There have been calls to make weight loss products easier to access following a recent dramatic increase in the seizure of illegal products from just over 1,500 in 2024 to almost 50,000 last year.

Currently weight loss injections are available free to type two diabetics, but patients managing obesity have more limited access.

Adele McCallister has this report.

Looking to get back in your type two diabetes zone, once weekly ozampic can help.

Ozampic, the drug now credited with helping millions of Americans manage their diabetes and obesity since it's launched just a few short years ago.

Hi everybody, thank you for joining me on the Oprah podcast.

Hi profile individuals like Oprah Winfrey testify to how it's changed their lives.

Its ingredient helps lower blood sugar and reduce appetite.

My life has just opened up in ways that I could never have imagined, okay.

The awareness of these products known as GLP ones, the volume being ordered illegally online is spiraling.

Here's more in Dalton, head of revenue southeast frontier management branch.

In 2025, there was a 180% roughly increase on the number of individual consignments that we'd seen imported since 20 to over 2024.

A significant proportion of these were the GLP one products, which for personal use and other body image products.

Access to these GLP ones are by prescription only and GPs are seen a constant rise in demand.

This is Dr. Yvonne Williams, Medical Director of Shannon Medical Center in Claire.

We're seeing a huge rise in people being aware of the treatments that are now available for obesity and they're very effective so the demand for them is rocketing.

And it's very busy with people as well seeking to get help for a condition that was really difficult to treat until recent years.

So it's not surprising that when people can't access the treatment through the HSC, free of charge that they are looking to get it elsewhere.

And sometimes that is through online clinics, both in Ireland and abroad, and I suppose for a percentage of people that may also lead them to looking for it on websites that aren't monitored or are reputable.

So I have in my hand here a sample of one of the boxes of falsified GLP products.

This is Jennifer McCartan, a compliance manager with the Health Products Regulatory Authority which tests any seized products.

They're also on social media trying to raise awareness of the dangers of buying these treatments without medical supervision.

But our enforcement teams more recently have started to find GLP one patches and GLP one drops coming through in the detentions.

So it's really important for consumers to note that there are no authorized GLP one patches anywhere in the world.

GLP one is not proven to work trans-dermally, nor are there any authorized GLP one drops.

So these are simply products that have been invented in order to part the consumer from their money.

On a podcast closer to home, the dose with Paddy and Belinda, thousands of Irish people have been following and sharing their weight loss journeys with GLP ones.

I asked hosts Belinda Hogan and Paddy Cunningham their reaction to the volume of people trying to buy these products online.

I suppose I think what this really highlights Idel is that no one should feel so stuck or so like unsupported that they're pushed towards unsafe options.

Because you know the women that I speak to every single day and looking for shortcuts,

they're women who have spent years, often decades, caught in the same cycle.

And I think that's what's really pushing people towards that is the frustration of not being able to kind of access it properly, the way that they should, you know.

Co-host Paddy Cunningham says the price is also driving people to risk buying it online.

It's unfortunate that what is literally a life-saving medication for so many people for what is the iconic disease is out of reach purely because of price.

You know, we've seen recently whereby it's in deemed that it's not something that is currently viable under reimbursement schemes and that's unfortunate.

So for somebody to be expected to pay up towards 600 euro a month before a treatment out of their own pocket that is literally in turn saving, you know, the HSC,

the HSC considerable amount of money. I think it's a very steep ask and that can be one of the things.

The other thing that I think is driving and I use a very popularity and I use that kind of worryingly though is social media and the lack of regulation and the lack of moderation that we're seeing on social media.

Currently, those with diabetes can access these treatments under the long-term illness scheme, but those with obesity have more limited options as Claire GP, Dr. Yvonne Williams explains.

So we have various weight loss injections that are available so the most common one that people might be familiar with would be ozempic, which is licensed and funded by the HSC for people with diabetes.

They also fund a daily injection called Saxender for weight loss through the HSC, but there is quite strict criteria for that and it's quite difficult to get approval or to get funding for that through the HSC.

Other drugs like Mongero and Wagovi are really effective and, you know, people suppose when they know that there's a really effective treatment out there and they've tried diets and exercise and everything else.

They are desperate and they are looking to get the injections elsewhere if they can't get them funded.

The default ED and Ross Common GP, Dr. Martin Daley says those struggling with obesity should have easier access to these treatments.

So people I know are going across to the six counties and obtaining them on prescription, but there are also people buying them on the black market.

I think we've got to move and evolve with the demand for these medications. I don't think there should be open access, certainly not open access paid by the state, but I certainly think it's too restrictive at the moment.

And I think we've got to review the protocol around prescription for people.

Adele McCallister reporting there in a statement the HSC said applications to include the weight loss drugs, Mongero and Wagovi under reimbursement schemes are currently under consideration.