Navigating the New Regulations: What Patients Need to Know About Accessing Mounjaro and Wegovy in 2025
You may have heard about it already – on February 4, 2025, new regulations went into effect for prescribing weight-loss medications like Mounjaro and Wegovy.
Though primarily introduced to enhance patient safety and prevent misuse, these new regulations may affect users of these drugs, especially if currently getting their supply online.
Through this article, we will take a closer look at:
- Why these regulations are being introduced
- What these new regulations say, and what they mean
- How these new regulations may affect you as a customer
Let's dive in!
Why are the new regulations being introduced?
The obesity drug market is projected to experience significant growth over the next decade, driven by the increasing prevalence of obesity and the effectiveness of medications like Mounjaro and Wegovy. These drugs have quickly gained popularity due to their efficacy in weight management.
With this surge in popularity and patients on the treatments, the regulations in place will have been tested in many ways. Any issues that might have existed with the old regulations would have been harder to see before the treatments were more widely used on the market.
You could speculate, from how the new regulations are formed, that the GPhC is concerned that some online clinics and pharmacies may not have followed responsible prescribing practices in the past. This may include cases of not performing a proper consultation or not checking a patient's history diligently enough, leading to patients who should not be taking the medication still getting it prescribed.
Some clinics or pharmacies might not have provided the support customers needed in terms of continuous communication and follow-up during the time they were taking these medications. This would no doubt lead to people staying on the wrong dosage for too long or even taking the medicine unnecessarily.
While this is all more speculative, it is clear that the new regulations for prescribing weight-loss medications like Mounjaro and Wegovy are being introduced primarily to enhance patient safety and prevent misuse.
Some key reasons behind the changes are:
Prevention of Misuse – The regulations aim to prevent individuals who are at a healthy weight or have a history of eating disorders from accessing these medications. By requiring face-to-face or video consultations and independent verification of patient information, the aim is to minimise the risk of inappropriate prescribing.
Safety Concerns – Weight-loss medications are classified as "high-risk," meaning they need additional safeguards to ensure they are prescribed responsibly. The new regulations help manage these risks by enforcing stricter verification processes and ongoing monitoring.
Promoting Responsible Prescribing Practices – The new guidelines emphasise the importance of responsible prescribing practices, ensuring that medications are dispensed safely and effectively. This includes ensuring that prescribers have access to comprehensive patient information and engage in two-way communication with patients.
Addressing Health Inequalities – There is also concern about health inequalities if these medications are primarily accessed through the private sector rather than the NHS. The regulations aim to ensure equitable access while maintaining safety standards.
Overall, these regulations are designed to balance the need for effective weight management treatments with a focus on protecting patient safety and preventing misuse.
What do the new regulations say?
Consultation Process Changes:
Shift from Online Questionnaires as the only contact point – Patients must now participate in face-to-face or video consultations to verify their BMI and provide relevant medical information.
Verification of Health Information:
Independent Verification – Prescribers must independently verify a patient’s weight, height, and BMI before prescribing. This can be done through video consultations, accessing medical records, or contacting the patient’s GP.
Enhanced Communication with GPs:
Active Information Sharing – Prescribers are required to actively share dispensing information with the patient’s GP, ensuring coordinated care and patient safety.
Comprehensive Assessments:
Detailed Medical History – Patients must undergo thorough assessments, including reviewing medical history and ensuring consent for accessing clinical records.
Ongoing Support:
Continuous Support and Monitoring – Pharmacies are encouraged to provide ongoing support and monitoring throughout the treatment period to ensure optimal outcomes and address any concerns promptly.
How will these changes affect you as a customer?
While these new regulations are primarily aimed at enhancing patient safety and preventing misuse, the changes might indirectly affect the experience of obtaining these medications for patients in several ways.
Changes to online questionnaires
If you have bought these medications before, you may notice slight changes to the way questions are formed or what is asked of you. You will also need to allow pharmacists to contact your GP or otherwise access your medical history.
As long as you are not in a group at risk or it would, for some other reason, not be advisable for you to take this medication, you should not find it more problematic to receive your medication. Online pharmacies and clinics such as medino work very hard to make the experience as painless as possible for our patients. Remember that any information asked of you is required to ensure your safety.
Increased demands on consultations
If you have been getting your medicine from a place that had no requirements for you to talk to a professional either during your first dose or your continued treatment, this will change. The stricter rules increase demands both for your first consultation and for your continued support during the treatment.
At medino, we have always prioritised ensuring that our patients were doing well from the first dose, so if you are using us, this will not change. But in some cases, online clinics have not been required to follow up on patients, and in some cases, you might not have gotten the support you needed.
Costs of medicine
The requirement for face-to-face or video consultations and enhanced verification processes could lead to higher administrative costs for pharmacies and clinics. These costs might be passed on to patients, potentially increasing the overall cost of accessing these medications.
And while the regulations themselves do not directly impact the supply chain, increased demand due to growing awareness and stricter prescribing guidelines might lead to supply issues. This could also result in higher costs if pharmaceutical companies adjust pricing in response to demand pressures.
Generally, this is all theoretical and not something the market has seen yet. But it can be something to be aware of for the future.
At medino, we think it's important that our customers are offered a competitive price for Mounjaro or Wegovy, and we are working hard to make sure neither price pressure in the market nor supply makes this a problem. We hope to be able to offer you your medicines at a competitive price.
In summary, while the new regulations are primarily focused on safety and responsible prescribing practices, they might affect the customer experience and may indirectly influence the costs in the future.
In conclusion
Even though tougher regulations may sound bad if this is a medication you are using, it's important to remember that these regulations are made stricter to protect the end customer – you. Patient safety is the focus of these changes. The point is not at all to make these medications less available for the people that need them, but to make sure that the patient gets the help that they need and is not put at any unexpected risk.
With these new regulations, the patient is further protected and is more sure to get the service and support that they are paying for.
For more information on weight-loss medications like Mounjaro and Wegovy, read more in medino's clinic.
