There is “no evidence” that GLP-1 patches actually work, the HSE’s National Clinical Lead for Obesity has said.
Between January and June, the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) seized almost 400,000 units of illegal or falsified medicine.
Among that figure were around 10,000 unauthorised GLP-1 patches, which claim to help people to lose weight.
On Newstalk Breakfast Professor Donal O’Shea blamed the demand for such products on society’s “cultural desire to be thin”.
“Many of the people who are accessing these black market products would not qualify for them on medical grounds [for] which they’ve been studied,” he said.
“The GLP patch does not exist in clinical trials; it only exists in the black market influencer world where it’s promoted as a thing.
“So, the hormones that we use and deliver as patches are classically HRT.
“But there’s really very few [other patches]; insulin has never been given as a patch - it was looked at.
“So, there’s no evidence for the likes of Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro being delivered via a patch.”
Semaglutide drugs Wegovy and Ozempic. Picture by: AlamyWhile there are anecdotal reports on social media of the patches helping people lose significant amounts of weight, Professor O’Shea said he does not believe this is true.
“I can tell you, if there were great effects through patch delivery of GLP, then the pharmaceutical industry proper would be all over it,” he said.
“The GLP patch is not prescribed; it’s marketed by non-pharma companies promoted through influencers online… where the whole body image and cultural desire for a six pack and to be thin has gone beyond fever pitch.”
Future of weight loss drugs
Professor O’Shea continued that weight loss remains an “incredibly complex” area of medicine.
“The arrival of the likes of Ozempic and Wegovy rather than destigmatising obesity have seemed to have fuelled this cultural obsession with body image, body size, body type and then you have this market of completely unregulated, untested products without an evidence base,” he said.
Professor O’Shea added that the Department of Health is currently drawing up a new policy that will involve “widening” access to weight loss drugs.
Main image: A woman looking at her stomach. Picture by: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy.com.
