Why opening up prescriptions for anti-obesity drugs to all doctors is worrying

Starting this Monday, all doctors will be able to prescribe and refill three anti-obesity medications: Wegovy , Mounjaro, and Saxenda. Previously, only doctors specializing in endocrinology, diabetology, and nutrition were authorized to do so. These medications secrete a hormone that reduces food intake. They can therefore be very effective in stabilizing the weight of sick people, but this can also have negative side effects.

This is a major step forward for the nearly 10 million people who suffer from obesity in France. But patients, associations, and healthcare professionals emphasize the need for extensive monitoring.

This opening of the prescription marks the beginning of a new era in the therapeutic field for Anne-Sophie Joly, president of the National Collective of Obese Associations.

“It’s a revolution for patients as they are monitored by healthcare professionals,” she says.

Caroline has been with a specialist doctor for three years since the start of her Wegovy treatment. “It has simply changed my life. It's not just a matter of taking an injection and everything is sorted. There are still a lot of side effects, so you need to be able to have the support of a qualified person. Simply going to your doctor, who doesn't know the molecule, who doesn't know the disease, I find it hard to believe that it could work,” she says.

A pitfall highlighted by Antoine Epin, a nutritionist. According to him, the introduction of these prescriptions is hasty.

“These are treatments that must be delivered on a case-by-case basis. Each individual's response to the treatment will be complex. This is not a cosmetic treatment. Perhaps we could have trained new practitioners before opening the prescription rights,” he believes.

He emphasizes that in order to work, these drugs must be part of a comprehensive assessment of the disease and be part of a multidisciplinary treatment.