Skinny jab payments....

[SueEllen]

or bribes.


So does it actually work? Or are loads of people risking their health?

https://www.theguardian.com/business...rom-drug-maker


The drug giant behind weight loss injections newly approved for NHS use spent millions in just three years on an “orchestrated PR campaign” to boost its UK influence.
As part of its strategy, Novo Nordisk paid £21.7m to health organisations and professionals who in some cases went on to praise the treatment without always making clear their links to the firm, an Observer investigation has found.

Among the vocal champions of the Wegovy jabs was a clinical expert who gave evidence to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) and others who publicly praised the so-called “skinny jabs” as a “gamechanger”.

The revelations come as the Danish drug giant is investigated by the UK’s pharmaceutical watchdog after it was found to have breached the industry code seven times in relation to a “disguised promotional campaign” of another of its weight loss drugs via online webinars for healthcare professionals.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said it had ordered an audit of the firm’s practices and company culture to establish whether the breaches were a one-off or part of a wider web of compliance failures.

‘Orchestrated PR campaign’: how skinny jab drug firm sought to shape obesity debate

[ladymuck]

It's a similar drug to Saxenda (Liraglutide), also made by Novo Nordisk IIRC.

I've used Saxenda on and off and it does work. You feel full up very quickly and can only eat small amounts. You don't feel hungry but you can sometimes get a little too low on calories and get a bit headachy or light headed. I am technically not fat enough any more to be prescribed it but it helped me shift about 20 kg and it's stayed off. I still get full up quickly and there's certain foods that I now eat much less of because I know that I will quickly get that uncomfortable over full feeling after only a small amount.

I expect that Wegovy will work in a very similar fashion but only need a weekly, rather than daily, jab.

There has long been a problem in the Pharma industry of paid experts. I used to work for a medical marketing company and would process the 'honorarium' payments to doctors who would speak on behalf of drugs giants at conventions and symposia to promote their latest miracle. These doctors would get all manner of perks and holidays and goodness knows what.

[ladymuck]

I would also add that the 'glutide' class of drugs was initially (and still is) a diabetes treatment, with a side effect of weight loss, so if it wasn't safe there'd be a lot more dead diabetics...

[vetran]

A relative of mine was a medical secretary, the secretaries were being bombarded a couple of decades or so with gifts to try to get access to doctors, it dropped substantially 15 years ago when they changed the rules so it used to be worse.

[vetran]

If the drugs work with few side effects then great, gastric bands & balloons look scary.

[SueEllen]

Naughty! Naughty!

https://www.theguardian.com/business...de-association

The company behind the slimming jab Wegovy has been suspended from the UK’s pharmaceutical trade association after a row over sponsored weight-loss courses that promoted its medicines.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) said an extensive investigation by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) found Novo Nordisk to be in breach of the ABPI code of practice.

The ABPI said this included a clause relating to actions “likely to bring discredit on, or reduce confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry”.

As a result the Danish firm has been suspended from the ABPI for two years, with a return to full membership dependent on further audits in late 2023 and 2024 that will need to show significant and sustained improvement to industry standards. Patients will still be able to access available drugs produced by Novo Nordisk, such as Saxenda.


The move is notable not only because Novo Nordisk has received heavy media attention in recent weeks over the approval of Wegovy for use in the NHS, but because the ABPI’s president until last month was Pinder Sahota, the general manager and corporate vice-president of Novo Nordisk UK.

Sahota stepped down from his role at the ABPI in February to prevent the row “becoming a distraction from the vital work of the ABPI”.

According to an interim report from the ABPI’s code of practice appeal board, released before the results of the PMCPA investigation, the row revolves around Novo Nordisk’s sponsorship of a free weight management course, first seen on LinkedIn, which featured another of its weight-loss jabs called Saxenda, also known as liraglutide.

A key concern was that Novo Nordisk did not make clear that it had paid for the courses, or that they were promotional meetings.

It also appeared that part of what Novo Nordisk was offering individual health professionals was a patient group direction (PGD) that would allow them to give the drug without a prescription from a doctor or other prescriber.

“This had a value and it was being given to individuals for their own personal benefit to run private clinics which was bribing health professionals with an inducement to prescribe,” the report states.

The initial ABPI investigation was highly critical of Novo Nordisk, and the body issued the company with a public reprimand in December.

“The appeal board was very concerned that Novo Nordisk did not recognise that this was a large-scale Saxenda promotional campaign which Novo Nordisk knowingly paid for and which was disguised,” the reprimand said.

“Novo Nordisk had apparently failed to recognise that the content of the training it sponsored, which focused on its medicine Saxenda, was clearly promotional; failed to recognise that the arrangements, including attendance of Novo Nordisk representatives at the webinars and their subsequent follow-up with delegates, meant that it could not be considered an arm’s length sponsorship; and failed to recognise that covering the cost of a patient group direction (PGD) was a benefit being offered to individual health professionals and amounted to an inducement.”

Novo Nordisk was also told it would have to undergo an audit, which has now led to the company’s suspension from the ABPI.

[ladymuck]

That's been going on for years! Glad to see nefarious practices finally being reported on.