POS-2026-3005: Monitoring Prescribing Of Obesity Pharmacotherapy In Primary Care In England

There are an increasing number of medicines to treat obesity on the market. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s) are one type of medicine for obesity that is also used to treat type 2 diabetes. GLP-1s have been available on the NHS for diabetes for a decade. For obesity, GLP-1s were originally only available on the NHS through specialist centres, but in June 2025 it became available in primary care. Initially, only high-risk patients are eligible, but more people with obesity will become eligible over time.
This is a rapidly evolving policy area, but there is a lack of information about how GLP-1s are actually being prescribed and used. Given the high prevalence of both diabetes and obesity, there is lots of demand for these medicines. However, not everyone who might benefit can access them, which could worsen health inequalities. There is also a lot we don’t know about their real-world safety and effectiveness, and what their widespread use means for costs to the NHS. Using OpenSAFELY, we will study who is eligible to be prescribed GLP-1s, who is actually getting them and for what reasons, how this has changed over time, and what the benefits and risks are of taking them. We will do this for both type 2 diabetes and obesity, as there is a lot of overlap between the two conditions.