Pharmacy2U has partnered with Reset Health to deliver “next-generation digital” support to patients using weight loss medications, it announced this week.
The UK’s largest online pharmacy said the collaboration will launch before April and offer patients glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medicines while “providing the clinical wraparound care essential for sustained results”.
It added that Reset Health are “experts in the personalised management of chronic disease” and that the deal “provides the foundation for a long-term transformational collaboration in the UK obesity market”.
Wraparound support
Pharmacy2U said “growing scientific evidence” supports the idea that people living with obesity need “further wraparound support” alongside weight loss drugs “for optimal health outcomes”.
It cited a study by Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences which showed that patients “coming off GLP-1 medications regain weight more rapidly than after dietary interventions alone, in many cases exceeding their original weight”.
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“This highlights the need to ensure eligible patients are appropriately retained on GLP-1 medications longer term, with clinical oversight, to ensure they receive wider health benefits and prevent weight fluctuations,” it added.
And it said drug licensing also demands that GLP-1s for obesity “must be delivered alongside dietary, psychological and behavioural support, whilst increasing physical activity, for the best long-term outcomes”.
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Pharmacy2U said the partnership will see patients able to order weight loss medication through its digital platform while being “directed to access to expert clinical support at the same time”.
They will “receive support on their weight-loss journey” from Reset Health’s clinical team, including “monthly consultations, evidence-based coaching and nutrition support, with access to health coaches, dietitians and ongoing psychological support,” it added.
Data “will be continuously gathered” over the course of the collaboration, the company said, and the evaluations “will add to a growing body of clinical evidence demonstrating that taking a holistic approach to weight management delivers long-lasting outcomes for patients”.
“A pivotal moment”
Pharmacy2U chief executive Kevin Heath said we are “at a pivotal moment for the obesity management industry, marked by growing interest in GLP-1 treatments that pair medication with longer-term behavioural and clinical support”.
“Together with Reset Health, we’re excited to be pioneering a new digitally-driven approach to medicated weight loss that aims to put control back in the hands of patients,” he added.
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Reset Health CEO Oliver McGuinness said GLP-1s “can transform the health of the nation”, but the company was founded because “treating chronic conditions requires more than medication alone”.
“It needs continuous clinical support that is tailored to the needs of patients,” he added.
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He said obesity medicine sales “are rapidly changing with the advent of new policies in how treatments are getting to patients under the US administration”.
“This model has the potential to streamline the delivery of medication and if successful, with cost and efficiency pressures on healthcare systems around the world, this could be replicated in other international medication dispensation markets.”
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It comes after Superdrug revealed it is expanding its “well-established face-to-face weight loss service” to over 160 pharmacies nationwide.
Meanwhile, Boots has launched an in-store “weight loss treatment service” which will be piloted across 17 stores in the UK.
