Hundreds of English children prescribed GLP-1 drugs, figures show

Figures for the first four months of the current financial year show 341 prescriptions issued to children between April and July, 15 of whom were under 12. The data, obtained from the NHS Business Services Authority, applies only to prescriptions dispensed in community settings, meaning the true figure is likely considerably higher because private prescriptions, hospital issues, and prison dispensing are excluded. One private clinic for children has previously revealed more than 200 patients receiving the jabs.

GLP-1 medications, such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, were initially developed for type 2 diabetes but have since become a popular slimming aid. The rising use of GLP-1s in children comes as levels of childhood obesity increase. The National Child Measurement Programme found 10.7 per cent of children in reception year are obese, rising to 22.8 per cent in year 6. The NHS began piloting Complications from Excess Weight clinics from 2021, and in May NHS England revealed almost 6,500 children had since been referred.

Last month, the World Health Organization issued new guidelines stating that obesity medications, including GLP-1s, should not be given to children under 10. However, a trial by Novo Nordisk involving 165 children aged six to under 12 suggested the drugs can help younger children with obesity.

Martin Whyte, a professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Surrey, said the number of prescriptions was small relative to the scale of childhood obesity but stressed the need for long-term planning. "The important thing is that children who start them do so within specialist services, with support for diet, growth and wellbeing, and a plan for the long term," he said, adding that weight tends to return when the drugs stop and there is limited data on their use over many years in growing young people.

Dr Dunia Ismail, a consultant paediatrician running a CEW clinic, said they had been sticking to 12 and were looking at expanding use to eight-plus once licence-approved. "We have been sticking to 12, although now we are looking at expanding that to eight-plus once licence-approved," she said. She stressed the importance of the drugs for children. "We know now that obesity is not a choice, it's a condition. We're giving them GLP-1s because there is nothing else you can do at this stage."

Julian Hamilton-Shield, a professor in diabetes and metabolic endocrinology and a clinician at the Bristol Complications CEW clinic, said children receiving semaglutide at CEW clinics had typically been unable to lose weight through standard dietary and nutritional advice and psychological support. He said that probably, in the vast majority of cases, they had a secondary comorbidity such as type 2 diabetes or liver disease. He described the treatment as transformative for children from complex backgrounds who had low self-esteem and were not attending school. "We're a health service that delivers health to the people who require it. We're not one that makes moral judgments about people," he said.