Request

You asked us:

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act regarding the use of anti-obesity injectable medications, including GLP-1 receptor agonists, across England over the past two years.

Specifically, I am seeking the following data:

(A) Number and Demographics of Patients Receiving Anti-Obesity Injectable Medications:

The total number of patients who have received these medications in the past 12 months (from December 2023 to December 2024) or past whole year Comparative data from the preceding 12 months for baseline comparison. Breakdown of the data by: Age group (e.g., 18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60+). Gender. Percentage of total patients receiving these medications by demographic.

(B) Types of Medications and Active Compounds:

A list of the different injectable medications used for weight management, including brand names and active compounds (e.g., semaglutide, tirzepatide).

The most commonly prescribed or administered medication and the cost to the NHS of the each different injectable medication listed

(C) Regional Data:

Breakdown of the data by NHS region, including the South West.

Any available comparisons between regions or national averages or links to this information

(D) Non weight management Is there any available information where there is a known advantage in using this type of medication for other health conditions not directly related to weight management.

You subsequently provided the following points of clarification:

Please do not split the data on whether it has been prescribed for weight loss or for other conditions

Please provide the data based by chemical substance eg Wegovy, Semaglutide etc.

Please provide two years of data for the most recent available (No 22 - Oct 23 and Nov 23 - Oct24).

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your clarified request on 12 January 2025.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

Our response

(A) Total patients by age, gender and (C) region

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.

The data covers December 2022 – December 2024. Please note the caveats below when considering the data.

(A) Percentage of total patients receiving these medications by demographic

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority. However, the requested figures can be calculated from the data we have provided.

(B) Types of Medications and Active Compounds, and (D) Non weight management

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority. We do not hold data on the clinical indication for a prescription. Is possible that NHS England may hold some or all of this information. They can be contacted at:

NHS England

PO Box 16738

Redditch

B97 9PT

Telephone 0300 311 22 33

Email: england.contactus@nhs.net

Web http://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/foi/

Caveats

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

NHS Prescription Services process prescriptions for Pharmacy Contractors, Appliance Contractors, Dispensing Doctors and Personal Administration with information then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors in England for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings (other arrangements are in place for making payments to Dispensing Doctors and Personal Administration). This involves processing over 1 billion prescription items and payments totalling over £9 billion each year. The information gathered from this process is then used to provide information on costs and trends in prescribing in England and Wales to over 25,000 registered NHS and Department of Health and Social Care users.

Data Source: ePACT2

Data in ePACT2 is sourced from the NHSBSA Data Warehouse and is derived from products prescribed on prescriptions and dispensed in the Community. The data captured from prescription processing is used to calculate reimbursement and remuneration. It includes items prescribed in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Guernsey / Alderney, Jersey, and Isle of Man which have been dispensed in the community in England. English prescribing that has been dispensed in Wales, Scotland, Guernsey / Alderney, Jersey, and Isle of Man is also included.

The Data excludes:

• Items not dispensed, disallowed and those returned to the contractor for further clarification.

• Prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in Prisons, Hospitals and Private prescriptions.

• Items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser.

Time Period:

Aggregated yearly data covering the years December 2022 – November 2023 and December 2023 – November 2024 (latest month available).

Organisation Data:

The data is for items prescribed in England by region, regardless of where dispensed, in the community.

Data:

This dataset is limited to the prescribing of injectable products within BNF chemical substances of Dulaglutide (BNF 0601023AQ), Exenatide (BNF 0601023Y0), Ins degludec/liraglutide (BNF 0601023AU), Liraglutide (BNF 0601023AB), Lixisenatide (BNF 0601023AI), Semaglutide (BNF 0601023AW) and Tirzepatide (BNF 0601023AZ). Associated BNF Products are indicated for each chemical substance.

BNF Code:

The BNF Code is a 15-digit code in which the first seven digits are allocated according to the categories in the BNF, and the last 8 digits represent the medicinal product, form, strength and the link to the generic equivalent product. NHS Prescription Services has created pseudo BNF chapters, which are not published, for items not included in BNF chapters 1 to 15. Most of these items are dressings and appliances which NHS Prescription Services has classified into four pseudo BNF chapters (20 to 23).

Items:

Shows the number of times a product appears on a prescription form not the quantity prescribed.

Patient Information:

Where patient identifiable figures have been reported they are based on the information captured during the prescription processing activities. Please note, patient details cannot be captured from every prescription form and based on the criteria used for this analysis, patient information (NHS number) was only available for 99.76% of prescription items.

The patient count figures are based on a distinct count of NHS number as captured from the prescription image.

Patient ages are based on the age as captured from the prescription image and relates to the patient's age at the time of prescribing. Results have been restricted to only show results for all patients aged between 18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60 and over years of age.

The figures for the number of identifiable patients should not be combined and reported at any other level than provided as this may result in the double-counting of patients. For example, a single patient could appear in the results for multiple years and age bands.

Gender

Patient gender has been reported using the latest patient gender information held by the NHSBSA Information Services data warehouse at the time that the data was extracted. This uses information from either the most recent Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) message or from the last time that NHSBSA received data about the patient's gender from NHS Personal Demographics Service

Net Ingredient Cost (£)

Net Ingredient cost (NIC) is the basic price of a drug as stated in Part II Clause 8 of the Drug Tariff but please note that where a price concession for items listed in Part VIII of the Drug Tariff has been agreed between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price.

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “ePACT2, NHSBSA Copyright 2025” Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.