Overview

• NHS GPs can now prescribe Mounjaro under new criteria but are frequently omitting baseline blood panels that screen for liver, thyroid, lipid and glycaemic disorders.
• The MHRA has received more than 560 reports of pancreatitis tied to GLP-1 injections and initiated a formal safety probe in June.
• Patients and healthcare professionals are being urged to submit side-effect reports through the Yellow Card scheme, which now includes saliva samples for genetic analysis.
• Genomics England is developing assays to identify genetic predispositions to severe reactions, aiming to guide safer prescribing of weight-loss jabs.
• Experts warn that without mandatory pre-prescription blood tests, conditions like high triglycerides and uncontrolled pre-diabetes could go undetected and increase the risk of organ failure.