Celebrities blamed for diabetes meds shortage

Searleana Flesher is waiting for her doctor to find alternative medicine

A diabetic woman from West Sussex said she became ill while taking a different medication after global supply shortages meant her usual treatment was unavailable.

Searleana Flesher, from Burgess Hill, stopped taking Victoza injections in February when they became hard to source, and was prescribed Rybelsus tablets instead.

The 50-year-old, who has type 2 diabetes, said Rybelsus gave her nausea and diarrhoea, so was told by her doctor in May to stop the tablets.

She said she blamed the shortages partially on celebrities who use medicines for weight loss purposes which should be prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is where the body fails to produce enough insulin or when cells in the body do not react properly to insulin, according to the NHS.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "Supply issues can arise for a wide range of reasons and are not specific to the UK.”

Ms Flesher began taking Metformin 20 years ago and had been using Victoza - a GLP-1 receptor agonist - to control her blood sugar levels.

These new generation of medicines mimic a hormone that not only controls blood sugar levels but also suppresses appetite.

The group of medicines has been used by the NHS for diabetes for about a decade but in recent years there has been a growth in private clinics prescribing the same drugs for weight loss for people who do not have diabetes, pushing up demand.

'It became too much'

Ms Flesher said: “I was on Rybelsus tablets and had diarrhoea and nausea, I didn’t want to eat at all and didn’t want to drink at all. The side effects got too much for me.”

Ms Flesher says this is the first time she has struggled to get Victoza.

Experts have called for a review of the medicine supply chain.

Ms Flesher said: “If celebrities say they have used it, then their fans are going to do the same. They should take the some responsibilities. But it’s also the companies that are at fault.”