Unsolicited Online Weight Loss Sponsored by High Street Chemists

Controversial weight drug Alli (no relation) has been criticised for its ready availability on the web without prescription or professional advice.

More worryingly, people with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia say they’re able to buy Alli on the internet from respected chemists like Boots.

The drug stops the body from absorbing fat but claims to work in tandem with a healthy diet and exercise.

On the boots website I was able to obtain Alli simply by lying about my BMI which was the only measure they employed to obstruct users of a (sub) healthy weight.

Boots say every order placed online is checked by a pharmacist and rejected if the patient or application doesn’t meet the right criteria and claim to turn away between eight to 10 per cent of orders of Alli.

But people with eating disorders are shrewd enough to lie about their BMI and would rather deal with a household name than buy Alli from a bootleg pharmacist or some back-street dealer.

Manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline say they worked closely with the profession to put checks in place to stop vulnerable people and those with eating disorders getting hold of the drug.

Experts believe unsolicited use of the pills could cause the patient to become mentally addicited to them which could make an eating disorder worse. As the patient is unregistered as having taken them, intervention is less likely.

Susan Ringwood, chief executive of Beating Eating Disorders (BEAT) said: “We thought by having the pharmacist involved it was one of the ways companies could guarantee the safety of this drug.”

“We were really concerned when people started to contact us saying they could get Alli online, because we simply didn’t know it was possible to do that.”