Obese patients requiring surgery need more access to weight loss drugs

For three years David Fardon missed out on family weddings, holidays and a social life because he had to do dialysis.

Suffering from kidney failure, the 55-year-old from Packenham in Melbourne's south east was waiting for a kidney transplant.

The trouble was he was obese, weighing in at 150kg, increasing his risk if he was to undergo surgery.

He first tried diets to lose some of the weight, but only managed 10kg before he plateaued.

Then he started taking Mounjaro in May last year and it helped him lose 30kg.

"I reached my goal weight and got put on the list. I had to wait six to eight weeks (for a kidney to become available, which was very quick," he said.

Mr Fardon said prior to surgery he was part of a small group of people doing dialysis for three years.

"During that time four of the people doing the program with me passed away. It was really daunting," he said.

"I missed out on family weddings and I never went away on holidays because I would be on dialysis."

"I'm now going on my first holiday in the few weeks and I have a better quality of life. I really have a new lease on life."

"Unfortunately, someone had to pass away for me to continue living but they have given me a bigger gift than I could ever have hoped for."

Specialists say that overweight people who have cancer or need a transplant are using weight loss medication before the life-saving surgery to reduce risk of complications.

They are now calling for drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro to be included on the PBS for use in pre-surgery and pre-transplant patients who are overweight, warning that some people could be at risk of missing out on getting help because they can't afford it.

Juno Healthcare chief executive and gastroenterologist Associate Professor Suong Le said the service had helped 200 obese patients by putting them on weight loss drugs before their operations.

"The type of patient we were seeing where obesity had caused the condition and they needed the surgery to cure the condition but it was too risky to do the surgery," Assoc Prof Suong said.

"If your BMI is over 35 then you have a higher risk of a longer operation time, infection and staying in hospital longer due to other risks associated with the surgery."

Assoc Prof Le said there could be some initial side effects from taking the drug like nausea and reflux.

She urged the federal government to make the drugs - which can cost between $150 and $500 per month - more affordable for people needing life-saving surgery.

"We are ethically concerned that because of these drugs, the only people that can afford them in order to lose weight for surgery are the ones who have the money to do so."

"What we could like to see is that these drugs are on the PBS for shirt-term use cases for high risk patients before life-saving surgery."

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