Pharmas face First Nations flak

Pharmas promoting GLP-1s are influencing doctors, policy, and perceptions of body image among Indigenous people without addressing the main issues that First Nations people face, Deakin University academics have claimed.

GLP-1 off-label prescriptions and supply shortages have raised equity concerns for First Nations peoples disproportionately affected by diabetes, the authors wrote, while “pharmaceutical companies have simultaneously accelerated their marketing through disease-awareness campaigns, sponsored events and telehealth models, with many campaigns prominently featuring women of colour, including First Nations women.”

The perspective article, Weight Loss Medication Marketing and First Nations People: Disease Awareness or Corporate Profit?, written by a team of academics led by Troy Walker, a senior research fellow at Deakin’s School of Health and Social Development, was published this month.