High costs are reportedly driving some patients towards cheaper, illicit or unregistered alternatives.
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) products, which offer interest-free credit, can now be used to pay for weight-loss drugs.
Obiflex, a doctor-led health management programme, offers virtual consultations with doctors who can prescribe GLP-1 medicines, which were initially developed to treat diabetes. Patients can also use BNPL options to spread the cost of their monthly treatment.
BNPL products generally allow consumers to pay in instalments, either every two weeks or monthly, with the merchant covering the cost of the credit through a fee.
However, missed payments can result in significant penalties for customers.
Obiflex says demand for GLP-1 medicines, which typically cost between R2 500 and R6 000 a month depending on the dose, has been so high that some people have resorted to buying illegally acquired or manufactured drugs.
GLP-1 is a hormone that helps regulate appetite and blood sugar levels.
Earlier this year, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) and the South African Pharmacy Council (Sapc) raided a compounding pharmacy in Pretoria that was allegedly making GLP-1 drugs illegally for weight-management purposes, under the guise of compounding medicine for an individual patient.
In a statement, Sahpra said it had found manufacturing violations and warned patients against using unregistered GLP-1 medicines.
“Affordability pushed so many patients towards cheaper, illicit or unregistered alternatives,” says Shaun Barns, co-founder and CEO of Obiflex.
“Now that route has been shut down by Sahpra and Sapc, so unless there’s legitimate, affordable access, that demand doesn’t disappear, but it risks people seeking other unregulated or illicit options.”
How the programme works
Obiflex is backed by investment firm Grovest. Barns co-founded it with Dr Riaz Motara, Grovest’s Jeff Miller, and Moshe Unterslak.
Motara is a cardiologist and has led the training of the doctors who will consult patients virtually, to address the underlying causes of unhealthy weight change, rather than only prescribing a medication, the firm said.
The programme pairs low-dose GLP-1 treatment with structured coaching, targeting up to 10% body weight loss over six months with lower doses being more affordable, but usually leading to slower weight loss.
Obiflex says a growing body of international research shows that combining medication with lifestyle support improves the likelihood of maintaining weight loss over the longer term, compared to using medication alone.
“We didn’t want to just make the medicine more affordable,” adds Barns. “We want to offer proper medical support, coaching and a way to pay for GLP-1s.”
The cost of GLP-1s could come down
Obesity and being overweight are not prescribed minimum benefits (PMBs) that medical schemes are required to cover, so schemes are not obliged to pay for GLP-1s used for weight loss from their risk benefits.
However, more generic and cheaper options may become available.
Aspen, Africa’s largest drugmaker, distributes Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 drug Mounjaro locally and has said sales of the medicine accounted for roughly 40% of the growth in South Africa’s private pharmaceutical market over the past year, according to CEO Stephen Saad.
Saad told Bloomberg he expects that GLP-1 medicines could eventually become Aspen’s biggest product category. He also said the drug manufacturer has applied to the SA regulator to manufacture a generic version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic.
Saad believes the prices of GLP-1s will come down in future as more generics become available.
How BNPL works
According to TransUnion, a global credit reporting and information services company, roughly two-thirds of BNPL loans are for amounts below R2 500.
TransUnion research found that 62% of consumers surveyed had used a BNPL product, while 37% had used one repeatedly.
From February 2027, BNPL use will be reported to credit bureaus and reflected in consumers’ credit scores.
This could allow people who are new to credit to build a credit profile, while also giving other credit providers greater visibility of a consumer’s outstanding debt and helping them assess whether they may be over-indebted.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.