Over 200 Million Pills Prescribed Annually, Surpassing 1 Billion in Five Years... 90% Are Women
More Than 550,000 Pills Prescribed to Adolescents
Lax BMI Standards Raise Concerns Over Abuse
Kim Sunmin: "Prescription Standards Must Be Revise
Over the past five years, the cumulative number of prescribed doses of narcotic appetite suppressants has surpassed 1 billion. Nine out of ten patients prescribed these medications were women, and more than 500,000 doses were prescribed to approximately 6,000 teenagers and younger children.
According to data submitted by Assemblywoman Kim Sunmin of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on October 21, the cumulative number of prescribed doses of narcotic appetite suppressants from 2021 to the first half of 2025 reached 1,033,650,000. The annual number of prescriptions decreased slightly from 243,420,000 in 2021 to 217,130,000 last year, but more than 200 million doses continue to be prescribed each year.
Even after the introduction of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) obesity treatments such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, the use of psychotropic appetite suppressants has shown little change.
By active ingredient, as of last year, 700,000 people were prescribed phentermine, which is associated with side effects such as insomnia and anxiety; 500,000 were prescribed phendimetrazine; and more than 70,000 were prescribed amfepramone.
According to the 2023 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), about 1.07 million people in the United States (0.31% of the US population) took phentermine. In contrast, 700,000 people in Korea (1.35% of the population) were prescribed phentermine last year, which is approximately 4.3 times higher than in the United States in terms of population ratio.
Of the 1.08 million patients prescribed appetite suppressants, 969,341 were women (89.7%), nearly nine times the number of men (111,516). Among teenagers and younger children, 5,899 were prescribed a total of approximately 550,000 doses of appetite suppressants.
Loose prescription standards for appetite suppressants have been identified as a background factor for this phenomenon.
The United Kingdom, France, Japan, and the United States only allow prescriptions for individuals with a body mass index (BMI, calculated as weight divided by the square of height) of 27 to 35 or higher. In the United Kingdom and France, psychotropic appetite suppressants are completely banned.
In contrast, in Korea, the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity recognizes a BMI of 23 or higher as the pre-obesity stage, effectively allowing for much broader prescriptions.
Assemblywoman Kim Sunmin stated, "As the line between social appearance pressure and medical judgment becomes blurred, more than 200 million doses of appetite suppressants are used annually. We can no longer neglect the misuse and abuse among women and adolescents, the loose BMI standards, and the lack of adequate post-prescription management systems."
She added, "There is an urgent need for an in-depth investigation into the prescription status of appetite suppressants among women and adolescents, as well as for strengthening the standards. For the safety and mental health of the public, prescription standards for narcotic appetite suppressants must be revised to meet international best practices, and management and oversight systems must be urgently reinforced to prevent lenient penalties."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
