Two pharmacy researchers from Aston University are calling on pharmacists to help with a new project to develop ways to reduce weight gain caused by antipsychotic medication, it was announced this month (January 9). 

Dr Jo Howe and Professor Ian Maidment have secured £18,652 from Aston University’s Research Impact Fund to continue research as part of a larger study called REalist Synthesis Of non-pharmacologicaL interVEntions (RESOLVE) funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). 

The NIHR study is investigating non-pharmacological interventions for antipsychotic-induced weight gain in people living with severe mental illness (SMI), and results from this new project will feed into the development of national and international guidance on the matter. 

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Dr Howe’s previous research has shown support is not always available for people to deal with the common side effect of weight gain when taking antipsychotic medication, so the new funding will help develop support programmes to combat this. 

She said: “Many antipsychotic medications cause changes in the body that lead the person taking them to crave carbs and sugar. This is very hard to control or override with simple behavioural strategies.” 

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The project will work with NHS Trusts and hospitals to help them develop preventative pathways to limit weight gain which can be implemented in local settings.  

Dr Howe said they would “encourage anyone with professional experience in this area to join us and help shape a pathway that could make a real difference to people’s lives”. 

Replicate in primary care 

Workshops and discussions have been planned so those with lived experience, both patients taking the medication and staff involved (including pharmacists, doctors and nurses) can contribute to the project, with an online meeting scheduled for January 23 to begin these discussions. 

“This project is an exciting opportunity to address a significant gap in care for people taking antipsychotic medications. By bringing together the voices of patients and healthcare professionals, we can co-develop practical solutions to manage medication-induced weight gain, which is often overlooked,” she added. 

Dr Howe told C+D last week (15 January) said work in the study would begin locally with hospital pharmacists with the hope of replicating it within primary care later in the year. 

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“We would like to be able to start to look at this in different contexts, because this problem isn't just in isolation in hospitals, it's obviously also a significant problem for primary care,” she said. 

She also said that following a planned event on March 27, “we will use social media to capture highlights, and ask the NHS Trusts to follow up with us in due course to let us know how the implementation of the pathway has been received at a local level”. 

“We hope that this workshop is the beginning of a body of work into this area and we are actively seeking NHS Trusts to continue research into this area.” 

Two NHS trusts based in Birmingham and Solihull, and Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, are involved in the project with several other trusts expressing interest in it. 

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The study will also work closely with Irish mental health pharmacist Ita Fitzgerald, and it will finish on April 30 with results to be shared soon afterwards. 

It comes as an Aston University MPharm graduate won a national award for her research into mental health pharmacy in October. 

And the pharmacy school unveiled a £3.3 million pharmacy “state-of-the-art” training facility in September which includes a main lab that can accommodate 83 students, an asepsis suite and a technician prep room.