Sheffield raised pharmacist recognised as leader in weight loss medication safeguards
Hira Malik, who was raised and educated in Sheffield, leads Oushk Pharmacy, one of the first digital pharmacies in the UK to receive formal recognition from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) for meeting its new standards on supplying medicines that require additional safeguards, including GLP-1 weight-management treatments.
The recognition places Oushk at the forefront of a regulatory shift designed to raise the bar for online prescribing, as demand for medicines such as Wegovy and Mounjaro continues to grow and scrutiny of digital healthcare intensifies.
Introduced in early 2025, the GPhC’s strengthened standards were developed to bring greater consistency, transparency and patient protection to online prescribing. Providers operating at a distance must now evidence enhanced clinical assessments, stronger governance controls, full supply-chain traceability, and clearly defined aftercare pathways.
Oushk was an early adopter of the framework, introducing prescriber-led video consultations for all GLP-1 prescriptions, with mandatory identity and BMI verification conducted during the consultation. This ensures patients are clinically eligible, removes those who do not meet prescribing criteria, and significantly reduces the risk of inappropriate access to weight-management medicines. Additional measures included enhanced contraindication checks, increased senior clinician oversight and independent reviews of patient information.
The pharmacy also updated its dispensing workflows to improve traceability and introduced a more structured follow-up process for patients receiving treatment.
Commenting on the recognition, Hira Malik, superintendent pharmacist and co-founder of Oushk Pharmacy, said: “This is an important moment for online pharmacy. Digital prescribing has expanded rapidly, and these standards make clear what good looks like when medicines requiring additional safeguards are supplied remotely.
“We made a deliberate decision to implement the framework early and in full. This recognition demonstrates that online pharmacies can operate with rigorous clinical governance, clear accountability, and strong patient safeguards, and it sets a benchmark the wider sector can align to.”
As regulation tightens around the remote supply of medicines requiring additional safeguards, online providers are being challenged to demonstrate how safety and governance work in practice. Oushk’s approach shows how digital pharmacy models can meet these expectations at scale.
Oushk Pharmacy launched in January 2024 and operates as a UK-registered online pharmacy providing access to prescription medicines following clinical assessment and in line with professional and regulatory guidance.