Millions of people will be denied the ‘King Kong’ of weight-loss jabs despite the NHS being given the green light to prescribe it.
Fewer than one in ten patients who meet the criteria for Mounjaro will be given it by the health service over the next three years, the drugs regulator has confirmed.
In a blow to Labour’s health plans, National Institute of health and Care Excellence (Nice) said only 220,000 of the 3.4million eligible patients will be given the drug as part of the initial rollout.
Health officials admit ‘many will have to wait’ or seek alternative ways to lose weight to stop the NHS being overwhelmed by the huge demand. The unprecedented move of staggering its rollout was necessary ‘to protect other vital NHS services’, they added.
Its rationing leaves a gaping hole in the Prime Minister’s vision for the UK after he lauded the medicine’s potential for boosting the nation’s health and economy.
Also known as tirzepatide, the weekly drug has been hailed a ‘game-changing’ treatment. Costing £122 a month, regulators say it should be prescribed alongside a reduced-calorie diet and exercise. Under the guidelines, it is recommended for those with a body mass index of more than 35 and at least one weight-related illness.
But only a fraction will get it, with doctors told to prioritise patients already receiving care from weight-management services. It will be available to these patients within 90 days of the final guidance being published on December 23.
The prescribing criteria will be reviewed in three years, by which time the NHS hopes to have determined how best to deliver it on the massive scale required. Professor Jonathan Benger, Nice’s chief medical officer, said: ‘The world will look very different in three years, which is why we’ve taken the unprecedented decision to review the way this medicine is delivered to patients then.
Fewer than one in ten patients who meet the criteria for Mounjaro will be given it by the health service over the next three years, the drugs regulator has confirmed
‘Only those with the highest clinical need will be treated initially. We have had to make this difficult decision in order to protect other vital NHS services.’ The decision comes as Sir Keir Starmer is expected to promise an assault on NHS waiting times today, in what has been dubbed the party’s ‘relaunch’ after five months in power.
NHS leaders are said to be concerned over the rumoured target of 92 per cent of trusts meeting the 18-week waiting times on routine appointments by March 2029, something not achieved for a decade. Tackling the obesity crisis will be key to this with around two thirds of adults either overweight or obese, making it the second most common cause of preventable death after smoking.
Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro is the second of this class of weight-loss medications to be approved for use on the NHS after Wegovy last year. It works by reducing food cravings and making the stomach to empty more slowly, resulting in weight loss. It earned the reputation as the ‘King Kong’ of slimming jabs for its impressive results during trials. Latest results published yesterday showed patients typically lost more than 20 per cent of their body weight, compared with less than 14 per cent when on semaglutide, the key ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic.
Almost a third (32 per cent) lost at least a quarter of their body weight after 72 weeks, double that of its main rival.
In a blow to Labour’s health plans, National Institute of health and Care Excellence (Nice) said only 220,000 of the 3.4million eligible patients will be given the drug as part of the initial rollout
Growing evidence has also shown they could be key to a range of additional health benefits from reducing heart disease to some types of cancer. But the drugs are not without risk, with the first UK death linked to the medicine confirmed last month.
It is estimated it will cost NHS England about £317.2million a year by the third year – a fraction of the £11.4billion currently spent on obesity-related conditions.
A source said senior NHS figures were behind the ‘overly cautious’ rollout, despite widespread acknowledgement the jabs are likely to be a ‘game-changer’ in the country’s obesity battle. Last month the chief executive of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard, privately warned that plans to dish out obesity jabs on the NHS risk overwhelming an already-stretched service.
Dr Kath McCullough, obesity adviser for NHS England, advised against seeing the drug as a ‘magic bullet’.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: ’Obesity can be debilitating, costing lives, the economy and the NHS. However, we have to be cautious and recognise these drugs are not a replacement for a good diet and exercise.’
