From Monday, so-called ‘fat jabs’ will be made available to many more Brits on the NHS, the health service has previously promised.
From Monday, so-called ‘fat jabs’ will be made available to many more Brits on the NHS, the health service has previously promised.
New NHS rules kick in tomorrow and millions of UK households look set to benefit. From Monday, so-called ‘fat jabs’ will be made available to many more Brits on the NHS, the health service has previously promised.
From Monday, GPs will begin prescribing the weight-loss jab Mounjaro in the first anti-obesity rollout of its kind. A head-to-head study in the New England Journal of Medicine found Mounjaro caused 20 per cent weight loss over 18 months, while semaglutide led to 14 per cent.
NHS prescriptions of Mounjaro in England surged from just 3,300 in 2023 to 1.1million last year. Professor Jason Halford, of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, said: “These drugs have the potential to help millions.”
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NHS England has set out plans for a phased rollout starting with those with a BMI ≥ 40 and at least four comorbidities before widening eligibility in subsequent years.
Mr Halford said: “If the government and NHS are serious about prevention they need to reconsider their position on the speed of the rollout of these drugs.”
Professor John Deanfield, a heart doctor at University College London, added: “These drugs provide a real opportunity to delay many diseases of ageing all at the same time and potentially transform society.
“I hope it won’t take 10 years to do something that is so needed.” NHS England said ‘clinicians will need to await details from their ICB on the weight management pathway in the community’.
Fairhill Medical Practice in Kingston upon Thames said: “Once we are able to prescribe weight loss injections they will be offered to those with the highest medical need only, which may mean that a lot of patients will be disappointed.”
Olivier Picard, of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “NHS provision won’t meet demand straight away, so we fully expect that many people will continue seeking it privately.”
Dr Emily Pegg, associate vice president at Lilly, which makes Mounjaro, said: “This is still a prescription-only medicine, should only be prescribed by a registered healthcare professional and needs to be dispensed by a registered pharmacy.
“It is not something that people should be able to buy by just going out and going on to a social media site and clicking a button and it gets delivered to them.
“That is not appropriate and is probably illegal. Patient safety is a high priority.” Helen Kirrane, of Diabetes UK, said Mounjaro had a “significant” role to play in tackling obesity.
But she added: “We have concerns over the length of time it might take for people to gain access.”
Dr Kath McCullough, NHS England’s national specialty adviser for obesity, said weight-loss drugs were an “important tool” to help tackle “one of the greatest public health issues facing the NHS”.