The NHS could offer weight loss injections like Wegovy and Mounjaro at pharmacies for prescription price
NHS could offer weight-loss jabs at pharmacies ‘for £9.90 prescription price'(Image: Getty Images)
Patients may be able to get weight loss injections from pharmacies, leaders from the sector have said.
Weight loss jabs, or GLP-1 receptor agonists, are commonly known as their brand names like Mounjaro and Wegovy.
It has been reported that pharmacies are “ready and able” to offer weight loss jabs on the NHS at a prescription price of £9.90, while patients who currently buy the medicines through private providers face costs between £129 and almost £300 per month.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) said the move would ensure the drugs are not just available to those who can afford to pay for them privately.
Pharmacies are “ready and able” to offer weight loss jabs, experts say(Image: PA)
Olivier Picard, chairman of the NPA, said: “Pharmacies stand ready and able to deliver this service. Access to medicines that could cut damaging levels of obesity shouldn’t be restricted to those who can pay or disadvantage deprived communities.
“We’re yet to see the detail but this announcement has the potential to make sure that people who need these treatments the most could access them for free.”
A multi-million pound deal is set to be struck with a major pharmaceutical firm to fund a pilot scheme across the UK, according the Daily Mail.
A government spokesperson said: “As the government shifts the NHS from sickness to prevention, we will be looking across the board at how these drugs can be made available to more people who can benefit from them.
“The NHS is already tackling obesity in innovative ways, including through community care models and digital technologies, to help deliver these drugs as part of a rounded package of care.”
People can lose up to 15 per cent of their body weight within months of using weight loss jabs(Image: Getty Images)
Estimates from the National Institute for Health Care and Excellence (NICE) suggest 3.4 million people could benefit from taking weight loss jabs.
There is currently a two-year waiting list for Wegovy on the NHS, while around a third of adults living in England are obese. Currently, NHS prescriptions of the drugs are restricted to patients deemed to have the highest clinical need.
Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, Picard admitted there are “stock issues” with the drugs, but added: “We are currently not seeing necessarily a stock problem.”
Picard said: “This week, I heard that there was as many of one and a half million people every month buying the weight loss medication privately. So there is stock in the system.
“There is an obesity crisis in the country. We know this. The weight loss jab will help many people, and I think the manufacturers will work with the NHS to make sure that the stock is available.
“We may well see a pilot to start first in an area, to see how that works and how that can be rolled out to the whole country. But overall, we think it’s good news.”
Experts say the drugs could cut “damaging levels” of obesity(Image: PA)
Picard added that pharmacies are “best placed” to provide these services with the right funding since he says they are the “most accessible part of the NHS”.
Weight loss jabs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy work by mimicking a natural hormone and making people feel fuller for longer. People can lose up to 15 per cent of their body weight within months using the drug.
The NPA warned in February that some people were being “inappropriately” prescribed weight loss injections after it was made aware of people who have previously had eating disorders being unnecessarily prescribed the drug.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), which regulates pharmacies, then told online administrators of the drugs they can no longer prescribe weight loss jabs after reading a patient questionnaire, and must instead conduct a proper two-way consultation with the patient.