Drive to offer weight loss jabs to millions
Weight loss jabs could be offered to millions of people on the NHS as health officials aim to lower prices of the treatment to tackle the obesity crisis. The push is part of efforts to boost productivity and reduce the numbers claiming benefits amid increasing ill health among those of working age. One treatment that regulates the appetite, semaglutide, has been authorised by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence for those treated by specialist clinics.
WEIGHT loss jabs could be offered to millions of people on the NHS, as health officials aim to lower prices of the treatment to tackle Britain’s obesity crisis.
The push is part of efforts to boost productivity and reduce the numbers claiming benefits. Obesity is estimated to cost the NHS around £6billion a year, with £27billion costs to wider society.
One treatment that regulates the appetite, semaglutide, has been authorised by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) for those being treated by specialist clinics. This limits treatment to those who can obtain a referral, restricting use of the drug on the NHS to the most severely obese. But officials hope to encourage drug companies into a bidding war to drive down prices, so NHS treatment can be offered to far more of the 12million adults classed as obese.
Nice has just begun work appraising a second drug – tirzepatide – originally developed as a treatment for diabetes. It does not have a licence for treatment of weight problems, but trials have shown it is effective in those with a BMI of 30 or more – the threshold for obesity – as well as in those who are overweight, and have weight-related health problems. Research in the New England Journal of Medicine last year found those on the highest dose of the drug lost on average a fifth of their body weight. Trials on semaglutide – marketed as Wegovy – achieved such results in around a third of participants. At least half a dozen similar products are now in development.
Semaglutide costs around £73 per month when prescribed for diabetes, with other drugs in development yet to be priced. However, officials are seeking to make the economic case that getting Britain healthy could boost the workforce, reducing dependency on benefits and the NHS.
The mass rollout of obesity drugs is being considered under a £20million research programme which aims to develop new medicines and fast track treatments to tackle obesity.
Obesity is estimated to cost the NHS £6 billion a year, plus £27 billion costs to wider society. Official statistics show almost 1.5million hospital admissions in England related to obesity in 2021-22 – a tripling in less than a decade. Prof Jason Halford, president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, said: “I can think of at least eight major obesity drugs in the pipeline. This is a market that will keep expanding, and the competition and economies of scale involved are going to see those prices coming down.”
Prof Barbara Mcgowan, a leading expert in endocrinology and diabetes, said: “I would like to see treatments made far more widely available. At the moment there is almost nothing between bariatric surgery and lifestyle changes.”
Health minister Neil O’brien said: “This new generation of drugs have the potential to help people living with obesity lose significant amounts of weight, while also reducing their risk of related conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Weight loss can help people living with obesity to live longer, healthier lives, and semaglutide will provide a new treatment option to help people living with severe obesity, alongside lifestyle interventions, to lose weight.”