The ‘King Kong’ of weight loss jabs will be available on the NHS, health bosses announced today.
Under current guidelines, only people with type 2 diabetes Those who do not have the condition under control are eligible to receive Mounjaro through the health service.
But draft guidance from the UK drugs watchdog now recommends expanding its use for weight loss in those with severe obesity.
It arrives just a year later The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said it needed “more evidence” before giving the drug the green light for use on the NHS.
The measure surprised specialists in the treatment of diabetes and obesity at the time, who agreed that the treatment, administered through weekly self-injections, is very effective.
Clinics charge around £40 for a weekly supply of Mounjaro or tirzepatide. Data suggests that patients taking it can expect to lose up to 20 percent of their body weight. Anyone with a BMI over 30 (the technical classification of obesity) can obtain a private prescription.
Mounjaro, the brand of the drug tirzepatide, has already been approved by US health chiefs for weight loss.
In February it was also available privately in Britain, with clinics charging around £40 for a week’s supply.
Studies have found that the drug, manufactured by American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, could help obese people lose more than 20 percent of their body weight in less than a year and a half.
Under the draft guidance, NICE has recommended that anyone with a BMI of at least 35 and a weight-related comorbidity be eligible to receive the drug.
Eli Lilly had proposed making it available to anyone with a BMI of 30 or higher and at least one weight comorbidity.
But the “cost-effectiveness estimates” were “above the range that NICE considers an acceptable use of NHS resources”, the watchdog added.
Mounjaro would provide an alternative to Wegovy, or semaglutide, which has also been in short supply due to overwhelming demand.
Tirzepatide works by suppressing two hormones that regulate appetite, causing people to feel fuller for longer while experiencing fewer food cravings.
The vaccine should be supplied in a four-dose pen, which provides a month’s treatment when used once a week, NICE said.
Previously it was only available in single doses.
Patients in the US can now receive the weight-loss vaccine “off-label” from some doctors, and many are sharing their incredible transformation.
One overweight man claimed the medication helped him lose up to 100 pounds (45.4 kg).
Before and after images show the transformation of Matthew Barlow, a 48-year-old health technology executive living in California.
According to the latest data, digestive problems were the most common side effects of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro. These included about one in five participants who suffered from nausea and diarrhea, and about one in 10 reported vomiting or diarrhea.
He began using the drug last November. At the same time, she also changed her diet and lifestyle as recommended.
‘Psychologically, you don’t want to eat. Now I can eat two bites of dessert and be satisfied,” she stated.
Meanwhile, a TikTok user named Emily claimed she had lost 140 pounds (63.5 kg) since taking weight-loss injections.
“The incredible amount of joy I feel when I look in the mirror now is crazy,” she said. ‘I used to cry with myself in the mirror. Now I feel like one of the cool kids.’
Responding to NICE’s U-turn, Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, director of the metabolic diseases unit at the University of Cambridge Medical Research Council, said: “Given the recent very positive results from large randomized control trials With this drug and its beneficial effects on a range of outcomes, this decision is not surprising.
‘We are clearly in a new era of obesity management in which, for the first time, we can have access to medications that are effective and, although not free from some side effects, largely safe.
“This class of injectable medicine is currently expensive, posing particular challenges to a taxpayer-funded healthcare system like the NHS.
“In the long term, these drugs significantly reduce the risks of developing distressing and costly complications such as type 2 diabetes, heart attacks and kidney failure, but their cost represents an immediate financial challenge at a time when NHS budgets are tight.”
And he added: “Here the genie is out of the bottle.” Safe and effective drug treatment for obesity is not going away.
‘We must continue working so that our environment promotes less obesity. But that will take political will and time.”
Meanwhile, Professor Naveed Sattar, honorary consultant and cardiometabolic medicine expert at the University of Glasgow, said NICE’s updated guidance was “pragmatic”.
He added: “I think the guidelines seem pragmatic given that we have to start somewhere and that, for now, we help people who are most at risk of developing other obesity-related comorbidities more quickly, even if many other people at risk will be initially denied.”
Some Americans are already using it “off label.” One of them is Matthew Barlow, a 48-year-old health technology executive living in California, who said he has lost more than 100 pounds since November 2022 using Mounjaro and changing his diet.
‘As drug costs fall and more evidence of additional benefits accumulates, BMI thresholds for treatment will decrease.
“However, with so many people already living with a BMI over 35, there will be considerable work to treat and care for this group of people on the NHS.”
But like all drugs, Mounjaro is not without side effects.
The MHRA has warned that the drug may affect the effectiveness of the contraceptive pill in overweight or obese female patients.
Other possible side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting (which usually goes away over time), and constipation.
Low blood sugar levels are also “very common” in patients with diabetes, the agency added.
A trial of 900 participants also found that a fifth suffered from nausea and diarrhea, and about one in ten reported vomiting or constipation.
Other people who took the drug outside of clinical trials reported experiencing hair loss while taking Mounjaro.
A link to an increased risk of cancer from the injection has also been suggested.
The European Medicines Agency said this year that research in rodents has suggested that artificial hormones packaged in tirzepatide could increase the risk of medullary thyroid cancer.