The ‘King Kong’ of weight loss punches is now available to buy privately in Britain.
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.
Supplies of tirzepatide have also arrived on the NHS. However, doctors are limited in who they can give it to.
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.
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.
Under current guidelines, only people with type 2 diabetes, who do not have the disease under control, are eligible to receive it on the NHS.
Health officials are considering expanding its use for weight loss on the NHS, where it will cost the standard prescription rate.
The drug, which is injected once a week under the skin of the stomach, thigh or upper arm, was approved for use by drug chiefs in November last year.
However, it has not been available due to huge global demand.
Mounjaro will provide an alternative to Wegovy, or semaglutide, which has also been in short supply due to overwhelming demand.
Simple Online Pharmacy, a company that now offers Mounjaro privately, says it has 80,000 patients who want to start treatment.
According to their website, a month’s supply is expected to cost £42 per week.
Another clinic, My London Pharmacy, sells it for £119 for an initial dose.
Tirzepatide, developed by US pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, works by suppressing two hormones that regulate appetite, making people feel fuller for longer while experiencing fewer food cravings.
The injection will be supplied in a four-dose pen branded KwikPen, which provides a month’s worth of treatment when used once a week.
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.
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.’
Like all medications, Mounjaro is not free from side effects.
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.
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.