The rise of weight-loss injections could cause obesity rates to decline this year, pharmacists predict.
More than 500,000 people in the UK now receive weight-loss injections, and the majority come from private pharmacies.
The latest NHS obesity figures suggest rates are beginning to stabilize for the first time in two decades. This could be due to the skyrocketing use of medications, including Mounjaro and Wegovy.
Simple Online Pharmacy, one of the UK’s largest suppliers of injections, has reported month-on-month growth of between ten and 40 per cent. Rebecca Moore, chief operating officer, said the UK was “starting to see a decline in (obesity) rates”.
He said: ‘The private sector is already reversing obesity at a rate of around 500,000 patients every six months.
“We estimate the savings to the NHS from not paying for treatment or clinical care amounts to more than £1 billion a year, not including the reduction in healthcare costs and the savings this brings to wider society.”
Those who receive the injections can expect to lose up to 20 percent of their body weight, if used along with diet and exercise. Patient data shows that the average baseline BMI is 34.8.
From this, patients reversed their obesity on average in approximately six months when they were on treatment. One in five patients who have lost their weight no longer needs medication for other conditions, the company said.
The rise of weight-loss injections could cause obesity rates to fall this year, pharmacists predict (file photo)
More than 500,000 people in the UK now receive weight-loss injections, with the majority coming from private pharmacies (file photo)
Two in three Britons are classed as overweight or obese, and more than 30 years ago people weighed around a stone.
Weight-related illnesses cost the economy £74 billion a year, and overweight people are at higher risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.
The NHS prescribes Wegovy, a higher-dose version of the diabetes drug Ozempic, but it is only available at specialist weight loss clinics in some parts of England.
Mounjaro has limited the health service to 220,000 patients over the next three years, amid fears about cost and delivery capacity.
Katharine Jenner, director of the Obesity Health Alliance, said she thought any reversal was “unlikely to be confirmed in reality.”
He said obesity is “a chronic, recurring disease that needs professional support, as well as options such as weight loss medications, to be successful in the long term,” adding that “it is essential that we address the root causes of obesity, such as avalanche of unhealthy diseases. foods and beverages that are constantly marketed.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “We are acting to address the causes of obesity, shifting the focus from treatment to prevention as part of our Ten-Year Health Plan.”