Am I eligible for a slimming injection? Mounjaro wants to help the unemployed get back to work

New weight loss jabs could be given to the unemployed to help them get back into work, Wes Streeting has suggested. The Health Secretary said “widening waistbands” was a burden on the NHS.

The latest generation of weight loss drugs, such as Mounjaro, could be administered to people to get them back to work and ease health care costs, he added.

Is Mounjaro available on the NHS?

Earlier this month, health bosses announced that Mounjaro will be rolled out to 1.6 million patients in the NHS over the next twelve years.

Mounjaro, the brand name for tirzepatide, is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist, a family of medications that help control blood sugar levels. GLP-1 agonists are a class of medications used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, while other popular semaglutide shots are sold under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic.

These drugs have experienced a number of supply issues in recent months, with many people choosing to pay for them privately. Each private clinic sets the cost of weight loss jabs for their patients, ranging from £150 to £350 per month depending on the treatment.

Clinical trials have shown Mounjaro to be more effective than diet and exercise support alone, reducing body weight by as much as 26 percent, compared to 15 percent with semaglutide.

Who is eligible for the jabs on the NHS?

Nearly a quarter of a million Mounjaro jabs will be given in the first three years of the phased launch, the NHS said. Patients are primarily eligible for the drug if they have a BMI over 40 and have at least three of the specified weight-related health conditions, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, obstructive sleep apnea, or cardiovascular disease.

It would then be offered to people with a BMI over 40 and two weight-related health problems, and then to people with a BMI over 40 and one weight-related health problem. In the final stages of the rollout, Mounjaro will be offered to patients with a BMI of 35 and above and qualifying weight-related health conditions.

Weight loss injections were previously only offered to NHS patients through specialist clinics, but the new proposals would see patients offered the drugs through digital apps and community-based services. The plans will be discussed for three weeks.

How will these be provided to the unemployed?

Mr. Streeting’s suggestion, in a Telegraph Newspaper op-ed came as the government announced a £279 million investment from Eli Lilly – the world’s largest pharmaceutical company – on the day the Prime Minister hosted an international investment summit.

The Health Secretary wrote: “Our wider waistbands also place a significant burden on our healthcare system, costing the NHS £11 billion a year – even more than smoking. And it’s holding our economy back. Diseases caused by obesity cause people to take an average of four additional sick days per year, while many others are forced to go out of work altogether.”

The announcement included plans for new real-world trials into the impact of weight loss jabs on unemployment. A study by Health Innovation Manchester and Lilly will investigate the ‘real-world effectiveness’ of Mounjaro in weight loss, diabetes prevention, the prevention of obesity-related complications and the impact on NHS use.

The study will also assess whether the drug will reduce unemployment and whether it has any effect on reducing sick days among workers. Experts say the results of the five-year trial, which will take place in Greater Manchester, “will potentially contribute to the UK’s care pathway approach to treating obesity”.

How effective is Mounjaro?

Mounjaro, manufactured by Lilly, is being hailed as the ‘King Kong’ of weight loss after a previous study found that people who took the drug, along with support to make changes to exercise and diet, lost an average of 21 percent of their body weight lost over a period of 36 weeks.

NHS officials have suggested that the rollout of the drug will have to be staggered across England due to expected high demand. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) will publish its final guidelines on Mounjaro and obesity later this year.

In his letter, the Health Secretary continued: “The long-term benefits of these drugs could be enormous in our approach to tackling obesity. For many people, these weight loss jabs will be life-changing, helping them get back to work and easing the demands on our NHS.

A recent report from the NHS Confederation and the Boston Consulting Group highlights how economic inactivity in Britain has risen by 900,000 since 2020, with 85 percent of this due to those with long-term illnesses. The authors argue that two key age groups are driving the increase in long-term absenteeism combined with economic inactivity: 18-to-24-year-olds and 50-to-64-year-olds, with the older group accounting for 55 percent of all inactive people. long-term ill people. In both groups there has been a “rapid increase” in the number of people reporting multiple health problems, the report shows.

Musculoskeletal (MSK) and mental health problems account for approximately 50 percent of all conditions reported by people who are long-term ill and economically inactive. Mr Streeting stressed that individuals must remain responsible for taking “healthy living” more seriously as “the NHS cannot be expected to always pick up the tab for unhealthy lifestyles”.

Most approved obesity medications come with support for people to make lifestyle and diet changes. Figures from the Health Survey for England show that in 2022, 29 percent of adults in England were obese and 64 percent were overweight or obese.

According to government figures, obesity costs the NHS around £6.5 billion a year and is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer. Obesity has also been linked to the development of type 2 diabetes. The NHS spends around £10 billion a year – almost 9 percent of its total budget – on caring for people with diabetes.