Mounjaro Becomes 2nd Diabetes Drug Prescribed for Weight Loss on NHS

The self-injected drug Mounjaro has become the second diabetes medication to be recommended to help obese people lose weight on the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).
The drug was recommended last September by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for type 2 diabetics who could not tolerate other drugs owing to side-effects. At the time, the NHS said it would need “more evidence” before it would greenlight its use for weight loss.
The latest draft guidance from NICE, published this week, says the drug should now be an option to help people lose weight, following its approval as an anti-obesity treatment by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) last November.
Made by American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, Mounjaro—also known as tirzepatide—is part of a group of medications that help manage blood sugar known as GLP-1 agonists.
It works by suppressing two appetite-regulating hormones, making people feel fuller for longer and reducing food cravings.
Other members of the drug family include semaglutide, which is sold under the brand names Wegovy, Ozempic, and Rybelsus.
Trial data suggest those who take it can expect to lose up to 20 percent of their body weight, which is more, on average, than its rivals.
The most common side effects of the drug include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, decreased appetite, constipation, upper abdominal discomfort, and abdominal pain.
Some people taking the drug outside of clinical trials have said they suffered hair loss while taking Mounjaro.
The MHRA has warned the drug may affect how well the contraceptive pill works in obese or overweight female patients.
The European Medicines Agency said this year that research on rodents has suggested the artificial hormones packaged in tirzepatide could raise the risk of medullary thyroid cancer.
Although Eli Lily suggests the drug could be useful to those with a BMI of 30 and above, the NHS spending watchdog said that it would be most cost-effective to the NHS to make it available for those of a higher BMI threshold.
A lower BMI threshold—usually reduced by 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds)—may be used for people from Asian, South Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, black African, or African-Caribbean ethnic backgrounds, the guidelines say.
Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, a professor of clinical biochemistry and medicine and director of the Medical Research Council Metabolic Diseases Unit at the University of Cambridge, welcomed the decision to approve the drug, claiming the NHS was in “a new era of obesity management.”
He said in a statement, “Given the very positive recent results of large, randomised control trials with this drug and its beneficial effects on a range of outcomes, this decision is not surprising.”
“The genie is out of the bottle here. Safe and effective drug treatment for obesity is not going to go away,” he said.
But he added: “We must continue to work on making our environment less promoting of obesity. But that will take political will and time.”
The NICE recommendation on Mounjaro comes after Wegovy was given the greenlight to treat obesity on the NHS last year.
The drug was launched in the UK in August 2023 and is recommended for those with at least one obesity-related condition and a BMI of 35, or 30 if they meet the criteria for a referral to specialist weight management services.
A four-week supply of pre-filled pen injections of Mounjaro ranges from £92 for the lowest dose to £122 for the highest.
The price of Wegovy ranges from £73.25 to £175.80 per pack, with each pack containing one pen that delivers four doses.
However, some users of the weight loss jabs have shared less positive experiences after suffering severe side-effects which caused them to stop taking it.
Some have said that while they have shed the pounds, they were left with severely slackened skin from losing a large percentage of their body weight so quickly. Terms such as “Ozempic face” and “melted candle skin” have been coined by those less than thrilled with their results.
Around 26 percent of Britons are currently classed as obese and 37 percent as overweight, with around 250 health conditions linked to obesity and a cost to the NHS estimated by the government at £6 billion a year.