From today, obese patients in England have access to the ‘revolutionary’ weight loss Jab Mounjaro-free of pipeline direct of their doctor.
The weekly injection, also known as Tirzepatide, will be offered to around 220,000 people under new NHS prescription rules for the next three years.
Dubbed the ‘King Kong’ of Slimming Jabs, Mounjaro can help patients to throw their body weight in a year.
More than a million people in the UK already use it through private clinics, where it costs around £ 250 per month.
Until now, only a limited number of patients had access to the NHS through specialized weight management services.
But the admission is limited, with only 4,000 people a month with treatment due to a lack of clinic capacity.
That changes today. GPS can now prescribe the drug to patients with a BMI older than 40s as seriously obese and at least four obesity-related health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or sleep apnea.
The move follows a government decision earlier this year to expand access to GLP-1 drugs-a new class obesity drugs, including Mounjaro and the Rival Wegovy.
Within 12 years the NHS estimates that about four million British are expected to receive NHSweight loss Jabs
Health officials hope that the rollout will relieve the pressure on overloaded NHS services by tackling obesity-related disease before escalating.
In the next three years, NHS officials are planning to relax the health requirements for getting the medication, so that more patients will be able to start treatment.
And within 12 years it is expected that around four million British-jabs with weight loss will receive.
However, the rollout has already been criticized by experts who believe that it is going too slow to tackle a national obesity crisis.
Almost a third of British adults are obese, which costs the economy around £ 75 billion a year and contributes to more than 30,000 deaths.
In the meantime, GPs have expressed concern that they do not have the time to offer more GLP-1 injections of the patients.
However, health secretary Wes Streeting said that the rollout could help “end the obesity epidemic.”
He said: ‘Obesity Jabs are used by 1.5 million people in the UK, mainly through private recipes.
‘The NHS is based on a promise to’ universize the best ‘and this government is determined to bring revolutionary modern treatments for anyone who needs them, not only those who can afford to pay.
“This rollout is an important step to make these drugs more available and to shift the focus of healthcare from disease to prevention.”
Magic GLP-1 injections of the effect of a hunger hormone released by the stomach in response to food and tells the brain when it is full.
In 2021, Wegovy–contains the drugs semaglutide, also found in Ozempic-de first GLP-1 injection that must be approved for use in the UK.
The drugs help patients lose no less than 15 percent of their body weight in less than a year.
Mounjaro, which was approved in the UK in 2023, is even more effective, whereby obese patients lost on average to a quarter of their weight in 12 months.
Both Wegovy and Mounjaro are private available to patients with a BMI older than 30 – who are considered obesity as obesity as overweight, with at least one related disease.
But experts say that, due to the fact that it is more effective, about nine out of ten NHS patients who are eligible for medicines for weight loss Mounjaro receive instead of Wegovy.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said that the rollout could help “end the obesity epidemic ‘
If a Mounjaro recipe is approved, patients must initially have monthly face-to-face agreements with a ‘suitable trained health care professional’, such as a nurse.
During this period, patients must be followed on possible side effects.
Although Wegovy and Mounjaro are considered safe for use, they can lead to uncomfortable symptoms such as nausea and indigestion.
In rare cases, the injections can cause serious side effects, such as pancreatitis-a painful and potentially life-threatening swelling of the pancreas.
GPs will be obliged to provide nutritional and nutritional advice, together with the supervision of physical activity and psychological support, at least nine months after treatment treatment.
Some experts have criticized the NHS GLP-1 roll-out plan as too slowly.
At the current pace it takes 12 years to get the four million British who can benefit from weight loss Jabs.
In May, a report published by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), the think tank of the former Prime Minister, the NHS approach as ‘painfully slow’ and urged Minister to offer no fewer than 15 million patients the injections.
The TBI warned that, without immediate action, the obesity crisis of the UK would ensure that the NHS ‘collapses under the weight of chronic disease’. Obesity increases the risk of fatal problems such as heart conditions, cancer and dementia.
However, GPS groups have warned that family doctors do not have the time to offer millions of patients weight loss.
The Scottish nurse Susan McGowan, 58, died after taking only two doses of Mounjaro
“Although we recognize the potential benefits of drugs for weight loss, we know that many GPs are concerned about the implications of the rollout of weight loss drugs in general practice,” said Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
“GPS and our teams are already working under intense workload and personnel pressure, and this must be communicated in this rollout to guarantee that it can be delivered safely.”
The news comes after new figures from the government have revealed that more than 100 dead in Great Britain are linked to GLP-1 injections.
The vast majority of the fatalities, all of whom were reported since the Jabs had a permit for use in the UK, has not been proven that they were directly caused by the medicines.
However, health leaders in charge of checking the safety of medicines that allow reports of side effects, however, indicate ‘a suspicion’ that they may have been blamed.
A total of 111 deaths were recorded with the regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), up to and including 29 May.
In 2024 a British patient, Susan McGowan, died, 58, after taking only two doses of Mounjaro. The Scottish nurse experienced several organ failure, septic shock and pancreatitis. Haar is the only confirmed fatal distance linked to the Jabs in the UK.
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