Give more people weight loss jabs on the NHS, say MPs

Hundreds of thousands more people should be given access to the weight-loss injection Mounjaro on the NHS in England, a cross-party group of MPs says.

The Health Committee said the current plan for 220,000 people to have this jab for free on prescription in 2028 was a "woefully small number" and "unambitious".

This represents only around 6% of eligible people and is a key reason why more than a million have been paying privately for weight-loss injections, including Mounjaro and Wegovy.

The committee says a two-tier system is emerging in which only the wealthy can get good access to the medication that curbs appetite.

Due to costs, the NHS is currently working on a 12-year rollout for Mounjaro - although this is being reviewed.

It is estimated that if all 2.8 million people eligible for the drug were given it immediately, it would cost the NHS £15.2 billion over five years.

Some of that expense is linked to the NHS relying heavily on GPs to oversee the prescribing and monitoring.

MPs say the NHS must learn from private providers who often use digital platforms to do some of this work.

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