Could Ozempic bankrupt the NHS?

The NHS spends around £6.5 billion every year treating obesity. People who are overweight cost the health service twice as much as those who maintain a healthy weight. Half of all cancer cases are linked to obesity and being severely overweight significantly increases the risk of other conditions, such as diabetes, strokes and heart attacks. No public health campaign or intervention has ever worked. Obesity rates have nearly doubled in the UK since the 1990s. More than 60 per cent of adults are overweight.

It’s hoped that weight-loss injections, known as GLP-1 agonists – semaglutide (also known as Wegovy or Ozempic) and the more recent market entry tirzepatide (Mounjaro) – could reverse this trend. Rishi Sunak announced last month that he’s committed to rolling out these drugs – which were originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes – on the NHS to tackle the nation’s ill health. Until now, weight-loss injections have been restricted to pilot programmes on the health service; most patients taking these drugs get them privately.