Lilly's (LLY.US) blockbuster obesity drug Mounjaro will be launched in the UK in a few months
1min read The National Health Service in England will start rolling out LLY.US's blockbuster weight loss drug Mounjaro in the coming months, but only a small number of patients will be able to access it initially. The NHS has decided to limit access to those most in need as it tries to control what could be a ballooning bill for weight loss drugs. The final draft of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's guidance considers the NHS's request to roll out the drug within 12 years. About 3.4 million people in England meet the criteria for Mounjaro, including those with a BMI over 35 and at least one weight-related disease. However, the agency expects only about 220,000 people to be able to access the drug three years from now, just over 6 per cent of the eligible population. "Only those with the highest clinical need will be offered initial treatment. Many will have to wait. We have had to make this difficult decision to protect other important NHS services and to test the delivery of a new generation of weight loss drugs," said Jonathan Benger, chief medical officer at NICE, in a statement. Patients who have already received specialist weight management services will be the first to be eligible for Mounjaro, which they will be able to access within 90 days of the final guidance being published — expected to be on Dec. 23. The most clinically needy patients will start receiving Mounjaro treatment 180 days later. The recommendation is based on a price tag of £122 per week for four injections. The total cost to the NHS will be about £317.2m a year by the third year of implementation. The drug, known as Zepbound in the US, performed well in a head-to-head trial with Novo Nordisk's Wegovy. Patients receiving Zepbound lost an average of 20 per cent of their weight over 72 weeks, compared with 14 per cent for those receiving Wegovy in a study sponsored by Eli Lilly. Many patients in the UK have already been prescribed Mounjaro and Wegovy outside the NHS network. Wegovy is only available to NHS patients who have accessed specialist weight management services.