Wes Streeting’s new plan to give obese patients weight loss injections so they can return to work was torn apart by a doctor this morning.
This new medication – part of a £279m investment from the world’s largest pharmaceutical company Lilly – is to be tested in the first real-world trial of the drugs’ impact on “worklessness”.
The health secretary claims this drug will stop obesity burdening the NHS and holding back the economy.
However, Dr Hilary Jones told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday that he was “full of doubts” over the plan.
He said it was a sign the UK is looking to treat the results of obesity rather than the initial causes, adding that it reinforces the belief there is a drug to cure every aspect of an unhealthy lifestyle.
He continued: “We haven’t discussed the side effect profile of these injections, which include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness, constipation, hair loss, acute pancreatitis, alopecia – I could name more.”
Dr Jones also warned that the drug will interfere with other medications like anticoagulant and the oral contraceptive pill, and added: “We shouldn’t take these injections lightly.
“We also have a shortage of the people who need it most, those with Type 2 Diabetes.”
He also noted that “we’ve got no proof that it will get people back to work even if they’ve lost the weight.”
The GP explained it was impossible to put two-thirds of the general public who are overweight or obese on these injections, too.
Plus, according to the doctor, even if the drug is effective, it’s hard to keep the weight off – “unless you change their mindset” – meaning patients would have to be on the injections for life.
He also said it was a “quick fix” which left him “full of doubts”, adding that the UK needs more courage when it came to fix this health issue.
“We need to tackle the problems before people get overweight or obese,” Dr Jones said.
Researchers will be looking at the “real-world effectiveness” of the weekly injected pen Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide, on 3,000 people over a five-year period.
Officials estimate that the weight-loss jab will be rolled out to 250,000 people over the next three years, starting with those who are morbidly obese.