Weight loss medication has taken the UK by storm, what comes next?

By Phoebe Clark

The popular weight loss medication Mounjaro was first approved for use in the UK in 2023. Since then, about half a million people in the UK have paid to use the drug privately.

Effective results from this new wave of weight loss medication are all around us, with the average person losing between 8-22% of their starting body weight after 72 weeks of usage, dependent on dosage level.

But who are the individuals experiencing weight loss medication in its prime and what are their stories? Has Mounjaro been as beneficial as the media reports?

Lisa Mitchell, 44, from Erskine, has been taking Mounjaro for around 16 months. She explained her reasoning for trying the weight loss medication.

“I have a lot of health issues, such as polycystic ovarian syndrome, diverticulitis and arthritis.”

Lisa paid privately to see a specialist who was able to prescribe Mounjaro as a positive solution to the issues she had been facing for years. Despite this, she was unable to receive treatment via the NHS as she did not have diabetes or high blood pressure.

“The changes it made to my health I would say were more rewarding than the weight loss.

“For me it wasn’t about that, it was about managing every day and not being in constant chronic pain.”

Despite feeling happy in herself, Lisa noted that since stopping Mounjaro a few months ago, daily exercise and pain became less manageable. She said: “It’s not a coincidence and I don’t think it’s a placebo effect, I’m not imagining the difference in the pain and the difference in my health.

“Since I’ve came off [Mounjaro] I’ve had to take my inhaler every single day. When I was on it for a year and a half, I barely took my inhaler.”

Freelance Dietitian Lesley Reid specialises in gut health and weight loss support.

She said: “I have clients that potentially have used it as a tool as part of their weight loss strategy.

“For me, this drug is a once in a lifetime drug, that’s come about because we’re classing obesity now as a disease because we live in an obesogenic society.

“There’s loads of reasons for weight gain and it’s not just energy in, energy out, so for me, it’s a tool.”

Lesley also provided some insight to where weight loss medication may take us in the future.

She said: “A drug has a seven-year license, that company has [exclusive rights to produce] that drug for seven years. After those seven years people can copy the code.

“I think people must be very wary where they’re buying it from. You want to buy it from a reputable company because there will be fake ones out there, and you’re injecting this into your body.

“There will be a tablet coming out in the future. The problem is with the tablet; they aren’t too sure on the cost. Because it’s got to go through your stomach, it must have a very high level of the GLP1 to survive the gastric acid. So, I don’t know if that’s going to be a cheaper option because of the amount of the drug that’s going to have to be in the tablet.”

Despite talks of new formulas arriving soon, Lisa remained happy with how the original component of Mounjaro was working for her and personally didn’t feel a need to change her intake of the medication.

She said: “I hate taking pills. If you could put it in a powder form that I could put in my coffee I’d take it no problem. I have no problem injecting it.

“To me putting it in a tablet form, it’s just another pill you’re adding, and the whole point in me doing Mounjaro is I want to get away from having to take all this medication.”

Lesley said: “This is not just laziness; there’s more to obesity.

“I think we must take the blame away. This is an epidemic.”

Lisa said: “I think [weight loss drugs] get a really bad rep. I understand why because there’s so many people selling it that shouldn’t be.

“I do think prescribers need to be a little bit more careful about who they’re giving it to because there’s a lot of people taking it that I don’t think need to take it.

“It could be dangerous if the NHS don’t get onboard because it could save the NHS a lot of money.

“I don’t think it should be marketed just as a weight loss drug, I think it needs to be marketed as something more than that.

“I wish I had this drug 20 years ago it could have stopped my arthritis getting as bad.”

By next year, a weight loss tablet created by the same manufacturer of Mounjaro will be available in the UK. The success of the predecessor injections has

taken the world by storm and has made a significant impact on quality of life for Lisa.

It is safe to assume that this is only the beginning for weight loss medication, something that many across the country with both obesity and underlying health conditions have wished for.

By the end of 2027, the NHS will have provided Mounjaro in a planned rollout to approximately 220,000 people. With our national healthcare service providing more prescriptions of the weight loss medication, many are hopeful that this could be the start of a happier, healthier rest of their lives.