The U.K. government will trial the use of weight loss treatments to help unemployed people with obesity get back into work and help tackle the high rate of long-term sickness that has become a major drag on the economy, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Tuesday.
Streeting said obesity, which affects millions of Britons, was causing people to take an extra four sick days and placing a huge burden on the state-run National Health Service (NHS).
"Our widening waistbands are also placing a significant burden on our health service, costing the NHS 11 billion pounds a year – even more than smoking," he wrote in the Telegraph newspaper.
At an international investment summit on Monday, the British government announced a 279 million pounds ($365 million) investment by American multinational Eli Lilly.
This will include a five-year trial of Eli Lilly's weight loss jab Mounjaro on up to 3,000 patients, including those who are obese and unemployed.
In July, a head-to-head study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that patients taking Mounjaro achieved significantly greater weight loss than those on Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy.
"The long-term benefits of these drugs could be monumental in our approach to tackling obesity," said Streeting.
He announced other measures to prevent "unhealthy lifestyles" when the Labour government came into power in July, including a ban on junk food advertising targeting children.
Over a quarter of U.K. adults suffered from obesity in the year ending in 2023, according to government data, increasing to 26.2% from 22.6% in 2015-2016.
A 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) report showed that the U.K. had higher obesity rates than every EU country except Malta.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said weight loss drugs were "very important" for the economy because they help people get back into work.
"Very important for the NHS because, as I've said time and again, yes, we need more money for our NHS, but we've got to think differently," Starmer told the BBC in an interview on Tuesday.
The public health advisory body has recommended a phased rollout of Mounjaro by the NHS, with draft plans for 250,000 people to access it in three years.