Tens of thousands of NHS patients living with obesity could get cutting-edge help to improve their health, the government has said.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has announced a new health innovation programme backed by up to £85 million from taxpayers and pharmaceutical company Lilly to test new ways to support obese people in the UK.
The programme aims to make it easier for obese people to access holistic care, including a range of wrap-around services and treatments via routes including pharmacies.
Benefits to health and well-being
Government will contribute up to £50m of new UK-wide investment, and Lilly will contribute up to £35m of grant funding, with NHS organisations able to come up with proposals and apply for a share of the funding.
The programme will be open to proposals from across the UK. In participating areas, eligible patients could access innovative services as early as summer 2026.
Besides the potential benefits to individuals’ health and wellbeing, this could help bring down the £11bn annual cost to the NHS of supporting patients living with obesity.
‘Foreign freeloaders’
While this ‘ground-breaking’ collaboration is announced, Lilly has raised the UK price of weight loss drug Mounjaro by up to 170%.
The pharmaceuticals group seeks to address US complaints about ‘foreign freeloaders’ who rely on Americans to pay more for medicines.
According to The Financial Times, Lilly said it was working with healthcare providers to maintain access to a jab recommended to more than 3m people in England.
Viewpoint
The rise in price is as a direct result of President Trump’s demands that the US become the most favoured nation when it comes to pharmaceutical pricing.
Although the new obesity initiative will be welcomed, it is treating the symptoms and not the cause. Our addiction to low-priced, ultra-processed food means we spend more on health problems.
The links between the pharmaceutical, private healthcare and food production industries has not yet been acknowledged by this government. Our taxes are being used to prop up an unsustainable system regardless of the availability of weight loss drugs.
