UK prices for weight loss jab jump as drugmaker bows to Trump demands

Telegraph

12 hours ago

The US drugmaker Eli Lilly has bowed to demands from Donald Trump by raising the prices of its weight-loss jab for UK customers.
The pharmaceutical giant said it was making its obesity drug Mounjaro more expensive in the UK to address 'pricing inconsistencies compared to other developed countries, including in Europe'.
Eli Lilly's weight-loss jab will now cost between £133 and £330 per injection pen, depending on dosage in the UK. One pen contains four doses. Currently, it costs between £92 and £122.
That is the list price, which is what private providers will pay for the medicines. It is not necessarily what patients will pay privately for the medicines. Clinics are able to set their own prices for the jab, although the cost for patients is likely to increase in line with the higher list price.
Eli Lilly said the increase would come into force from Sept 1.
It comes just days after the US president demanded that drugmakers lower prices for American patients. He suggested they could offset this with higher prices in other countries.
Late last month, Mr Trump wrote to pharmaceutical companies including Britain's GSK and AstraZeneca, demanding that they 'negotiate harder with foreign freeloading nations'.
In the letter, he said 'increased revenues abroad must be repatriated to lower drug prices for American patients and taxpayers'.
The UK has been seen as a potential target for these increases, given the NHS has a reputation for being among the toughest negotiators on drug prices. It is often able to secure major discounts.
Eli Lilly said its previous price for Mounjaro in the UK had been 'significantly below the European average'.
A spokesman added: 'With changes in the environment and new clinical evidence supporting the value of Mounjaro, we are now aligning the list price more consistently to ensure fair global contributions to the cost of innovation.'
Eli Lilly said it had also reached an agreement with the NHS 'to ensure continued supply and patient access'.
The company did not disclose what price it had agreed with the NHS, with negotiations with the public health body confidential. However, the NHS typically secures a lower price than private providers for medicines.
Eli Lilly's Mounjaro drug is available both privately and on the NHS through GPs.
However, to get the treatment from a GP, a patient needs to have a BMI of over 40 – classing them as severely obese – as well as at least four of five specific health conditions, which include type 2 diabetes and sleep apnoea.
The requirements are lower for private patients, with people eligible if they have a BMI of 30 or above.
The latest step by Eli Lilly will be seen as the start of a wave of higher medicine costs in Britain.
Earlier this year, the UK and US signed a trade agreement in which ministers agreed the NHS would review drug pricing to take into account the 'concerns of the president'.
Last week, the Government told drugmakers that it would agree to boost spending on medicines to comparable levels with the US.
Sir Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca's chief, last month said he agreed that America paid too much for medicines compared to other countries.
'The president is right that price equalisation should happen,' he said.
AstraZeneca has proposed lowering some of its prices in the US, the chief said, forming part of a 'rebalancing' of its prices globally.