Could weight-loss drugs boost the economy?

Weight-loss jabs could be used to help unemployed people get back to work, in a plan under consideration by Wes Streeting. Writing in The Telegraph, the health secretary said obesity was placing a "significant burden" on the NHS and "holding back our economy". The use of weight-loss drugs could be "monumental" in tackling the problem of short- and long-term economic inactivity caused by obesity-related health conditions.

Streeting announced a collaboration with the world's largest pharmaceutical company, Lilly, which will include a five-year trial investigating whether the use of the weight-loss drug tirzepatide helps get people back into employment.

What the commentators said

It's safe to say that to "drug the unemployed with appetite suppressants until they’re thin enough to work", wasn't at the top of most voters' wishlists, wrote Will Dunn in The New Statesman. "And yet here we are".

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Studies have shown that losing a job can lead to weight gain, he added, but the logic behind the Lilly trial proposes the opposite: that being overweight causes unemployment. Even if that were the case, tackling the "sharp regional inequality in this country" and better regulating unhealthy foods would have more of a "positive impact on economic growth".

Obesity policy specialist Dr Dolly van Tulleken told BBC Radio 4’s "Today" programme that the approach raised "serious ethical, financial and efficacy considerations", including the prospect of people being assessed "on their potential economic value" rather than their individual health needs.

The Telegraph's Philip Johnston said there were other problems with the idea. Rather than increasing productivity, Mounjaro – one of the brand names for tirzepatide – left him feeling so sick that he "couldn't go to the office for days".

But Oxford economist Daniel Susskind, writing in The Sunday Times, argued that the rise of weight-loss drugs offered an "immense opportunity" and it was time politicians challenged the idea that they are just a "beauty treatment for a privileged and lucky few".

"We have a potentially blockbuster drug on our hands" with benefits "not only for overweight individuals but for society as a whole".

What next?

Manchester University's Professor Martin Rutter, who is lead investigator for the five-year trial, said his team would be investigating Mounjaro's effectiveness on weight loss and preventing obesity-related conditions such as diabetes. They will also examine its impact on the participants' working lives.

Weight-loss drugs are already prescribed by the NHS for obesity and diabetes, although Sky News said "thousands" of people were unable to access Wegovy because of a slow roll-out by the NHS. According to Freedom of Information requests by the broadcaster, by the end of April, only 800 people out of the 13,500 estimated to be eligible by the Department of Health had been able to start their prescribed treatment.

Speaking to the BBC, Van Tulleken said that there would be "millions" eligible for weight-loss treatment, but that specialist weight-management services could treat only 49,000 patients per year. Drug manufacturers could also struggle to keep up with demand, said the broadcaster, and the NHS has also "tightly restricted" the use of weight-loss drugs. Mounjaro is not yet available on the NHS and officials have warned it "could take years" for it to be rolled out.