Diabetes patients to get access to new weight-loss drug ‘in weeks’

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By Ellie Ng, PA

A weight loss drug newly approved in a four-dose injection pen format by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) could be supplied to the UK “within weeks”.

Tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Mounjaro, is a diabetes drug that was authorised by the MHRA to help obese and overweight adults with weight management and loss in November last year.

US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has been given marketing authorisation of its Mounjaro “KwikPen” that gives four doses of the drug for once-a-week treatment over a month.

It has been approved to treat adults with type 2 diabetes and for weight management in obese adults, as well as overweight adult patients who have weight-related health problems like prediabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart problems.

Julian Beach, MHRA interim executive director of healthcare quality and access, said: “The public health importance of safe and effective treatments to help manage diabetes and obesity, which can have a significant impact on people’s health, is clear.