The ‘King Kong’ of weight loss shots is now available privately in Britain.
Clinics charge around £40 for a week’s supply of Mounjaro or tirzepatide.
Patients who use it can expect to lose up to 20 percent of their body weight, data shows.
Anyone with a BMI over 30 – the technical classification for obesity – can get a private prescription.
Supplies of Tirzepatide have also reached the NHS. However, doctors are limited in who they can give it to.
Clinics charge around £40 for a week’s supply of Mounjaro or tirzepatide. Patients who use it can expect to lose up to 20 percent of their body weight, data shows. Anyone with a BMI over 30 – the technical classification for obesity – can receive a private prescription
According to the latest data, digestive problems were the most commonly reported side effects of tirzepatide, Mounjaro’s active ingredient. About one in five participants suffered from nausea and diarrhea, and about one in ten reported vomiting or diarrhea
Under current guidelines, only people with type 2 diabetes, who cannot control the condition, are eligible to get it on the NHS.
Health officials are considering expanding its use for weight loss on the NHS, where it will cost the standard prescription rate.
The drug, which is injected once a week under the skin of the stomach, thigh or upper arm, was approved for use by drug chiefs in November last year.
However, it is not yet available due to huge global demand.
Mounjaro will provide an alternative to Wegovy – or semaglutide – which is also in short supply due to overwhelming demand.
Simple Online Pharmacy, a company that now offers Mounjaro privately, says it has 80,000 patients looking to start treatment.
According to the website, a month’s supply is expected to cost £42 per week.
Another clinic, My London Pharmacy, sells it for £119 for a starting dose.
Tirzepatide, developed by US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, works by suppressing two appetite-regulating hormones, helping people feel full longer and have fewer food cravings.
The jab comes in a four-dose pen branded KwikPen, which provides a month’s treatment when used once a week.
It was previously only available in single doses.
Patients in the US can already get the weight loss jab ‘off-label’ from some doctors, with many sharing their incredible transformation.
One overweight man claimed the drug helped him lose up to 100 pounds (45.4 kg).
Before-and-after photos show the transformation of Matthew Barlow, a 48-year-old health technology executive living in California.
He started taking the drug last November. At the same time, he also changed his diet and lifestyle as recommended.
‘Psychologically speaking, you don’t want to eat. Now I can eat two bites of dessert and be satisfied,” he said.
Meanwhile, a TikTok user called Emily claimed she has lost 63.5kg since she was shocked by the weight loss injections.
“The incredible amount of joy I see in the mirror now is crazy,” she said. ‘I cried to myself in the mirror. Now I feel like one of the cool kids.”
Like all medicines, Mounjaro is not without side effects.
Some Americans are already using it ‘off label’. One of them is Matthew Barlow, a 48-year-old health technology executive living in California, who said he has lost more than 50 pounds since November 2022 by taking Mounjaro and changing his diet.
The MHRA has warned that the drug may affect the effectiveness of the contraceptive pill in obese or overweight female patients.
Other possible side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting – which usually goes away with time – and constipation.
Low blood sugar is also “very common” in patients with diabetes, the agency added.
A study of 900 participants also found that a fifth suffered from nausea and diarrhea, and around one in ten reported vomiting or constipation.
Other people who used the drug outside of clinical trials have reported experiencing hair loss while taking Mounjaro.
A link has also been suggested with an increased risk of cancer from the jab.
The European Medicines Agency said this year that research in rodents has suggested that the artificial hormones packed into tirzepatide could increase the risk of medullary thyroid cancer.