Revealed: obesity jab maker discussed targeting benefit claimants with UK government

Obesity jab maker Novo Nordisk suggested to senior government officials that they could ‘profile’ benefit claimants so that those most likely to return to work could be targeted with weight loss injections.

Internal documents obtained by the Observer reveal that Pinder Sahota, corporate vice-president of Novo Nordisk UK, told then Health Secretary Steve Barclay, the UK’s Chief Medical Officer and Treasury officials, that “data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) could help profile those most likely to return to the labor market.”

Another Novo Nordisk figure, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, “noted the need” to “target the right cohort to drive labor market activity, such as those at the employability tipping point, where obesity is the driving force to enter the labor market to leave”.

The comments were made at a private meeting of Novo Nordisk executives with senior policy makers earlier this year, shortly after Novo Nordisk’s obesity jab Wegovy was recommended for NHS use in England by health watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

Barclay is said to have invited Sahota, Jørgensen and other Novo Nordisk executives to a meeting at the Department of Health and Social Care on March 21 to discuss a pilot project to improve obesity care in Britain.

They were accompanied by England’s Chief Medical Officer Prof. Chris Whitty, Treasury officials, and Prof. Sir John Bell, an Oxford academic who is a member of the Novo Nordisk-Oxford strategic alliance committee, according to minutes of meetings held have been released under freedom of information laws.

During the meeting, attendees discussed the potential socio-economic benefits of making weight loss injections available in a community-based pilot program, in addition to “wraparound support” such as guidance on returning to work.

Government officials asked Novo Nordisk whether the ongoing pilots involving Wegovy were identifying the impact on the labor market, which Novo Nordisk said was not the case. A Treasury official said the government would “appreciate a clearer sense of timing,” including how quickly a pilot to assess economic impact could be set up and “generate results.”

Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president of development at Novo Nordisk, further said that “economic benefits could accrue as health benefits accrue” if a community-based pilot project were established. Jørgensen and Sahota then made the comments about targeting certain benefit recipients.

It is not clear whether Novo Nordisk’s suggestion to target interventions at certain benefit recipients has been accepted by the government. The Department of Health said this weekend that it had no plans to use DWP data to profile benefit claimants. However, getting people back to work would have been a key aim of his plans to increase access to weight-loss jabs.

In March the Time reported that “millions of people could be offered a new generation of weight-loss drugs under plans to stem the tide of obesity and get benefit claimants back to work,” after a clear briefing by officials.

The comments about targeting benefit recipients do not appear to have been disputed by anyone present. According to the minutes, the meeting concluded with Jørgensen saying he felt a “great interest from the government, with further details to resolve, but a shared vision”.

Barclay – who was removed from his role at the Department of Health and installed as Environment Secretary last week in Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet reshuffle – responded by saying the work “speaks to the key strategic objective of the government, namely improving the level” and by thanking Novo Nordisk for what was an important step. “tremendously useful discussion about shared objectives”.

The government has since announced a £40 million pilot project to investigate how approved weight loss drugs could be made available “to tens of thousands more people” than would currently qualify under Nice guidelines, including using GPs to deliver the drug for to write instead of just using it. are available in specialized weight loss services.

A joint announcement from the Prime Minister and the Department of Health in June 2023 said the potential impacts of the pilot included reducing NHS waiting lists and “wider economic benefits”.

Professor Simon Capewell, a public health policy expert and emeritus professor at the University of Liverpool, said the comments from Novo Nordisk executives were “shocking and “absolutely unethical”. He added: “They propose to target people in the interest of the state, for economic reasons, rather than prioritizing the person’s own interests and health.”

He also said that setting up a pilot project that targeted the shots at people who were “on the cusp of returning to work” would be “scientifically dishonest” and would risk tilting the results in the company’s favor fall out. “If you have people who are just over the obesity threshold and are considered by the DWP to be at the threshold of simply returning to work, that would be a great piece of marketing for the company,” he said.

Labor MP Debbie Abrahams, co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on universal credit and a member of the Work and Pensions Committee, said Novo Nordisk’s suggestion to target benefit claimants was “very concerning on several levels”. She added: “There are clear ethical issues in requesting this personal data be used, even with an individual’s consent.”

The minutes of the meeting, released by the Ministry of Health, also show that Novo Nordisk executives have pushed for closer cooperation with the government on obesity services, with Sahota suggesting integration with “Boots, WeightWatchers and digital health programs commissioned by NHS England”.

The pharmaceutical company also suggested that the jabs would be given not only to those most in need of help due to their ‘very obese’ behaviour, but also to those with a lower body mass index (BMI) who were at risk of co-morbidities to develop. Nice currently only recommends Wegovy for obese people with a BMI over 35 and at least one weight-related comorbidity, or for people with a BMI of 30 to 34 who have a comorbidity and are eligible for referral to a specialist weight management service.

This weekend, Novo Nordisk said it refuted any suggestions of “unethical behavior.” It did not deny that the comments about profiling of benefit recipients had been made, but said discussions about a pilot had been led by the government, with the company not involved in designing or running such a scheme.

It also said it took an ethical and transparent approach to its clinical trial process, in line with industry and regulatory standards. The company added that it was aware of the government’s ambition to “help people live healthier and more productive lives and help people get back to work”. As part of this, it said there were preliminary discussions on the role of obesity treatment to support that ambition.

But it said it had always been clear that every pilot would need to take a multi-disciplinary, community-based approach and that measuring a productivity outcome based on one metric would be difficult because there can be many factors that contribute to a person’s ability to re-enter the workforce. to come to battle. workforce.

“Misrepresentation in discussions with partners, when taken out of their rightful context, only serves to distort the truth and have harmful consequences for people living with obesity and their access to healthcare,” a spokesperson said.

“As invited advisors, Novo Nordisk provided the UK government with perspectives on economic inactivity and the opportunities within obesity to help people live healthier and more productive lives.

“The discussion included the Government’s proposals for a pilot to better support people with obesity, highlighting the need to focus on ensuring appropriate holistic, multi-disciplinary support and community-based distribution.”

The Department of Health said ministers had met a number of stakeholders and a range of views were likely to be expressed at those meetings. It said there were no plans to use data from the DWP to tackle obesity drugs.

A spokesperson said: “Nice determines the eligibility criteria for Wegovy on the NHS, which does not target benefit claimants.