Weight loss jabs are not a ‘quick fix’ and the Health Secretary’s plan to use them to help people back to work could backfire, experts have warned.
Wes Streeting this week announced a real-world trial into the drug’s impact on unemployment, saying “widening waistbands” were putting a burden on the NHS. He suggested the jabs would not only benefit the healthcare system but could also help people get back to work.
But scientists have said using the drugs specifically for that purpose would pose serious logistical and ethical problems.
However, Wegovy, which contains the drug semaglutide, is already prescribed by the NHS for obesity This is not yet the case for Mounjarocontaining tirzepatide. There are also concerns about global shortages, although the NHS is thought to have enough.
Although the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has said that Wegovy should only be prescribed through specialist weight loss services, it has suggested Mounjaro can be prescribed by general practitioners.
Experts have welcomed the recognition of obesity as a health problem that affects quality of life and are excited about the potential of these drugs. But they say serious problems could arise if the drugs are used specifically to address unemployment.
“Streeting is right that for some people their weight will be a burden on their ability to work, and for people with significant obesity it is almost certain that their biology has led them to that weight. Providing people with proven, effective medicines to help them lose weight could help them enter the job market,” says Dr Simon Cork, Senior Lecturer in Physiology at Anglia Ruskin University. “But this is not a quick fix.”
A major problem, he said, is that access is already hugely problematic. Although he said specialist services are the best approach to maximize outcomes and ensure patient safety, overwhelming demand has already led to some trusts withdrawing all referrals for obesity services.
“The whole system is designed to put patients at risk and limit access to specialist services, but alternative provision through primary care risks the NHS wasting money on partially effective medicines and puts patient health at risk,” it added. he added, noting a complete overhaul of the system. is necessary.
Cork added that if unemployed people end up being prioritized for the drugs, one possibility is that people will leave their jobs, with patients known to gain weight to qualify for bariatric surgery.
“People will do things to access help because they are desperate,” he said.
Some have also raised ethical concerns if access to weight loss drugs were linked to employment potential, not least because people may not be in work due to caring responsibilities.
“In my opinion, let’s treat everyone who needs to be treated,” said Prof. Giles Yeo, an obesity expert at the University of Cambridge. “If we segment society based on whether or not you have economic value, and therefore whether or not I would treat you, where does that lead us?”
Yeo added that it is also important that people have the right to refuse medication.
“I think these drugs are effective and powerful, I think they are a tool that should be used appropriately. I don’t think enough people are getting it right now and that should be the case, and the people who need it (have it) should get it,” he said. “We should not blackmail people into taking the medicines if they don’t want to.”
And then there are fears that focusing on weight loss will divert attention from preventing obesity. “People who are already obese need help managing their weight loss journey,” says Cork. “However, the environment that has led to the obesity crisis also needs to change.”
Yeo agreed. “The drugs treat a disease, they don’t prevent a disease,” he said. “I don’t want (the government) to use (these drugs) as an excuse not to make tough policy decisions.”
Streeting’s comments came alongside the announcement of a new five-year study by Health Innovation Manchester and pharmaceutical company Lilly, which will investigate whether the drugs can not only deliver clinical benefits but also have a health economic impact, including changing employment of participants. status.
“For many people, these jabs will change lives, helping them get back to work and easing demands on our NHS,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Daily Telegraph this week.