Cash limits deny weight-loss drug to thousands of patients

THOUSANDS of people who could benefit from weight-loss jab Mounjaro on the NHS are missing out due to funding shortages.

- By Jane Kirby

Just 18 out of 42 commissioning groups in England have started prescribing it in line with guidance, according to figures gathered by the British Medical Journal.

NHS England has set up a phased rollout of up to 12 years but data suggests even patients eligible now cannot get it and currently most pay privately.

The BMJ says only nine integrated care boards had the money to cover at least 70% of those eligible. Four ICBs said funding covered just 25% or less – Coventry and Warwickshire fared the worst, with the money to treat just 376 patients of its 1,795 eligible patients in the first year.