It seems the government has found a new enemy for us to hate, leading This Site to ask: is Labour now targeting fat people?
Here‘s the BBC:
Proposals to give weight loss jabs to unemployed people living with obesity could be “very important” for our economy and health, the prime minister has told the BBC.
Sir Keir Starmer said he acknowledged that more money was needed for the NHS, and the government also needed to “think differently” to ease pressure on the health system.
His comments came after Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the jabs could be given to help people get back into work.
Streeting suggested the medicines could be “life changing” for individuals.
His words came as the government announced a five-year trial in Greater Manchester of the weight loss drug Mounjaro.
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Mounjaro’s maker, Lilly – the world’s largest pharmaceutical company – is investing £279m as part of the trial, which will look at whether using the drug will reduce worklessness and NHS use.
Nearly 250,000 people are expected to receive the Mounjaro jab over the next three years, officials said.
It seems to This Writer that a health company lobbyist has got to Streeting.
For a start, Mounjaro is not a weight loss drug. It is a treatment for type 2 diabetes- and then only when three other medications have failed to help.
It works by helping your body to produce more insulin when needed. It also reduces the amount of glucose, or sugar, produced by the liver, and slows down how quickly food is digested – and this is the apparent reason for the trial.
The planned weight-loss trial places strict limits on who is eligible to have the drug: during the first three years, it would be limited to people with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 40 kg/m2 and at least three weight-related health problems: hypertension, dyslipidaemia, obstructive sleep apnoea, or cardiovascular disease.
Mounjaro would then be offered to people with a BMI of more than 40 kg/m2 plus two weight-related health problems, and then to people with a BMI of more than 40 kg/m2 plus one weight-related health problem.
It would not be offered to people with diabetes – those most likely to benefit from it – for at least another three years.
Experts have warned against it. Obesity policy specialist Dr Dolly van Tulleken told the BBC’s Today programme (among other things) that the plan considers people according to “their potential economic value” rather than their needs.
And former health minister Lord Bethell said the NHS would have to make “concrete steps to pivot to prevention so that we’re not simply medicalising the national obesity problem.” This would require recipients to learn how to eat well and get into the habit of exercising – and to stick to both, whether on the medication or not.
All of that seems a bit of a stretch in a health service that we are being told – by the government that wants to do this – is practically breathing its last.
But 250,000 people receiving Mounjaro over the next three years, at a rate of one injection every week comes to… 39 million doses of this drug.
Apparently it costs £9.95 per dose to get it on the NHS. I don’t know whether that’s the cost price as well as the price at which it is sold (wouldn’t it be nice to think so) but at that price, 39 million doses would net Lilly a cool £388,050,000 – more than £100 million more than the firm is investing.
And there’s no guarantee that this drug will help anybody lose weight and keep it off, let alone get a job and keep it.
So if this is the work of a lobbyist, This Writer imagines they will be receiving a very healthy bonus this year.
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Is Labour now targeting fat people?
It seems the government has found a new enemy for us to hate, leading This Site to ask: is Labour now targeting fat people?
Here‘s the BBC:
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
It seems to This Writer that a health company lobbyist has got to Streeting.
For a start, Mounjaro is not a weight loss drug. It is a treatment for type 2 diabetes- and then only when three other medications have failed to help.
It works by helping your body to produce more insulin when needed. It also reduces the amount of glucose, or sugar, produced by the liver, and slows down how quickly food is digested – and this is the apparent reason for the trial.
The planned weight-loss trial places strict limits on who is eligible to have the drug: during the first three years, it would be limited to people with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 40 kg/m2 and at least three weight-related health problems: hypertension, dyslipidaemia, obstructive sleep apnoea, or cardiovascular disease.
Mounjaro would then be offered to people with a BMI of more than 40 kg/m2 plus two weight-related health problems, and then to people with a BMI of more than 40 kg/m2 plus one weight-related health problem.
It would not be offered to people with diabetes – those most likely to benefit from it – for at least another three years.
Experts have warned against it. Obesity policy specialist Dr Dolly van Tulleken told the BBC’s Today programme (among other things) that the plan considers people according to “their potential economic value” rather than their needs.
And former health minister Lord Bethell said the NHS would have to make “concrete steps to pivot to prevention so that we’re not simply medicalising the national obesity problem.” This would require recipients to learn how to eat well and get into the habit of exercising – and to stick to both, whether on the medication or not.
All of that seems a bit of a stretch in a health service that we are being told – by the government that wants to do this – is practically breathing its last.
But 250,000 people receiving Mounjaro over the next three years, at a rate of one injection every week comes to… 39 million doses of this drug.
Apparently it costs £9.95 per dose to get it on the NHS. I don’t know whether that’s the cost price as well as the price at which it is sold (wouldn’t it be nice to think so) but at that price, 39 million doses would net Lilly a cool £388,050,000 – more than £100 million more than the firm is investing.
And there’s no guarantee that this drug will help anybody lose weight and keep it off, let alone get a job and keep it.
So if this is the work of a lobbyist, This Writer imagines they will be receiving a very healthy bonus this year.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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