Weight loss jab users hope pills could cut cost

Users of weight loss drugs say having the medication in pill form could make it cheaper, but others think it may be "annoying" to have to remember to take the pills every day.

A pill version of weight loss medicine Wegovy has been approved in the UK, meaning it will be available with a private prescription soon.

Sophie Bradfield, 56, from Downend in Bristol, has lost five stone on weight loss jabs and she hopes the pill would be more cost effective.

"To me the injection is nothing, I would happily continue it for the rest of my life but I think the pill would be cheaper," she said.

Bradfield, a lab technician at the University of Bristol, started staking GLP-1 medication, which helps regulate blood sugar and appetite, in June last year and has now lost five stone.

She has tried both Mounjaro and Wegovy but said she found Mounjaro worked better for her and hopes one day it will also be available in tablet form.

Currently the only pill form of GLP-1 approved by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is a once-a-ay tablet form of Wegovy.

The manufacturer Novo Nordisk hopes the pill might be more convenient as it doesn't need to be kept in the fridge.

"This gives patients another option - one that may fit their lives and help them reach their health goals," said Emil Kongshøj Larsen, executive vice president of international operations at the company.

Bradfield said losing the weight has "changed my life", and she has seen other medical problems like her blood sugar levels all improve.

She said: "I couldn't carry on as I was.

"I do know people who would use weight loss jabs but they are very needle phobic, I think the more choice we have all got, the better it is.

"I really understand now that obesity is a disease and for me the food noise is now gone.

"If you have a difficulty with food, its obvious, you get discriminated against and people think you're lazy and fat.

"I can't get over the difference it's made for my life."

Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, called the approval of the pill "significant" and added the pill might bring the cost down.

The pill is not yet approved for use on the NHS until NICE - the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence - also agrees.

"NICE can only recommend a medicine for NHS use if a company submits it for appraisal," a NICE spokesperson said.

"Novo Nordisk has not made an evidence submission to NICE, so we are unable to make a recommendation on its use on the NHS at this time.

"We are in active dialogue with Novo Nordisk."

Mick Collins, 58, who is a cheese seller in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, said he thought he'd continue to inject once weekly instead of possibly having to take a pill every day.

Collins is on a two-year NHS programme for weight loss using Mounjaro, and has gone from 17 stone down to 14 stone and four pounds.

"I think pills would get annoying and I might forget to do it," he said.

"I'm fine with sticking a needle in my stomach, it doesn't hurt and you really don't know you've done it."

Collins added it was "nonsense" that some men felt embarrassed taking weight loss drugs.

"Look, if the nurse tells you are in diabetes type two range and if you don't lose the weight you might lose a finger, you lose the weight - no contest.

"On top of the drugs I've done a lot of hard work, jogging and getting healthy.

"The best moment I've had recently was fitting into a Harlequins [rugby] shirt I'd not been able to wear for 25 years."

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