Cast your mind back to a time the world felt calmer. Donald Trump had just been shot. At that moment we all knew what was coming.
During the relatively quiet start of DT’s second reign, the tariff wars erupted. You’ll remember the ‘fat-shot-drug’ moment, when Trump highlighted the gulf in price paid by US weight-loss jab patients compared to UK ones.
You can trace a direct line from that chummy anecdote about a waistline-watching old pal (“rough guy, smart guy, very successful, very rich”) to what’s just happened to the price of Mounjaro in the UK.
Read more: Lilly hikes Mounjaro price to address ‘inconsistencies’
That intervention gave Eli Lily a potent injection up the backside. A price hike of this magnitude is hard to justify, but Trump’s exposure meant Lily could comfortably begin to bring the UK into line with other territories.
Even after the latest price hike, US patients still pay around three times more for a weight loss jab than a UK patient. That means headroom for that 170% to grow further.
I wonder what sort of deal the Department of Health (DH) has inked with Eli for all the Mounjaro it plans to power its multi-million person long-term rollout.
It can’t have hedged too many years ahead. That could be a particularly potent jab when it comes.
Read more: PM hints at ‘innovative’ pharmacy weight loss jab service rollout
Reaction to this first uptick was fierce enough. The IPA came out of the blocks smartly. As contract talks warm up, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) had a gentle pre-negotiation spar with the DH over future Mounjaro reimbursements so pharmacies wouldn’t get caught up in what could have felt like a sting.
For the record, CPE emerged looking lusty and keen.
Meanwhile, anecdotally patients are stockpiling Mounjaro. I don’t blame them. Pharmacies are - anecdotally - over-ordering. Can you blame them? New levels of desire have built up, everyone’s talking about it. Demand is peaking.
Read more: Revealed: Lilly creates ‘Mounjaro rebate scheme’ for pharmacies
Doubling-down boldly, Lily has stepped in to cap supply, heightening the feverish atmosphere. Lily’s share price had been sliding since late 24, following a four-year hot streak. But in the last week it’s on the up.
The early hype was all about Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, and the UK version, Wegovy. Then in strode Eli Lily’s Mounjaro, which you’ll remember is the ‘King Kong’ of weight loss jabs. Now Eli Lily has a new jab in development in the form of ‘Godzilla’, aka Retatrutide, aka Triple G. It’s said to be twice as strong as Wegovy.
As well as suppressing appetite like existing GLP-1 jabs, Retatrutide adds a new dimension by simultaneously speeding up the metabolism. I refuse to believe you won’t find an experienced healthcare professional who doesn’t agree that this all sounds absolutely brilliant for the insides.
Read more: Lilly implements Mounjaro ‘order freeze’ for UK wholesalers
Godzilla is technically still in development - it could be years away - and Eli has warned it remains in phase 3 clinical trials and should not be touched.
But it’s claimed down murky side streets that it’s the best thing for anyone looking to get beach body ready with emetic haste. The street name has been shortened to ‘Reta’, but wouldn’t ‘Zilla’ be edgier? These clinical drug dealers need to work on their marketing.
Who’d have imagined a mass quick-fix solution could end up like this. Won’t someone call in the online pharmacies to help clean up the mess?
