Mounjaro manufacturer Lilly has invited pharmacies to participate in a “Mounjaro rebate scheme” once the weight loss drug’s prices increase next month, C+D has learned.
Private services provider Pharmadoctor’s “partner pharmacies” will be able to charge their patients “much less” as part of the scheme, its chief executive Graham Thoms yesterday (August 18) told C+D.
“We understand...that our partner pharmacies will need to complete a commercial agreement with Lilly to purchase Mounjaro at the new higher prices from September,” Thoms said.
Read more: BREAKING: Lilly hikes Mounjaro price to address ‘inconsistencies’
However, pharmacies “will be able to claim back a rebate from Lilly at the end of the month, so long as they pass on the discount to patients”, he added.
This means that pharmacies “will be able to charge patients much less when the new prices [come] into effect in September”, he explained.
Lilly last week announced that it will increase the UK list price for its tirzepatide weight loss drug by up to 170% from September 1 to “address pricing inconsistencies compared to other developed countries”.
“Expect pharmacy closures”
The Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) last week (August 15) warned that the price hike would lead to more pharmacy closures in the UK.
Chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck said that the “price rise is likely to hit demand for jabs”, which will in turn affect “the finances of the whole sector”.
“We can expect to see more pharmacy branches closing as a result of this price hike,” she warned, noting that “the growth of patients seeking weight loss jabs privately has been a real lifeline for community pharmacies” and has helped “keep the doors of scores of pharmacies open”.
Read more: DH launches investigation into private prescribing ‘safety’
“There is a very real danger that the higher prices will see patients [who are] desperate for cheaper products turn to the often-unregulated online market,” she said.
Hannbeck added that a reduced demand for weight loss jabs will “add to an increased demand” for the government to deliver “fairer funding for pharmacies”.
If this does not happen, “the sector will really struggle”, she said.
Read more: ‘DIY kits’: NI fake weight loss jab warning as patients hospitalised
Thoms, however, told C+D that he does not believe the increase in Mounjaro prices will result in pharmacy closures.
“Mounjaro is just one of five treatment options our partner pharmacies can provide,” he said, explaining that “patients will have multiple treatment options to choose from if treatment is deemed clinically appropriate”.
The “main query” Pharmadoctor has received from pharmacists since Lilly’s announcement is for guidance on how to “safely switch patients from Mounjaro to Wegovy”, he added.
Stockpiling Mounjaro?
Thoms also told C+D that pharmacists have been asking “whether or not they can provide patients with multiple months’ supply of Mounjaro at the same time so that they can keep the price down”, although he warned that this “would not be clinically appropriate”.
Meanwhile, lead pharmacist of Crowhill Pharmacy in Nuneaton Kishan Purohit also last week warned that the price hike will “shut the door on treatment for thousands of people” and will “push [them] towards unsafe unregulated sources”.
“The black market for weight loss drugs is already thriving and this will only fuel it,” he said.
Read more: New £85m programme set to test pharmacy obesity service
The sector “urgently [needs] intervention, whether that’s tiered pricing, pharmacy-led support schemes or broader NHS access, to stop this becoming another barrier in the fight against obesity”, he added.
National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chief executive Henry Gregg said that the body is “urgently supporting” members to “limit the impact on patients and ensure they can continue…the wrap-around care that pharmacies provide”.
The NPA is “urging the manufacturers to ensure that pharmacies are treated equitably and that proper support is in place” to allow them to continue offering “what is a highly popular and effective service to their communities”, he added.
Read more: Wegovy and Mounjaro: HSCC launches weight loss jab inquiry
Lilly’s announcement last week revealed that the lowest Mounjaro dose will see a 45% increase in cost, while the highest dose will rise by 170%.
It comes as amid warnings about fake weight loss medications hospitalising patients and a government announcement of a new programme to pilot “new ways” of tackling obesity such as a pharmacy service.
And earlier this month, new National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance recommended that healthcare services provide “tailored action plans” for patients for “at least a year” after stopping weight loss medication to prevent weight regain.
