The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) today (August 12) announced “new help for patients battling obesity through pharmacies and community access”.
It launched a new programme backed by “up to £85 million from government and pharmaceutical company Lilly to test new ways to support patients living with obesity across the UK”.
Read more: PM hints at ‘innovative’ pharmacy weight loss jab service rollout
It said that it could make it easier for “tens of thousands of NHS patients” to access “holistic care - including a range of wraparound services - and potentially obesity treatments, through new routes like pharmacies”.
Patients could also access weight management care more easily through digital platforms and “local community-based access”, it added.
“Open to proposals”
The DH said that the programme will be “open to proposals” from across the UK, with eligible patients in participating areas accessing “innovative services” as soon as summer 2026.
“Healthcare stakeholders across the NHS such as care boards, working with technology providers, will be invited to submit bids to pilot innovative models of care for people living with obesity,” it added.
Read more: NICE: Monitor patients for ‘at least a year’ after stopping weight loss jabs
These new models must fall “outside of existing specialist weight management services” with the aim to improve access, “increase capacity” and avoid existing services being “overburdened”, it said.
Clinicians at local level will decide patient eligibility, while all new services must adhere to national guidelines, NHS governance and clinical standards – “ensuring a patient centric approach aligned to local need”, it added.
“Revolutionary modern care”
Health secretary Wes Streeting said that as the government shifts its focus from treatment to prevention as part of its 10-year health plan, it is “determined to bring revolutionary modern care to everyone that needs it, not just those who can afford to pay”.
“This collaboration will help patients living with obesity in a matter of months – through testing better access to weight loss services and treatments,” he added.
The programme follows a “prospective landmark collaboration” agreed between the government and Lilly in October last year that could generate “up to £279m of investment”, according to the DH.
Read more: Weight-loss jabs balloon as 64% of young adults seek NHS script
The government will contribute “up to £50m of new UK-wide investment”, while the manufacturer will provide “up to £35m of grant funding” – with NHS organisations to put forward proposals and apply for a share of the funding, it said.
“At least” £10m of this funding is earmarked to support proposals in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it added.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer last month hinted at plans to make “innovative” weight loss jab services available in pharmacies in the future as part of the government’s new 10-year health plan.
Lilly weight loss pill
It comes as Lilly is cruising towards the launch of its new 12% weight loss pill.
The manufacturer last week (August 7) announced that its oral glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) orforglipron had achieved “positive topline results” in a phase 3 trial.
The once-daily pill “showed significant efficacy and a safety and tolerability profile consistent with injectable GLP-1 therapies at 72 weeks”, it said.
Read more: Online pharmacy calls for end to weight loss jab ‘stigma’
The trial was the first of two phase 3 trials of the drug and found that it delivered weight loss of “up to an average of 27.3 lbs” or 12.4% at 72 weeks in those taking the highest dose of 36 mg “without food and water restrictions”, it added.
Lilly revealed that it is “on track to submit orforglipron to global regulatory agencies by year-end and is making substantial investments to meet anticipated demand at launch”.
Meanwhile, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) last week published updated guidance calling for healthcare services to provide “tailored action plans” for patients for “at least a year” after stopping weight loss medication to prevent weight regain.
