A woman who has spent over £2,000 on weight loss jabs is bulk buying Mounjaro injections ahead of a huge price hike.
Consumers who pay privately for the Mounjaro weight loss drug could have to shell out thousands more if they want to continue with the treatment, after manufacturer Eli Lilly announced an increase to the list price of the product.
Under the new increases, a month’s supply of the highest dose will cost retailers £330 rather than £120, meaning customers could see huge price-hikes passed on to them.
The increase comes after US President Donald Trump said that drug prices in the US should be aligned with those abroad.
Mounjaro has been available from specialist NHS weight-loss clinics in England and Wales since March, and it was rolled out by GPs in June to people who meet select criteria, including having a BMI of over 40 and multiple health conditions.
Mounjaro has been judged to be the most effective amongst its competitors, allowing users to lose 20 per cent of their bodyweight.
There have since been calls to expand access to the jabs on the NHS by using private clinics, and last month it was revealed that a new trial would see 3,000 people given the drug in an effort to get them back to work.
The NHS will not be affected by the announcement as they have already agreed a heavily discounted rate for patients who are prescribed the drug.
Jade Kay, 39, is one of the 1.5 million people in the UK taking weight loss drugs, and has lost seven stone since she first started using Mounjaro in April 2024. She is also part of the 90 per cent who pay privately for the drug.
“It’s been a game changer”, Kay told The i Paper, “It’s amazing. My colleagues, some of them I haven’t seen since last summer, and when we met recently, they’re looking past me, they don’t recognise me.”
“19 of my friends have gone on Mounjaro now after watching my journey. I’m always getting phone calls saying ‘I’ve been watching you, I’m getting on it now.”
Jade Kay has lost 7st whilst taking Mounjaro and says it has been a ‘game changer’Kay has spent £2,400 in the past 16 months on weight-loss jabs, but the new costs would mean paying thousands more.
“It was so worth it and doable over the course of more than a year. Had prices started off at £330 per month I would’ve had to spent £5940 is comparison”, she said.
At the current cost, Ms Kay finds it a struggle, and does whatever she can to make sure she can access the treatment as cheaply as possible.
This includes shopping around every month to find suppliers offering new customer discount codes and offers for first-time sign-ups.
Kay said: “Every month I set aside an hour to find the new supplier, and because I’m always signing up for new suppliers and shopping around I’ve never paid more than £160.”
“One time I almost gave up but I got a text from a supplier that I hadn’t used for seven or eight months saying ‘we haven’t heard from you in a while’, if you come back we’ll give you £90 off.”
Now, with prices set to soar, Kay has taken out a credit card so she can stock up on Mounjaro. She has bought three pens, and plans to buy a fourth. This, she says, will mean she has enough of the drug to last until 2026, when she hopes to hit her target weight.
Jade Kay weighed more than 18st before she started taking the drug. She said she had been bullied at school and suffered with sciatica as an adult. Kay said spending £2.4k on the Mounjaro was “so worth it”.The support worker told The i Paper: “This will put a lot of people off starting this. £330 as a base price — who can afford to do that ? That’s why I have to buy in bulk and then pay off the credit card and then have my supplies to get me to the goal weight and see what I need to from there.
“I haven’t waited tables since I was in my early twenties, but if I need to go and waitress to do this, I will.”
Kay warned that the announcement had led to a rush to buy the drug leaving suppliers struggling to replenish their stock.
She said:” They’ve done it with just with two weeks notice, if people had six months or a year’s notice that would be one thing, but two weeks?
“All the suppliers have emailed saying they are running out of supplies, and they’re halting selling at the moment because the demand is so high. Evidently, lots of people have the same idea to buy in bulk”.
square NHS ExclusiveExpand weight loss jabs on the NHS using private clinics, Streeting urged
Read More
Meanwhile, switching to a different drug, like Ozempic or Wegovy, is not a simple solution to getting round the Mounjaro price hike, Kay warned.
“I will switch when it’s just for maintenance, when I’m not concerned about losing weight”, she said, “The thing about going to Ozempic or Wegovy is that I would have to start at the lowest dose. And they’re not as potent as Mounjaro”.
In a statement, Eli Lilly said: “The UK was one of the first countries where Lilly launched Mounjaro, and our priority was to bring it to patients as quickly as possible during a time of limited availability.
“At launch, Lilly agreed to a UK list price that is significantly below the European average to prevent delays in NHS availability.
“With changes in the environment and new clinical evidence supporting the value of Mounjaro, we are now aligning the list price more consistently to ensure fair global contributions to the cost of innovation.”
Hence then, the article about i m bulk buying mounjaro ahead of price hike it s changed my life was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘I’m bulk buying Mounjaro ahead of price hike — it’s changed my life’ )
Also on site :
- Spain’s FA condemns Islamophobic chants during game with Egypt
- Teenagers wreak havoc in Clapham during Easter holiday ‘link up’
- Politics latest: Starmer to deliver cost of living update after latest Trump tirade over Iran war