Almost 2.5 million purchased weight-loss jabs in July, estimates suggest

Almost 2.5 million people in Britain ordered weight-loss jabs in July, according to new estimates.

However, a big price hike introduced in September may have seen some turn away from Mounjaro, dubbed the King Kong of weight-loss injections.

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly said in August it was putting up the list price of the drug by as much as 170%.

Some will have stopped taking jabs altogether as a result and others will have switched to cheaper alternatives, such as Wegovy.

Figures given to the Telegraph from life science analytics company IQVIA show that 2.49 million packs of Mounjaro and Wegovy were purchased in July – up from 493,000 the previous year.

Between July and August sales jumped by an additional million, the newspaper reported, but this is amid widespread reports of stockpiling ahead of the September price increase.

Estimates suggest about 90% of people on weight-loss jabs pay for them privately online and via high street pharmacies.

The NHS has started its roll-out of Mounjaro but there are tight restrictions on which patients are eligible.

Over three years the health service expects to give the jabs to 240,000 people.

The 10-year plan for the NHS pledges to expand access to weight-loss services and treatments and bring them closer to where people live and work.

This could mean making jabs available “on the high street, or at any out-of-town shopping centre” or via digital services, according to the plan.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has highlighted disparities among people taking the jabs.

Speaking about the medication at the Labour Party conference in September, Mr Streeting said: “The wealthy talk about how they’ve transformed their health, their confidence, their quality of life – half of House of Commons tearoom talk about that fact, though not in my case.

“But seriously, what about the millions who can’t afford them?

“That is a return to the days when health was determined by wealth.

“When some had access to the best care money can buy while others waited, and suffered. And I say never again.

“Because our historic duty — and our modern mission — is to ensure that the best science, the best healthcare, the best innovations are available not just to some but to all.”