The price of the weight loss jab Mounjaro will rise by up to 170% in the UK, its US manufacturer has said, as Donald Trump ramps up pressure on drugmakers to increase their prices for Europeans so that they can make them more affordable for Americans.
Eli Lilly has said it will increase the price of the drug from September, with a month’s supply of the highest dose rising from £122 to £330.
Mounjaro contains tirzepatide and is self-administered in weekly injections.
When it was launched in Britain in February 2024, Eli Lilly agreed to a list price “significantly below” its other European markets to stop delays in availability of the medicine through the NHS.
The increase in the list price will align it “more consistently”, the company said, although it added that the NHS would not pay the new, higher price to ensure continued access for people with obesity and type 2 diabetes receiving it through the health service.
Eli Lilly said it was working with private healthcare providers, which could negotiate their own confidential discounts with the company.
Trump has threatened to use “every tool in our arsenal” to crack down on pharmaceutical companies charging higher prices in the US compared with other nations. The US pays about three times more for drugs compared with other developed countries, according to the Rand Corporation thinktank.
On 31 July, Trump sent letters to 17 of the world’s biggest drugmakers, including Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, demanding cuts to drug prices for Americans within 60 days.
“Make no mistake: a collaborative effort towards achieving global pricing parity would be the most effective path for companies, the government and American patients,” Trump wrote. “But if you refuse to step up we will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices.
“Americans are demanding lower drug prices, and they need them today.”
In May, Trump told reporters that a friend in London had told him he had bought the “fat shot drug” for $88, compared with $1,300 in New York.
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Pharmaceutical companies have cashed in on huge demand for weight loss treatments. Denmark’s Novo Nordisk has become one of the most prominent names in the field, launching Wegovy in the UK in September 2023, which turned it into one of the most valuable companies in Europe.
While the jabs have increased profits at big drugmakers, they are racing to develop an equivalent pill, which would be a more convenient and cheaper alternative for patients and healthcare authorities.
Eli Lilly said this month that a pill in early trial stages showed that participants on their highest dose lost an average of 12.4% of their body weight, compared with 0.9% of the control group.
Novo Nordisk has submitted its oral weight loss drug for approval in the US. Its trial results showed that participants could lose about 15% of their body weight.