Mounjaro supply HALTED amid frenzied ‘Covid-style’ panic buying before September price hike: order freeze starts tonight
Mounjaro manufacturer Lilly has demanded a UK-wide freeze on jab orders amid ‘unprecedented demand’ for the drug.
The US pharmaceutical giant announced the cost would soar from September 1, with the wholesale price of a month’s supply of the highest dose rising from £122 to £330.
Even mid-range doses, such as the 5mg pen, will jump from about £92 to £180.
Lilly claimed it had initially launched Mounjaro in the UK at a price ‘significantly below the European average to prevent delays in NHS availability’ but that this must now change ‘to ensure fair global contributions to the cost of innovation’.
Pharmacies, however, have already warned that patients have been ‘Covid-style’ panic buying the drug since the announcement.
Experts also fear the looming Mounjaro price hike could drive more people towards the black market.
It is now understood that Lilly have halted pharmacies in the UK from ordering Mounjaro until after September 1, to ensure they are not stockpiling at the current lower price.
In a letter—seen by LBC—from UK medicines distributor Pheonix it told pharmacies it had seen a significant surge in demand in recent days.
Lilly claimed it had initially launched Mounjaro in the UK at a price ‘significantly below the European average to prevent delays in NHS availability’ but that this must now change ‘to ensure fair global contributions to the cost of innovation’
| Mounjaro®▼ (tirzepatide) KwikPen® Dose | Current UK List Price | New UK List Price (From September) |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5mg | £92 | £133 |
| 5mg | £92 | £180 |
| 7.5mg | £107 | £255 |
| 10mg | £107 | £255 |
| 12.5mg | £122 | £330 |
| 15mg | £122 | £330 |
‘Eli Lilly [has therefore] requested that we implement an order freeze on Mounjaro products for all customers from the end of the day, 27th August,’ it said.
‘This will mean that orders received after your usual cut off time on August 27 will not be processed.
‘Normal ordering processing for these products will recommence on Monday September 1.’
At least half a million NHS patients and some 15million patients in the US are now thought to be using weight-loss jabs, which can help patients lose up to 20 per cent of their body weight in just a few months.
And the numbers using them privately are even higher.
Under official guidelines, only patients who have a body mass index (BMI) of over 35 and at least one weight-related health problem like high blood pressure, or those who have a BMI of 30 to 34.9 and meet the criteria for referral to a specialist weight management service, should be prescribed weight loss jabs.
Around two in three adults in the UK are obese or overweight, giving the country one of the highest obesity rates in Europe.
Last year, a sobering report also suggested Britain’s spiraling obesity levels have fuelled a staggering 39 per cent rise in type 2 diabetes among people under 40, with 168,000 Brits now living with the illness.
Piling on the pounds has also been linked to at least 13 types of cancer and is the second biggest cause of the disease in the UK, according to Cancer Research UK.
