Key Summary
- The new price, which also applies to Lilly's type 2 diabetes medicine that has the same name, is effective from September
- The higher price will affect those who pay for Mounjaro privately, but will not affect those who get it through the NHS
- The move reflects how the pharmaceutical industry is navigating policy changes in the United States
Eli Lilly will raise the UK list price of its weight-loss treatment Mounjaro by up to 170 percent, amid a White House push to get drugmakers to raise medicine prices in Europe to allow for price cuts in the United States.
The new price, which also applies to Lilly's type 2 diabetes medicine that has the same name, is effective from September.
The price for a month's supply of the highest dose of the medicine will increase from £122 to £330, Lilly said.
The higher price will affect those who pay for Mounjaro privately, but will not affect those prescribed the medicine through the British public healthcare system, which has a separate deal, a Lilly spokesperson said.
The US drugmaker said that when it launched Mounjaro in Britain it agreed to a list price "significantly below" that in its three other European markets to prevent delays in availability through Britain's National Health Service (NHS).
"We are now aligning the list price more consistently," Lilly said.
The move reflects how the pharmaceutical industry is navigating policy changes in the United States, by far its most lucrative market, where president Donald Trump is pushing for lower domestic prices and encouraging price hikes overseas.
Lilly said it was working with private UK healthcare providers, such as online pharmacies, who can set their own prices, to ensure continued access to the medicines.
Lilly launched Mounjaro in the UK in February last year, while rival Novo Nordisk's Wegovy treatment has been available in the country since September 2023.
National Pharmacy Association chief executive Henry Gregg said, “Patients on courses of treatment or considering weight loss programmes will be very concerned about sudden price rises for Mounjaro so we are urgently supporting our members to limit the impact on patients and ensure they can continue their courses of treatment and the wrap around care that pharmacies provide which is so important as part of weight loss programmes.
“Short notice changes to pricing for medicines such as this also have a serious effect on access to an important public health service and pharmacy business themselves so we are urging the manufacturers to ensure that pharmacies are treated equitably and that proper support is in place to ensure pharmacies can continue to offer what is a highly popular and effective service to their communities.”
