Mounjaro price inequality in full play

Incoming price increases to the weight-loss drug Mounjaro will cause another wealth divide in healthcare, a doctor says.

It follows manufacturer Eli Lilly announcing it was increasing the list price of the drug by as much as 170% for people paying privately in the UK after being sold “significantly below” European rates.

“If we are offering something and then taking it away and suddenly making it financially only available to people who can afford those high prices, you are going to cause a massive divide and further inequality,” according to Dr Mayoni Gooneratne, who works in the UK but also but also co-founded Guernsey Women’s Wellness.

“This is health inequality in full play,” she added.

Pharmacies locally are still unclear on how the price increases will reflect onto local stock.

In Guernsey, pharmacies approached by the BBC said they had existing stock but did not know what prices would be in the future.

In Jersey, Public Health said government and other experts “are considering” whether the island “should follow UK practice and plan to report their findings in September”.

Matthew Johnson, from LV Pharmacy, said: “There isn’t anything a pharmacy can do to mitigate the price”.

Dr Gooneratne also said she had concerns surrounding what price increases could mean for those using it.

She said: “This is how black market pharmaceuticals are propagated.

“It means that unscrupulous prescribing happens. It means the wrong kind of medication is being given out, and, worse still, fakes or toxic medication… start to hit the market.”

She said it was “so sad” to see her patients who “really wanted to improve their health” have the drug taken away from them due to costs.

“The first instinctive response from them [the patients] has been panic and despair,” she said.

Jersey-based medical consultant Dr Rob Greig said he was less worried about the impact of price increases of the drug and more worried about regulation generally.

“The demand is there, people will probably pay more. The concern is how people access that medication” he said.

Dr Greig said people were ordering it online even before the price hike, which could present dangers if people had not been properly assessed for the drug.

He said: “There is no regulation – there is nothing stopping us getting it, however which way we choose.

“If you have a patient who has contraindications to any of these medications, they could end up becoming very sick”.