Eli Lilly urges UK to quickly adopt new weight-loss drugs
- Eli Lilly is advocating for the NHS to revise its methods for calculating the value of drugs.
- The current evaluation system overlooks the economic and social benefits that treatments may provide.
- Failure to implement these changes could result in patients missing out on essential new medical treatments.
In the UK, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly and Company, has expressed concern regarding the potential exclusion of patients from new advanced treatments unless the National Health Service (NHS) revises how it assesses drug value. The company's UK general manager, Chris Stokes, contends that current evaluation methods are overly narrow and fail to account for the broader economic and social impacts of treatments. He emphasized that incorporating factors such as increased employability and reduced dependency on care support could better reflect a drug's true value. Without such considerations, patients risk missing out on beneficial new therapies that could significantly enhance their quality of life. This call for reform comes amidst the rollout of Mounjaro, a weight-loss medication, to a limited number of NHS patients, while concerns linger about the availability of Eli Lilly's Alzheimer's treatment. The dialogue around drug valuation remains critical as it could shape future healthcare accessibility and treatment approval processes in the UK, ultimately impacting patient outcomes.