People using the weight loss jab Mounjaro have been warned against switching to black market sellers or bulk buying after its manufacturer announced the UK will get a significant price rise this autumn.
The US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, which makes Mounjaro, recently announced plans to increase the price of the medication in the UK by as much as 170% from September. The move follows pressure from the US president, Donald Trump, to cut medication prices for Americans.
Eli Lilly has said the NHS will be shielded from the price rise, but with few people eligible for access through the health service, most purchase Mounjaro privately. One month’s supply of the highest dose costs about £200 through many online pharmacies and is now expected to go up.
Henry Gregg, the chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), said the rising cost of Mounjaro had caused understandable concern to patients and pharmacies alike.
“We’d urge patients to avoid bulk ordering Mounjaro as well as buying the medication at massively reduced prices,” he said.
“Bulk ordering can have a significant impact on supply and pose a potential risk to patient safety. We’d also urge patients to avoid unlicensed sellers, who may be selling fake medication or medication that does not meet UK safety standards.
“Instead, we’d encourage them to speak to their prescriber, who can support them with any concerns they may have and provide them with the safe care they need.”
Many readers have contacted the Guardian to say they are devastated by the price rise, with some already stocking up on Mounjaro amid fears they will be unable to afford the new prices.
Rose*, 48, from Suffolk began taking Mounjaro in October 2024. She has since lost about 2.5 stone (15.9kg) and no longer experiences constant thoughts about food.
Rose currently pays £202 a month for the maximum maintenance dose of 15mg a week and said she was horrified by the price hike.
“When I saw that, my heart just dropped, because I thought: ‘Oh gosh, how am I going to be able to justify the expense?’ Are there other things that maybe I need to cut back on to be able to then afford this additional cost?” she said, adding she currently had enough Mounjaro for another eight weeks and had ordered a further month’s supply.
The impending Mounjaro price rise has led to some online pharmacies reporting a surge in interest in Wegovy – a cheaper but less effective weight-loss jab produced by the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, who said it “currently have no plans of changing our offering in the UK”.
Graham Thoms, the chief executive of Pharmadoctor, a provider of clinical service packages to pharmacists, said Mounjaro accounted for 98% of all weight loss treatments provided by its nationwide network of partner pharmacies, adding the company had been inundated with queries from both pharmacists and patients who were equally concerned about the pending price increases.
“The main query we are receiving from pharmacists is asking Pharmadoctor for guidance how to safely switch patients from Mounjaro to Wegovy should Mounjaro become price inhibited for patients,” he said, adding pharmacists had also been asking whether or not they could provide patients with several months’ supply of Mounjaro at the same time so that they could keep the price down.
“Our response is that would not be clinically appropriate,” said Thoms, noting patients needed to have face-to-face consultations every four weeks to ensure the medication remained right for them, review goals and receive wraparound support.
However, Thoms suggested the Mounjaro price rise might not be as drastic as the latest announcement suggested, noting his company’s partner pharmacists had been invited by their wholesalers or Lilly to participate in a rebate scheme.
“We understand from those discussions that our partner pharmacies will need to purchase Mounjaro at the new higher prices from September, but will be able to claim back a rebate at the end of the month so long as they pass on the discount to patients,” he said.
One online pharmacy, Chemist4U, has warned against microdosing with Mounjaro – a trend found on social media sites such as TikTok – noting it can undermine treatment and raise the risk of infections.
The company said it is urging patients who are concerned about affording their treatment journey to switch to Wegovy, noting it saw a 5,000% increase in Mounjaro prescription requests over the weekend the price rise was announced and a 1,500% increase in patients switching to Wegovy.
But Sukhi Basra, who runs a pharmacy in Victoria in central London and is the vice-chair of the NPA, said patients could not simply jump from one drug to another.
She said her biggest concern was around patients that were very stable or halfway through their weight-loss journey, adding many had benefited mentally, psychologically, physically and emotionally.
“I know with some of my patients, [who] were already struggling with the current prices, that it would be really difficult for them to then, at such short notice, to be able to implement or budget for those kind of changes,” she said. “They’ve benefited from the medication, but they don’t necessarily sit in the remit of the NHS patients that are funded for it, because obviously, the NHS can’t fund for everything.”
*Some names have been changed.
