The Health Secretary has said offering weight loss jabs to unemployed obese people is not “dystopian”.
Wes Streeting said a trial to test if anti-obesity injections can increase employment and ease pressure on the NHS may be a “game-changer”.
He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme the jabs are not the only solution to obesity and he does not want a “dependency culture”.
He added: “I’m also not interested in some dystopian future where I wander around involuntarily jabbing unemployed people who are overweight – that is not on the agenda.”
Researchers will examine the “real-world effectiveness” of anti-obesity treatment Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide, over a five-year period.
A study by Health Innovation Manchester and Lilly – the world’s largest pharmaceutical company – will examine the drug’s impact on weight loss, diabetes prevention, the prevention of obesity-related complications, and the impact on NHS use.
The research will also assess whether the drug will reduce worklessness and whether it has any impact on cutting sick days among employed people.
Mr Streeting said he is “really excited” about the trial.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the drugs could be “very important for our economy and for health”.
Shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake branded it a “nanny state” measure.
Cheri Ferguson, 42, who started taking weight loss drug Ozempic in March 2023 before switching to Mounjaro in March this year, said Mr Streeting is being “naive”.
Ms Ferguson, a contract administrator from Burnham in Buckinghamshire who said the jabs helped her lose 10 stone, told the PA news agency: “I don’t think suddenly we’ve got X amount of unemployed people and we all give them Mounjaro and once they start losing weight, that’s it, they’re all suddenly going to be in employment.
“I don’t think that’s the case at all. And I think that is very naive as well to think that that is the case.”
Experts said the results of the trial, which will take place in Greater Manchester, will “potentially inform the UK’s care-pathway approach to the treatment of obesity”.
A previous study found people taking Mounjaro, along with support to make changes to exercise and diet, lost an average of 21% of their bodyweight over a 36-week period.
NHS officials have suggested the rollout of the drug across England will need to be staggered due to anticipated high levels of demand.
Nearly 250,000 people are expected to receive the Mounjaro jab over the next three years, officials have said.
