Eli Lilly & Co.’s Mounjaro, a diabetes drug that’s also nearing approval for weight loss, is set to reach UK patients after winning the backing of England’s influential health-cost regulator.
Mounjaro has the potential to “provide an effective and good value treatment option” for people with type 2 diabetes that isn’t well controlled by other drugs, Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, said in an emailed statement.
Making Mounjaro available in the UK would offer an alternative to Novo Nordisk A/S’s Ozempic, a similar diabetes drug that has shown dramatic weight-loss benefits. Approval for weight-loss treatment would also put Lilly’s drug in competition with Novo’s anti-obesity therapy Wegovy that became available in the UK Monday. The market for weight-loss drugs alone could reach $44 billion by 2030, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts.
“We are pleased by the NICE committee recommendation of Mounjaro” for diabetes, a spokesperson for Lilly said in an emailed statement. “Lilly is committed to supplying Mounjaro for people with type 2 diabetes, both in Great Britain and around the globe.”
Both Novo and Lilly have struggled to keep up with demand for the drugs, which are in shortage.
Lilly’s shares rose 0.3% before US markets opened, while Novo Nordisk’s gained 0.2% in Copenhagen.
NICE’s recommendation reverses an earlier finding that it wasn’t clear whether Mounjaro represented good value for money. It’s common for the agency to take more than one look at an expensive new drug before recommending it. The final guidance on Mounjaro is scheduled to be published on Oct. 11, and at that point the weekly injection would reach National Health Service patients within 90 days, depending on supply.
The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a decision on the use of Mounjaro for weight loss by the end of the year. NICE is reviewing it for that use separately from its use in diabetes, with a decision expected next year.
