Mounjaro prices and availability

davidleo7557

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar.

I recently spoke to my GP about Mounjaro for weight loss and, from what I understand, I appear to meet the eligibility criteria. However, my GP has basically said they are not prescribing it locally at the moment and suggested that if I wanted treatment sooner I should consider going privately instead.

I’ve looked into some of the private options online, but honestly the prices seem extremely expensive long term, especially as this is obviously not a short-term medication.

I’m a bit confused because there seems to be a lot of publicity around these medications being available now, but in reality it feels very difficult to access through the NHS depending on where you live.

Has anyone else had similar issues with their GP or local NHS area?
Were you eventually able to access it through the NHS, or did you end up going private?

Would be really interested to hear other people’s experiences.

Exodi

I think you will find this is commonplace - while many people might technically be eligible for NHS prescription, in reality there are several issues, one being that from the NHS's perspective Mounjaro is not a 'one-and-done' treatment and requires ongoing support throughout and after coming off the medication, I think this is generally referred to as 'wraparound lifestyle support'. I think due to finances and as the prescription of Mounjaro is optional, most GP's prefer to avoid the hassle.

My mother had the exact same situation, eligible but unable to actually get it prescribed.

davidleo7557

I’m a bit confused because there seems to be a lot of publicity around these medications being available now, but in reality it feels very difficult to access through the NHS depending on where you live.

You need to appreciate the vast majority of people are not accessing it through the NHS, most people are paying for it privately.

I know you mentioned it's 'extremely expensive' and I will not disagree some of the higher dosages can cost a lot, but I personally think they're relatively cheap giving their significant impact.

My wife took Mounjaro following child birth and went from 13st to 9.5st in about 7 months (so about 0.5st per month). Her highest dose was 7.5mg and she used 5 pens in total. This was before the price increases but even looking at todays prices, the same thing she did would cost about £1000 now.

She was quite regimented to ensure she was logging throughout (but for the opposite reasons of a typical diet - she was making sure she ate enough and had at least 50g of protein, one of the problems of Mounjaro is from not feeling hungry people can accidently starve themselves and start having hair fall out, etc so you should ensure you are eating something, even if you don't feel like it).

While you may say "£1000 is a lot of money", let's also not forget that we saved a lot on our food shop due to her eating half as much as usual. Over 7 months, it's likely it paid for itself.

She feels much better in herself and would happily pay it again.

I appreciate some people want to lose more than 3.5 stone, in some cases significantly more, and some people need higher (more expensive) doses to achieve the same level of weight loss. My only advice would be to not run through the dosages as quick as possible (some people seem to race to 15mg).

MyRealNameToo

Assuming you are in England then the ICB's prescribing committees can't block a NICE approved drug from being prescribed but can set rules around its prescription, like saying something can only be given after two other medicines or actions have failed to resolve the issue.

NHS England's general recommendation is for those with BMI of 40+ and four weight related diagnosis (type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure etc). From June they will be reducing the BMI requirement but keeping the diagnosis at 4 conditions.

Remember that with private prescriptions the price of the medications arent fixed so different chemists will charge different amounts for the same medications. Because of the popularity of Mounjaro and equivalent the range isnt as much because pricing is transparent and easily comparable but still can be worth shopping around.

There are multiple people in my last job who are self funding its use, most probably weren't 40 BMI and didnt have the required number of conditions.

Misslayed

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82000076#Comment_82000076

This is my experience too, except that I have Heart Failure, so I had a very limited choice of providers who will accept folk with heart disease. I went with Oushk pharmacy, who are VERY thorough in their assessment and monitoring procedures. It’s not cheap, but I’m not able to shop around. I believe Asda pharmacy will accept folk with cardiac issues, but that’s anecdotal. From what I can see their prices are not significantly cheaper.

GrubbyGirl_2

While it may look expensive initially it actually isn't. Don't get me wrong there is a cost element to it but it's not as high as you think. Most people who are overweight are overweight because they eat a lot of food, simple as that. If you're taking the jabs you basically won't be eating anywhere near as much food as you were. You won't be eating out, you shouldn't be drinking alcohol, you shouldn't be eating processed food but making everything fresh. The whole idea is to become a healthy eater which, believe it or not, is a lot cheaper than buying processed foods.

How do I know? I've been on Mounjaro for 12 months and lost 7 stone. I'm coming to the end of my journey and have never felt better and it's been worth every single penny I've spent but as an estimate I would say it's not cost me any more that £20 a week when I balance off what I'm no longer spending. The only additional cost is clothes because I've needed to buy new clothes but you'd have to do that even if you were rescribed it on the NHS and I've found charity shops are brilliant while you're losing.

Stop hesitating and just do it.

Clive_Woody

There are many resources for finding the cheapest opinions for accessing private Mounjaro, but this has been the most helpful for me:

https://monj.co.uk/

I switch supplier most months to take advantage of new customer discounts.