The NHS spent £760 million last year on weight-loss and diabetes injections including Ozempic and Mounjaro, with the bill tripling since 2023, newly released figures reveal.
The soaring total is more than double the amount allocated to the Cancer Drugs Fund, the NHS scheme that helps patients gain rapid access to promising new cancer treatments.
It also represents around one-third of the health service’s entire annual spending on NHS dentistry.
The scale of the increase has been rapid. NHS spending on the blockbuster drugs was £331 million in 2024-2025, meaning the annual cost has more than doubled in just 12 months.
The sharpest rise was linked to tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro, which has become one of the most in-demand injectable treatments.
Around three million Mounjaro prescriptions were issued last year, up from 1.1 million in 2024-25 — nearly a threefold increase.
Since last summer, the NHS has spent almost £570 million on Mounjaro alone.
The data, published by the NHS Business Services Authority, covers only prescriptions issued to patients with diabetes.
NHS England spends almost ten times more on drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro today than it did a decade ago, new data shows
The injections, known as GLP-1 agonists, are also prescribed for weight loss in those without diabetes, meaning the true total figure is likely to be far higher.
The latest data follows an analysis of official drug safety figures that revealed 216 deaths in the UK have been linked to the jabs, which are used by some 2.5 million Britons.
Currently, drugs like Mounjaro and Wegovy are approved for weight loss in the UK, and can be prescribed through the NHS to overweight and obese people with a weight-related health condition.
However access is limited, and most of the jabs used in Britain are bought privately.
GLP-1 agonists have been available in the UK since 2007, when they were introduced to treat type 2 diabetes.
But use of the medication sky-rocketed in 2018 with the approval of semaglutide for diabetes and, in 2021, weight loss.
Mounjaro, or tirzepatide, was approved by drug chiefs in 2023 but launched in pharmacies early the following year.
Figures show that the annual spend on the medication – which can shift up to 20 per cent of a user’s body weight in just over a year – has leapt 10-fold since 2016.
Around 4.7million people in the UK have a diagnosis of diabetes, a condition when the body’s blood sugar levels are too high.
However, charity Diabetes UK says the true figure could be six million – accounting for 1.3million who may be living with type 2 diabetes but do not have a diagnosis.
Rising obesity rates in the UK over the last 30 years are believed to have driven the trend, leading people to turn to GLP-1 drugs.
The treatments work by mimicking a hormone that helps lower blood sugar and keep users fuller for longer.
They are prescribed alongside a reduced calorie diet and exercise plan.
According to the new figures, the NHS now spends 33 per cent of its diabetes medication budget on GLP-1 drugs.
An NHS spokesman said: ‘The NHS has supported more than a million people at risk of type 2 diabetes to make changes to their health to delay or prevent the condition through our world-leading prevention programme – saving the NHS the cost of prescribing medicines to them in future.’
Earlier this month, the Daily Mail reported that a total of 150,000 adverse reactions have been associated with the drugs.
Semaglutide – sold under brand names Wegovy and Ozempic – was linked to 59 deaths, meanwhile, liraglutide, known as Saxenda, was associated with 37 fatalities.
The figures were uncovered in so-called Yellow Card reports made to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Officials said that the reports do not prove that a medicine caused a reaction to happen, only that it is suspected by the individual making the report. Other health conditions may have been at play.
