Could ‘jabs for jobs’ be the miracle drug Wes Streeting needs to fix the NHS?

These are still early days, but weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic or Mounjaro could dramatically reduce demands on the health service, writes John Rentoul

Health secretary Wes Streeting has proposed weight-loss jabs to reduce unemployment rates (PA Wire)

The real anxiety about the Labour government’s uncertain start has nothing to do with gifts and hospitality – or that ridiculous story about Taylor Swift’s blue-light escort – but whether it can deliver its central pledges on the NHS and the economy.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is one of the new government’s brightest stars, with a ruthless focus on what works – regardless of Labour sentimentality about the legacy of 1948. He wants to bring in the private sector to deliver NHS services free to patients, to expand the health service’s capacity.

But even he cannot work miracles.

The scale of the Covid backlog, with 6 million people – almost one-tenth of the population – on waiting lists in England, is daunting. The decline of NHS productivity in the past few years, meanwhile, is more than daunting; it is downright alarming.

There may be things that can be done about it; mostly involving more managers rather than fewer of them. It is also good news that Streeting is taking advice from Alan Milburn, who has some claim to have been the most successful health secretary ever. So, too, is it encouraging that Michael Barber, head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit in Tony Blair’s second term, is back in government, advising No 10 and the health department.

But the challenge remains immense, and even if Streeting is as good as I think he is, it will take him many years to make the kind of improvement in the NHS that patients will notice. A Labour government has done it before – but it took 13 years and a doubling of NHS spending in real terms. It may be harder this time.

What Streeting needs is a stroke of luck – and it is just possible that one is about to happen.

A new generation of drugs developed to treat type 2 diabetes have turned out to be effective in achieving weight loss, but also in treating heart failure, high blood pressure, kidney disease, strokes and coronavirus.

The first of these semaglutide-based drugs, more commonly known as Ozempic or Wegovy, are beginning to be used more widely in the UK (though it should be noted that currently, only the latter is licensed as a weight-loss drug in the UK – it is also the only one available on the NHS right now).

Earlier this year, a similar, tirzepatide-based drug, known by its brand name Mounjaro, also started to make its way on the market. Like Ozempic, however, Mounjaro is not currently available on the NHS – and so, on Tuesday this week, Streeting announced a trial that will look at the effects of this weight-loss treatment in getting people off benefits and into work – as well as in reducing demands on the NHS.

Streeting cautiously talks about “the long-term benefits of these drugs”, but says: “For many people, these jabs will be life-changing, help them get back to work and ease the demands on our NHS.”

He is right to be cautious.

The drugs are expensive; for those who go private, Ozempic and Wegovy cost patients around £200 for a month’s injections. Many people who have tried them – including Boris Johnson, Robert Jenrick, Andrea Jenkyns and James Corden – have also found their reported side effects intolerable.

Then there are the supply problems to contend with – some people with diabetes (for whom the drug was originally intended) are having problems obtaining it – and the fact that it will take several years of trials to ensure that these drugs are safe for treating other conditions.

All that aside, there are reasons to be optimistic, too.

Only this month, new figures suggested that the level of obesity in the US has started to fall for the first time in history, probably because of the uptake of weight-loss drugs. The costs of new medications are likely to come down over time, but even at current prices, there are many people for whom the drugs will postpone or alleviate illnesses that would cost the NHS considerably more.

The unpleasant side effects may be minimised by further innovation and experimentation. A study published in August suggested that these drugs will have “far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined”, according to one of its authors, Professor Harlan M Krumholz of the Yale School of Medicine.

Any drug that seems to be effective tends to be hailed as a “wonder drug” these days, but these new weight-loss drugs could, indeed, work wonders – not just for people saved from illnesses, but for the NHS and for society as a whole.

Let us hope so.