New weight-loss jabs could be given to unemployed people to help them get back into work, Wes Streeting has suggested. The health secretary said “widening waistbands” were placing a burden on the NHS. The latest generation of weight-loss medications, involving drugs such as semaglutide or tirzepatide, could be administered to people in order to get them back into employment, and to ease costs to the health service, he added. Streeting’s suggestion, in the Telegraph, comes as the government announced a £279m investment from Lilly – the world’s largest pharmaceutical company – on the day the prime minister hosted an international investment summit. The plans announced at the summit will include real-world trials of weight-loss jabs’ impact on worklessness, according to the Telegraph. A study by Health Innovation Manchester and Lilly will examine whether being put on the drugs will reduce worklessness and the impact on NHS service use, and will take place in Greater Manchester. The health secretary wrote: “Our widening waistbands are also placing significant burden on our health service, costing the NHS £11bn a year – even more than smoking. And it’s holding back our economy. “Illness caused by obesity causes people to take an extra four sick days a year on average, while many others are forced out of work altogether.” Appearing on the BBC on Tuesday, the prime minister appeared to back the idea. Keir Starmer said: “I think these drugs could be very important for our economy and for health.” He added: “This drug will be very helpful to people who want to lose weight, need to lose weight, very important for the economy so people can get back into work. “Very important for the NHS because, as I’ve said time and again, yes, we need more money for our NHS, but we’ve got to think differently. “We’ve got to reduce the pressure on the NHS. So this will help in all of those areas.” In his Telegraph article Streeting continued: “The reforms this government will put in place will open the NHS up to work much more closely with life sciences, to develop new, more effective treatments, and put NHS patients at the front of the queue. “The long-term benefits of these drugs could be monumental in our approach to tackling obesity. For many people, these weight-loss jabs will be life-changing, help them get back to work, and ease the demands on our NHS.” However, Streeting said individuals would still need to remain responsible for taking “healthy living more seriously”, as the “NHS can’t be expected to always pick up the tab for unhealthy lifestyles”. Dr Dolly van Tulleken, who specialises in obesity policy and is a visiting researcher at the MRC epidemiology unit at the University of Cambridge, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there were “some serious ethical, financial and efficacy considerations with such an approach … Such as looking at people, or measuring people based on their potential economic value, rather than primarily based on their needs and their health needs.” She went on: “It’s incredibly important that people in the UK access healthcare based on their health need rather than their potential economic value.” She also said the government would not be able to cover the “eligible” population, which is in its millions. Specialist weight management services currently treat 49,000 people a year. But despite scepticism, Van Tulleken said Streeting was on “the side of the population”, adding: “We know from across so much research … how popular these interventions are. People want the government to act. They want to live in a healthy environment; he is absolutely on the side of public.” Lord Bethell, a former Conservative health minister, agreed, telling the same programme his government had “got it wrong” with its attitude to state intervention on obesity. He said: “We got it wrong, we misread the public mood; people want help from government – the ‘nanny state’ thing was a distraction.” This article was amended on 15 October 2024 to refer to the drug semaglutide, rather than to the brand name Ozempic, which is licensed in the UK as a type-2 diabetes medication. The brand of semaglutide licensed for weight loss is Wegovy.