Govt funding fail costing $45B

Eli Lilly is pushing the case for wider government reimbursement of obesity medications with a new report from GlobalData indicating obesity and overweight is costing Australia $45 billion each year. 

The pharma giant is keen to extend funding for weight loss drugs beyond people with obesity and comorbidities to a wider population, banking on improving perception of its obesity drug Mounjaro. Last November the PBAC gave a recommendation to Novo Nordisk for Wegovy, for people with established cardiovascular disease with obesity, after failing twice to recommend the drug for obesity alone.

The government is concerned about the cost of funding a drug for a condition that affects around a third of all Australians, and Lilly's goal is to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of treatment.