Weight-loss drug Mounjaro ‘changed my life,’ says mother-of-two

Cardiac physiologist Jane Graham, from York, said she hoped to access a weight-loss jab through the NHS to lose two stone (12.7kg).

The 60-year-old had a heart attack nine years ago, and alongside being at high risk for further heart attacks, is pre-diabetic.

“My arms and legs aren’t fat, just the middle of my body – which is where the risks [for heart-related health issues] lie,” she said. “My waist is 42 inches [106cm] but I weigh 12 stone [76.2kg] and I can’t get it off.”

Ms Graham said she had “tried everything” to lose weight, including the calorie-restricting 5:2 diet and reading nutrition books “until I’m blue in the face”.

“The fight’s gone out of me because I’ve tried for so long,” she said, but added that she was “worried” that her health issues will worsen.

While she would like to try Mounjaro, she would like to be supervised by medics as part of the NHS programme due to her pre-existing health issues.

“I would be quite happy to pay for it but be supervised, but you can’t do that. It’s either one or the other,” she said.

She was deeply disappointed that with a BMI of 30, she will not qualify for the drug under the NICE guidelines.

And, even if she did fall into the catchment criteria, Ms Graham was concerned about the potential wait to access Mounjaro.

“By the time I’ve waited 12 years… I’ll be 72 and whatever is going to happen to me will have happened. It’s going to be too late.”

NICE has given the NHS more than a decade to introduce the drug because of concerns it could overwhelm services.

NICE chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Benger acknowledged that this would mean “many people would have to wait”.

But he added: “We’ve had to make this difficult decision in order to protect vital NHS services and also to test ways of delivering this new generation of weight-loss medications.”