Can weight-loss drug help employment? This is how obesity drug Zepbound maker Eli Lilly can help UK

The Keir Starmer government in the UK is planning to use weight loss jabs to help unemployed people with obesity get back into work and help tackle the high rate of long-term sickness—in a trial—that has become a major drag on the country's.

The US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced on Monday that it will commit £279 million ($364 million) to help tackle Britain’s significant health challenges, including obesity.

The plans with Lily, announced at the UK’s International Investment Summit, will include the first trial of the jab’s effect on unemployment, productivity and National Health Service (NHS) reliance.

Under this 5-year trial deal, the US pharmaceutical giant will try to understand how tirzepatide — the GLP-1 treatment behind its Zepbound and Mounjaro drugs — impacts weight loss, diabetes prevention, and prevention of obesity-related complications, to better understand obesity treatment.

The five-year trial, conducted in collaboration with Health Innovation Manchester, will also explore how weight-loss drugs impact “participants’ employment status and sick days from work,” Eli Lilly press release read.

“This collaboration will add to the evidence base on the real world impact of obesity treatments on the health of people with obesity, and will explore a broad range of outcomes including health-related quality of life and impact on individuals’ employment status,” CNBC quote professor Rachel Batterham, senior vice president for International Medical Affairs at Lilly, as saying.

Meanwhile, UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting said obesity was causing people to take an extra four sick days and placing a huge burden on the state-run NHS.

"Our widening waistbands are also placing a significant burden on our health service, costing the NHS 11 billion pounds a year – even more than smoking," English Daily Telegraph quoted him saying.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said weight loss drugs were "very important" for the economy because they help people 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," BBC quoted Starmer as saying.

According to a 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) report, the UK had higher obesity rates than every EU country except Malta.