NHS spends £574m on Mounjaro as prescribing triples in a year

Weight-loss jab tirzepatide (Mounjaro) was the medicine that cost the NHS the most last year at £574 m, data from the NHS Business Services Authority shows.

Between 2024/25 and 2025/26, the number of tirzepatide items dispensed rose from 1.1 million to 3.1 million and at the same time the average cost per item increased from £108 to £187.

Semaglutide came in tenth place in medicines with the biggest bill for 2025/26 with four medicines in the top ten for weight loss or diabetes.

The NHS is in the first phase of a phased roll out of tirzepatide after NICE recommended the drug but there were concerns about overwhelming GPs.

Three initial cohorts based on clinical need and benefit will be able to access treatment in the first three years, equating to 220,000 patients.

It is thought around 1.6 million people may be accessing weight loss medications privately.

The top ten by cost also included three asthma or COPD medication, including beclomethasone with formoterol combined inhalers at number two.

The annual data also showed that prescriptions of atorvastatin increased 7% last year to 78 million items.

It is part of an ongoing trend for the statin which has been the most dispensed drug for almost a decade, the figures show.

It comes amidst an overall growing prescribing bill in England which saw a 4% increase to £11.6bn.

Cardiovascular system drugs topped the list accounting for 10% of all items dispensed in the community, the annual figures show.

Calcium channel blocker amlodipine came in second with 41.2 million items dispensed.

But endocrine system drugs were associated with the highest cost at £2.4 billion – 21% of the overall bill.

Overall, there were 1.3 billion prescription items dispensed last year, a 3% increase from 1.26 billion in 2024/25 and the fifth year in a row that numbers have gone up.

The data shows that since 2016/17 the cost of prescription items has increased by 27%, an increase of £2.4bn. 

Generic medicines made up 86% of all prescribed items and accounted for just over half of costs, the NHSBSA said.

The analysis also shows stark variation in prescribing costs by ICB, with NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough paying £420 per person for medicines – more than double the national average.

This compares with £137 per person in NHS South West London.

But the figures also show that England has the lowest prescription item cost per person at £261 compared with Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.