The NHS has seen a significant surge in spending on GLP-1 weight loss drugs, with costs tripling in just one year. Learn about the impact and safety concerns.
The NHS has seen a dramatic increase in spending on GLP-1 weight loss drugs with expenditures reaching a staggering £760 million last year. This marks a significant rise from the £331 million spent in 2026-2026, highlighting the growing demand for these medications.
The surge in spending is largely driven by the popularity of drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro which are used to treat both type 2 diabetes and aid in weight loss. The active ingredient in Mounjaro, tirzepatide has seen a particularly notable increase in prescriptions, with around three million issued last year, nearly triple the 1.1 million in 2026-2026.
NHS expenditure on GLP-1 drugs: a decade of growth
The NHS now spends almost ten times more on these medications than it did a decade ago. The annual spend on these drugs has leapt 10-fold since 2016 reflecting their growing importance in managing both diabetes and obesity.
The figures, published by the NHS Business Services Authority only include prescriptions for diabetic patients, meaning the true total figure is likely to be far higher.
These GLP-1 agonists work by mimicking a hormone that helps lower blood sugar and keep users fuller for longer. They are prescribed alongside a reduced calorie diet and exercise plan. According to the new figures, the NHS now spends 33 per cent of its diabetes medication budget on GLP-1 drugs.
Safety concerns and adverse reactions
Recent media reports have raised concerns about the safety of these drugs, with headlines suggesting that hundreds of deaths have been linked to these treatments. However, it is crucial to understand what these reports actually mean. The figures come from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Yellow Card reporting system, which collects reports of suspected adverse drug reactions.
Up to 7 July 2026 tirzepatide had been associated with 100,810 reported adverse reactions including 10,434 classified as serious and 98 with a fatal outcome. For semaglutide, there were 44,073 reported adverse reactions including 4,892 classified as serious and 37 with a fatal outcome. These numbers should not be interpreted as meaning that these medicines caused these deaths.
A Yellow Card report does not prove causation
A Yellow Card report means that someone has suspected that a medicine may have contributed to an adverse event. It does not establish that the medicine caused it. As the MHRA explains, “Reports of a suspected adverse reaction do not necessarily mean that the medicine caused the event.”
Professor Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, highlighted this important issue: “The people prescribed these medicines often already have conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and kidney disease. These conditions themselves increase the risk of serious illness and premature death.”
Why are there so many reports?
The more widely a medicine is prescribed, the more adverse events will inevitably occur among people taking it—even when those events are unrelated to the medicine. There is also an important limitation of spontaneous reporting systems such as Yellow Card: a single person can submit multiple reports, so the number of reports does not equal the number of individual patients.
The MHRA emphasises: “We want to reassure patients that GLP-1 medicines are safe for the majority of users. It is important to place these reports in the context of the millions of GLP-1 prescriptions issued in the UK.”
GLP-1 medicines are powerful medicines, not risk-free medicines, and reports of serious adverse events—including pancreatitis—should always be taken seriously. They also need to be prescribed thoughtfully, with appropriate assessment, monitoring and clear advice about warning symptoms.
