The NHS should be willing to spend money on obesity drugs – and help avoid surgery for the worst affected people, an expert will say today.
Two drugs licensed for treating obesity are cost-effective.
And most patients will achieve weight loss of at least five per cent, according to Dr Nick Finer, of the Wellcome Clinical Research Facility at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.
Speaking to the conference of the British Pharmacological Society in Brighton, Dr Finer called for primary care services to make more use of obesity drugs.
He said about a third of patients would lose at least ten per cent of their weight and half would lose at least five per cent.
Dr Finer said there was a "postcode lottery" for treatment.
He said: "There is a reluctance of primary care doctors to treat obesity, with or without drugs, and thus the early potential for drug treatment to prevent the later need for surgery in some people is missed.
"There remains a strong antipathy from many doctors, primary care trusts and specialist commissioning groups to invest in obesity management."
He added: "Weight loss is well maintained if drug treatment is continued.
"Drug treatment has also been shown to delay or prevent the development of type 2 diabetes, reduce cardiovascular risk factors and improve well-being.
"These results clearly do not match surgery but could be more generally adopted in clinical care."
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