New meds push UK NHS diabetes treatment spend to £1.92 billion

The UK’s NHS Business Services Authority's annual 'Prescribing for Diabetes - England 2015/16 to 2024/25' report reveals that diabetes treatments now account for 15% of all NHS prescription spending, at £1.92 billion ($2.6 billion), up from 10% in 2015/16 when costs were £960 million.

Anti-diabetic drugs costs have risen by 18% in the last year. A significant factor in this year's cost increase is tirzepatide, branded as Mounjaro and marketed by US pharma major Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), which has emerged as a new driver of spending growth alongside established treatments like dapagliflozin, AstraZeneca’s (LSE: AZN) Forxiga brand. From 2023/24 to 2024/25, the cost of tirzepatide increased 340-fold to £120 million and dapagliflozin costs increased 42% to £333 million.

Anti-diabetic drugs were the most prescribed treatment for diabetes, making up 59% of prescribed items and 75% of the total cost of diabetes treatments at a cost of £1.1 billion.