Keir Starmer Says Weight-Loss Drugs Can Help Boost UK Economy

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Keir Starmer said weight-loss drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly and Co’s Mounjaro could help improve the UK economy and lift pressures on the country’s beleaguered National Health Service,

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“These drugs could be very important for our economy and for health,” the British premier said in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday morning.

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Starmer’s backing for the drugs came after his government announced a collaboration with Eli Lilly worth £279 million ($365 million) at the investment summit it hosted in London on Monday. The firm made a statement to invest in so-called gateway labs in the UK.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the Telegraph newspaper this week that weight-loss drugs could play a major role in boosting Britain’s lagging productivity. Obesity costs the NHS more than £11 billion a year, according to government figures.

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