Kerry councillor John O\u2019Donoghue says the new arrival could cut costs for the public health service and vastly improve lives\n<\/p>\n
Councillor John O\u2019Donoghue said the drugs would be a game changer for patients and could even take pressure off the public health system.<\/p>\n
Mounjaro, which became available in Ireland in February this year, is a weight loss drug manufactured by the American pharmaceutical company Lilly.<\/p>\n
Like its precursor Ozempic, Mounjaro can be used to treat type two diabetes, but it can also be used to supress appetite for people with obesity.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Donoghue said: \u201cI definitely think it\u2019s something the government should look at funding\u2026 it\u2019s a fact that probably in every country in the world the more money you have the better access you can have to better healthcare, but in saying that, this seems to be something that would make such a fundamental difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor life changing medicine it seems such a simple solution in terms of how its administered and that there\u2019s no operations involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn first world countries, obesity is not a rich person\u2019s problem and its not a poor person\u2019s problem. It goes across all sectors, all ages, so I really think it\u2019s a no brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mounjaro works by increasing the sensitivity of stomach receptors, reducing cravings and so-called \u201cbrain chatter\u201d experienced by people with food addictions.<\/p>\n
The drug is self-administered, usually once a week, with little to no help required from doctors.<\/p>\n
Mounjaro has been labelled the \u2018King Kong\u2019 of weight loss due to its improved results over competitors, with people in clinical trials experiencing a weight-loss of 20.2 per cent, compared to 13.7 per cent for semaglutide (which is sold under the brand name Ozempic).<\/p>\n
Due to its powerful effects, the medicine is limited to patients with a BMI over 30, or those with a weight related condition such as type two diabetes and a BMI over 27.<\/p>\n
The lead GP at Duality Healthcare\u2019s Newry branch, Karen Kiernan, has seen the life changing effects of the drug first hand. She said of every patient she had treated with the medicine, not a single one left without a positive result.<\/p>\n
Some patients had indefinitely delayed joint replacements due to the loss of a significant amount of weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have seen the drug transform lives. The mobility of my cohort of patients really starts to go as they get older and they\u2019re carrying a lot of weight, and they just become so socially isolated. They\u2019re not able to go out with their friends, they\u2019re not able to travel and go on holiday,\u201d said Dr Kiernan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve absolutely loved this summer, seeing patients who started treatment last year, and they\u2019ve come round this summer. I had one lady go on a walking holiday to Slovenia with her friends, another lady off in a campervan around France and another lady doing up her house. These patients are getting their lives back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The catch, however, is that Mounjaro is very expensive, with the highest dose of the medicine costing around \u20ac475 per month.<\/p>\n
Dr Kiernan referred to the medicine as a \u201cdrug for the wealthy\u201d and said there were many who would benefit from it but can\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n
While Mr O\u2019Donoghue acknowledged the current price was an issue for the public health sector, he emphasised the potential savings, given the knock-on effects of making the medicine publicly available.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the point that keeps getting missed is that money is saved in the long run because you have people that might be presenting with diabetes and various heart problems. The potential reduction in the risk of heart attacks, strokes and related issues would have to be factored into the savings too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big problem in the HSE seems to be the non-urgent surgery, the operations that are important to get done, but the patient isn\u2019t going to be dead within a month. They\u2019re the ones that are constantly being put on the long finger.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor some people who are waiting for a hip replacement, by the time they get it they\u2019ve put on loads of weight because they\u2019ve haven\u2019t been active and suddenly, they have a whole raft of other health issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis just going to free up so much within our health system. When you think of what\u2019s involved in heart surgery, there\u2019s a least one surgeon involved and a whole operating theatre team working. If there\u2019s a big reduction in the numbers of people going to theatre, by extension that has to free up a lot of staff in the HSE.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting scheme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kerry councillor John O\u2019Donoghue says the new arrival could cut costs for the public health service and vastly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[12971,103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-80755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-alastair-tibbs","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}